Dutch Face Veil Ban Draws Fierce Criticism

The Dutch government plans to ban Muslim face veil in public are drawing negative reactions and condemnations from Muslim groups and other political parties as an attack on freedom of religion.
“Women who currently only venture outside, or are allowed to go outside, wearing a burqa, will from now on stay home,” Aydin Akkaya, chair of the Consultative Council of the Turks in the Netherlands (IOT), told Radio Netherlands on Friday, January 27.
In a cabinet meeting on Friday, the Dutch minority government passed plans to ban Muslim face veils such as burqas and other forms of clothing that cover the face from next year.
“We hope that the ban on wearing face-restrictive clothing will come into force at the start of 2013,” interior ministry spokeswoman Vera Hoogendoorn told Agence France Presse (AFP).
“Everything depends on the speed with which the law is passed in the upper and lower chambers of parliament,” she said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Maxime Verhagen said Friday the proposal would be put to vote at the parliament next week after being cleared by the State Council, the highest administrative court.
The court however urged the government to “buttress the utility and necessity of the proposal.”
The new law would also stipulate that offenders would be fined up to 390 euros ($510), the ministry said.
The ban would make the Netherlands the third European country to ban the burqa after France and Belgium.
Earlier on September 16, the centre-right government agreed to a ban on the face veil under a deal with the far-right party of anti-immigration MP Geert Wilders.
The moves by the Dutch government to impose a ban on the face-veil were seen as a step forward to court the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) of anti-Islam politician Wilders.
The PVV is the third largest in parliament and provides crucial support to the minority ruling coalition made up from liberal WD party and the Christian Democrat party (CDA).
Although the deal saw Wilders’ party remain outside the government, it takes in exchange for a tougher line by the government on Islam and immigration from non-Western countries.  
Wilders, who condemned Dutch Queen Beatrix for covering her hair with a scarf on a recent royal visit to the Middle East, said on Twitter: “Great news: burqa ban will finally come to the Netherlands! Proposal approved by ministers’ council. Excellent!”

Religious Freedom

The Dutch cabinet decision was slammed as hijacking freedom of religion for Muslim women.
“Self-determination is our top priority,” Leyla Çakir, who heads Muslim women’s group Al Nisa, told Radio Netherland adding that women should be allowed to decide for themselves.
“Some women may now well decide to wear a burqa in defiance of the ban, but a number of women are now likely not to leave their home any longer.”
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
As for the face veil, the majority of Muslim scholars believe that a woman is not obliged to cover her face or hands.
Scholars, however, believe that it is up to women to decide whether to take on the face veil.
For the Netherlands, the political decision is largely symbolic – only about 300 women in the Netherlands are believed to wear burqas and they are rarely seen in public.
“This is highly symbolic, it’s part of the deal made with PVV,” Maurits Berger, professor of Islam in the contemporary West at Leiden University, told Reuters.
“We are in the middle of a crisis. There are worse things to tackle.”
Insisting on the decision that would affect a minority of Muslims, who make one million in Netherlands 17 million people, the government angered Dutch opposition as trying to distract attention from real financial problems.
“Why track and fine a handful of people with a burqa, when people are deeply worried about their future and that of their children?” Green Left Party MP Tofik Dibi told Radio Netherlands, questioning the importance of such a ban in the midst of an economic crisis.
Arie Slob, the parliamentary leader of the small Christian Union party, also questioned the ban’s wisdom at a time of deep budget cuts.
“The way the government of Mark Rutte tackles the crisis: by banning burqas,” Slob said.
“That’s not going to do the job.”

Source: OnIslam & News Agencies