FILE PHOTO: A salesman shows a full face veil, niqab, at a shop selling various kinds of coverings worn by Muslim women in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country's minority Muslim population.
Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on "national security" grounds.
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