MINISTER CALLS FOR MUSLIM BURKA BAN

A UK Home Office Minister Mr Browne has sparked controversy by calling for a ban on Muslim veil being worn in public. He called for a national debate on whether the state should step in to prevent young women having the veil imposed upon them.

His intervention came after a row erupted over the decision by Birmingham Metropolitan College to drop a ban on the wearing of full-face veils amid public protests. Mr Browne said he was "instinctively uneasy" about restricting religious freedoms but said there may be a case to act to protect girls who were too young to decide for themselves whether they wished to wear the veil or not.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "I think this is a good topic for national debate.
"People of liberal instincts will have competing notions of how to protect and promote freedom of choice. "I am instinctively uneasy about restricting the freedom of individuals to observe the religion of their choice. “There is genuine debate about whether girls should feel a compulsion to wear a veil”  "But there is genuine debate about whether girls should feel a compulsion to wear a veil when society deems children to be unable to express personal choices about other areas like buying alcohol, smoking or getting married.

 "We should be very cautious about imposing religious conformity on a society which has always valued freedom of expression."
Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, agreed it wasn't "appropriate" for students to wear a full veil in the classroom or for people to go through airport security with their faces covered, but was against a full ban.
Mr Clegg said: "I think there is a debate going on already in households and communities up and down the country.
"My own view, very strongly held, is that we shouldn't end up like other countries issuing edicts or laws from parliament telling people what they should or should not wear.

"This is a free country and people going about their own business should be free to wear what they wish. I think it is very un-British to start telling people what pieces of clothing they should wear.
"I think there are exceptions to that as far as the full veil is concerned - security at airports for instance. "It is perfectly reasonable for us to say the full veil is clearly not appropriate there.
"And I think in the classroom, there is an issue of course about teachers being able to address their students in a way where they can address them face to face. I think it is quite difficult in the classroom to be able to do that."

The Birmingham Metropolitan College had originally banned niqabs and burkas from its campuses eight years ago on the grounds that students should be easily identifiable at all times.
But when a 17-year-old prospective student complained to her local newspaper that she was being discriminated against, a campaign sprang up against the ban, attracting 8,000 signatures to an online petition in just 48 hours.
The college then decided to withdraw the rule.
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said he was "disgusted" by Mr Browne's calls to consider banning Muslim girls and young women from wearing the veil in public places.
He said: "This is another example of the double standards that are applied to Muslims in our country by some politicians.

"Whatever one's religion they should be free to practise it according to their own choices and any attempt by the Government to ban Muslim women will be strongly resisted by the Muslim community.
"We take great pride in the United Kingdom's values of individual freedom and freedom of religion and any attempt by illiberal male politicians to dictate to Muslim women what they should wear will be challenged.
He urged Lib Dems to disown Mr Browne's comments, or the party would "face the consequences at the next general election from Muslim voters."

Source; Dailystar.co.uk