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Canada's ban on burqa follows that of France, Tunisia, Turkey, and Syria, and is meant to ensure that those taking the oath of Canadian citizenship are actually reciting the oath. The fact remains that wearing of clothing that completely or almost entirely covers the face is fundamentally at odds with public life.
Is wearing the burqa a religious obligation? Perhaps not! Women do not wear burqa when they perform Hajj. Does it have to do with Culture? Yes, but which culture? Is this Culture of tribal areas where women wear shuttle cock burqas, or Punjab where we find those black burqas?
However, if the objective is “show of chastity” then for those women who are not allowed to leave their houses, the ones' wearing shuttle cocks are immodest. To the ones' wearing shuttle cocks, those wearing the black burqa are essentially culpable. To the ones' wearing black burqa, the one’s wearing a chadar are downright unchaste. To the ones wearing a chadar, the ones wearing a dupatta are promoters of obscenity So on and so forth.
In more than half the Muslim countries women wear skirts. But typical Pakistani women would prefer wearing a shalwar kameez worn by Hindu women, than wear a skirt put on by a Muslim Tajik or Turkish or an Iraqi woman. So local cultures determine the dress code and it is not appropriate to set universal standards of so called chastity.As every culture has its nuances and niceties, these have to be respected.
We find female visitors from the West coming to Pakistan and India wearing shalwar kameez or jeans while rarely visible in skirts or shorts.
Similarly the Western culture has its own values which should be respected by those who have opted to live there. Those who get remuneration in dollars, francs, pounds and liras! Who enjoy full social security benefits in the West! Who have sought asylum in there while their lives were not secure in their own countries.
Those who enjoy the western lifestyle should also have respect for Western values and should try to assimilate them or should abandon the West and come back to Gujaranwala or Kabirwala and put on burqas of any color or texture. From a purely scientific perspective burqa is not suitable to wear in hot climates. It obstructs peripheral vision. It also deprives you from the positive effects of nutrients you get from sunlight. It also seems bizarre when we find pictures of burqa clad women on passports and NIC’s.
One should also remember that numerous acts of terrorism in many parts of our country were committed by women wearing burqas. Hence burqa is also a security threat.It also imprisons you and isolates you from your surroundings and distances you from those around you, creating a trust deficit. It also reminds of medieval constraints where despotic monarchs would hide their concubines from others lest they are exposed to an outsider, endangering their absolute ownership of the live object. As satti was banned by the English which did have sacred connotations, banning of burqa by Canada should also be welcomed.
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