A Sri Lankan Parliament member has submitted a motion to ban the burka in the country as a national security measure — days after the Easter Sunday attacks that claimed 359 lives, according to new reports.
Ashu Marasinghe stated in his motion that the burka — an outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions to cover themselves in public — is used worldwide by men who hide behind it and carry out terrorist acts, .
“Our Muslim leaders have also accepted that Burka is not a traditional Muslim attire and some places even have notices to remove the Burka before entering,” the motion said.
“Accordingly, considering the national security I propose to ban the burka,” he added.
The scale and sophistication of the coordinated attacks — carried out at three churches and four hotels — suggest the involvement of an external group such as ISIS, the country’s US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz said Wednesday.
The terror group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, and Sri Lankan authorities have also blamed two domestic Islamist groups with suspected ties to ISIS.
A police spokesman said there were nine suicide bombers on Sunday — including a woman who detonated a bomb vest as officers raided a home connected to one of the suspects, .
But at this time, it’s not believed that any of the male bombers wore burkas, according to the report.
Few members of the country’s Muslim minority community actually wear the burka, though the idea of a possible ban has often been raised in recent years, the outlet reported. But some Muslim leaders stand behind the garment, citing freedom of religious expression.