Author: Vijay Dutt
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: January 20, 2004
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_539204,00050003.htm
Belgium is now in the line to ban
school pupils and civil servants from wearing hijab. The emotive demonstrations
by about 15,000 Muslims across France on Saturday against its planned law
to ban the wearing of hijab by girls in state schools has had apparently
no effect on authorities in Belgium.
Inspired by France, two Belgian
senators have drafted legislation to ban the veil and other overt religious
symbols from state schools. The Islamic groups are outraged at the move.
Belgium has nearly 350,000 Muslims mainly from North Africa and Turkey.
The Belgian Interior Minister Patrick
Dewael was denounced for declaring his support for the ban. He supports
ban not only in state schools but in all state institutions, including
hospitals and government offices.
"The Government should remain neutral.so
there should be no visible use of religious symbols or veils for police
officers, judges, clerks or teachers in public schools."
The minister was criticised by a
few of his colleagues, but the two senators who have drafted the proposal
have justified the plan. They said the ban was needed to combat Islamic
sexism. "The veil amounts to oppression of the individual in the name of
the religion," said senator Anne-Marie Lizin, a socialist.
The Bavarian Government supports
her view. It has held that the ban was necessary because the scarf became
"a symbol of fundamentalism and extremism". Overall, in Germany hijab is
banned in seven out of 16 states.
The protests similar to being held
in France are now expected in Belgium. Islamic groups have joined forces
to condemn the move and the attempt to copy the French. But supporters
of the ban argue that the veil is already banned in two Muslim countries,
Tunisia and Turkey.
The movement in Europe for the bannning
of hijab could cut across most countries there. In the UK, the possibilty
is that the ban would not be considered. There is already a lot of resentment
in the Muslim and Jew communities over the move to stop the sale of halal
meat on the ground that this type of slaughter is very cruel and causes
extreme pain to animals.
