Ironclad wrote:A lot of police are getting killed knocking on doors, I understand.

Mononoke wrote:
Last night, one father, mother and 5 year old son decided to blow themselves up before they got caught. unfortunately the kid survived with horrific burns. He's asking for his father all the time. such a waste.

Sri Lanka attacks: Face coverings banned after Easter bloodshed

Sri Lanka has banned face coverings in public, following a spate of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday that killed at least 250 people and injured hundreds.
President Maithripala Sirisena said he was using an emergency law to impose the restriction from Monday.
Any face garment which "hinders identification" will be banned to ensure security, his office said. Muslim leaders criticised the move.
The niqab and burka - worn by Muslim women - were not specifically named.
The move is perceived as targeting those garments, however.

Muslim groups have been highly critical of the president's decision.
"It is the stupidest thing to do. Three days ago we [the Muslim community] took a voluntary decision regarding this. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema told all Muslim women not to wear face veils for security reasons. If they wanted to wear a veil, then they were told not to come out," Hilmy Ahmed, vice-president of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council, told the BBC.
"We see this as a reflection of the conflict between the president and the prime minister. We strongly criticise the decision. We will not accept the authorities interfering with the religion without consulting the religious leadership."

Spearthrower wrote:While I don't agree with it as a response given that the attackers weren't hiding behind burqas... the response from Hilmy Ahmed is fucking absurd. Your religious belief doesn't dictate what other people have to do, and no one is obliged to consult with you when making national laws. But it's bloody laughable that it's hunky dory when a self-appointed religious honcho tells people what they can and can't do.

Alan B wrote:
What I can't get my head around is the number of these nutters the authorities have unearthed - a loner or maybe a small group (three or four?), maybe. But dozens maybe a hundred or so?
If that is the case, then the rest of the world had better do some serious searching and start exposing them. Sri Lanka may not be just a lone example...

Mononoke wrote:

Spearthrower wrote:While I don't agree with it as a response given that the attackers weren't hiding behind burqas... the response from Hilmy Ahmed is fucking absurd. Your religious belief doesn't dictate what other people have to do, and no one is obliged to consult with you when making national laws. But it's bloody laughable that it's hunky dory when a self-appointed religious honcho tells people what they can and can't do.

In Sri Lanka, the law is you can't drive vehicles with tinted windows, can't wear bicycle helmets that cover the entire face. Also you can't enter a govt building, bank or atm with even sun glasses on. but somehow we allow on particular religion walk everywhere with thier entire identity obscured.

Spearthrower wrote:

Mononoke wrote:

Spearthrower wrote:While I don't agree with it as a response given that the attackers weren't hiding behind burqas... the response from Hilmy Ahmed is fucking absurd. Your religious belief doesn't dictate what other people have to do, and no one is obliged to consult with you when making national laws. But it's bloody laughable that it's hunky dory when a self-appointed religious honcho tells people what they can and can't do.

In Sri Lanka, the law is you can't drive vehicles with tinted windows, can't wear bicycle helmets that cover the entire face. Also you can't enter a govt building, bank or atm with even sun glasses on. but somehow we allow on particular religion walk everywhere with thier entire identity obscured.

Then it was already covered by law, so it was enforcement that was needed, not a special law specifying burqas.

Again though, none of the attackers were hiding behind burqas, so I think it's easy to see this as a collectivized guilt.

Mononoke wrote:
NO attackers in Burqa but a few male suspects were found trying to hide in them.

I'm With Stupid wrote:
The only concern I have here is that the authorities in their desire to be seen to be doing something could quite easily overstep the mark and end up with some pretty indiscriminate targeting of people based on association or even ethnicity. Let's be honest, it's not that long since some pretty awful human rights abuses happened in Sri Lanka as a result of ethnic and political divisions.

A Facebook post has sparked anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka, with Christian and Muslim community leaders calling for calm.