Australian PM dismisses call to ban headscarves
- From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:50:50 -0400
Australian PM dismisses call to ban headscarves
8/30/2005 5:20:00 PM GMT
Source: The Times of India
Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended the right of Muslim
schoolgirls to wear the Hijab after a former minister called for a ban on
what he described as "an iconic item of defiance".
"I don't think it's practical to bring in such a prohibition," Howard said.
"If you ban a headscarf you might, for consistency's sake, have to ban a
turban. It does become rather difficult and rather impractical."
Howard's comments follow calls from former government minister Bronwyn
Bishop for a ban on Islamic headscarves in public schools.
In Queensland state, education minister Rod Welford shrugged off Bishop's
call.
"She's a caricature of a federal Liberal politician and neither we in
Queensland, in our education system, nor indeed most of her federal
colleagues will take any notice of the nonsense she speaks," he said.
Australia's Labor Party also described Bishop's call as ignorant, and Muslim
women said it was offensive and would lead to the marginalization of Muslims
within Australian society.
"I hope that leaders in their wisdom will make sure that the debate is
nipped in the bud," says Nada Roude from the Islamic Council.
"I think we have already seen the consequences of what's happened in
Britain, in France and other countries - that this is not an engagement
that's quite healthy."
http://islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/world_full_story.asp?service_id=1726
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