After facing widespread criticism, Sri Lanka on Tuesday rushed to clarify that no decision has been taken to ban burqa, an all-covering robe worn by some Muslim women, in the country.

"It is merely a proposal, which is under discussion," Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage said in a statement.

"This proposal has been based on the precautionary measures that are needed on national security grounds, following the investigations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter Sunday attacks," he said, referring to the 2019 bombings which killed over 260 people in the country.

The government will initiate a broader dialogue with all parties concerned, he asserted.

"Sufficient time will be taken for necessary consultations to be held and for consensus to be reached," he added.

Last weekend, Sarath Weerasekara, the Buddhist-majority country's minister of public security, created controversy calling burqa “a sign of religious extremism."

"It has a direct impact on national security," he said, a day after seeking approval of the Cabinet to ban burqas. However, the said proposal was reportedly not taken up for discussion during the Cabinet meeting held on Monday.

It was in 2019 that Sri Lanka banned burqa temporarily soon after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and hotels that killed more than 260 people in the island nation.

The minister had also revealed plans to ban more than 1,000 madrassas (Islamic schools) which, he said, were "flouting national education policy." The proposed controversial move by Sri Lanka drew harsh criticism.

Condemnations

The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the move.

"OIC-IPHRC condemns Sri Lankan Ministers' statement to ban burqas and madrassas being violative of Art. 18 & 27 of ICCPR which guarantees minorities the right to freely profess, practice and manifest their religion," the OIC human rights body said on Tuesday, referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It added the IPHRC urges Sri Lankan government "to publicly denounce such discriminatory and Islamophobic statements and desist from any measures against law abiding Muslims which negate spirit of pluralism and contravene international human rights law."

Pakistan's Ambassador to Sri Lanka Saad Khattak said the ban would "only serve as injury to the feelings of ordinary Sri Lankan Muslims and Muslims across the globe."

"At today's economically difficult time due to the pandemic and other image related challenges faced by the country at international fora, such divisive steps in the name of security, besides accentuating economic difficulties, will only serve as fillip to further strengthen wider apprehensions about fundamental human rights of minorities in the country," Khattak wrote on Twitter.

Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, tweeted: "Burka bans are incompatible with international law guarantees of the right to manifest one's religion or belief and of freedom of expression!"

In a latest report, Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief, Shaheed remarked: "Muslims often feel stigma, shame and a sense that they are ‘suspect communities’ who are being forced to bear collective responsibility for the actions of a small minority."

He added bringing essential services including education and care sectors within the national security apparatus disproportionately heightens surveillance of Muslims.

Shaheed emphasized that such government policies suppress the ability of Muslims to freely be Muslim./aa

An increasing number of European tourists are flocking to Spain to escape restrictive coronavirus lockdowns, even though most Spaniards are still unable to travel domestically.

On Tuesday, Irish airline Ryanair announced it was adding around 200 extra flights between Germany and Spain during Easter week, joining Lufthansa and other airlines to boost service between the two nations.

The surge came after Germany removed Spain’s Balearic Islands from its list of risk areas over the weekend.

Although the islands are preparing for a surge in international tourists over Easter, Spanish tourists will not be welcome.

During the weeks surrounding Easter, all Spanish regions will forbid residents from leaving or entering unless they have justified reasons like work or an emergency. At the moment, most Spanish regions have closed their internal borders.

Residents in Madrid, in particular, have also noticed a recent spike in French tourists looking for an escape from local restrictions.

“Here we can enjoy bars, life. What we do here we can’t do in France,” one tourist told local daily Nuis this weekend.

Two weekends ago, an analysis of cell phones found that 2,560 French tourists were in Madrid – the highest figure since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to local media reports.

Madrid has some of the loosest restrictions in Europe. Bars and even nightclubs are open until curfew starts at 11 p.m. local time, whereas in France, curfew begins at 6 p.m. local time and bars and restaurants remain closed.

If arriving by plane, French visitors have to present a negative coronavirus test result, but they may enter Spain by road without presenting any documentation.

However, Spain still has extra restrictions on UK flights over concerns of the more contagious variant, even though the strain has already become dominant across much of Spain.

Despite Spain’s relatively lax measures, coronavirus infections remain low. On Tuesday, the country reported 4,962 new cases – a similar number compared to the same day last week.

Another 141 people were also reported dead from COVID-19, 150 fewer than one week ago.

Spain temporarily paused the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, and has administered 5.7 million vaccine doses in total./ agencies

The Minister of Health (MoH), Dr. Basil Al-Sabah said that the students would gradually return to school in various stages with the beginning of the new academic year in September. MoH plans to vaccinate all educational and administrative bodies in schools next month, Al Jarida reported.

Dr. Basil Al-Sabah stressed the importance of vaccinating everyone, to preserve the health and safety of life. He pointed out that so far 400,000 have been vaccinated in addition to that half of the elderly Kuwaitis registered have been vaccinated, while about a quarter of the elderly foreigners have been vaccinated. He also said that around 80 to 100 elderly people are vaccinated daily at their homes.

Al Sabah said that the vaccination process will continue during the Ramadan period. He said that approximately 120,000 educators and administrators in education, along with cooperative societies, hairdressers, and banks, will be vaccinated next April.

The minister indicated that vaccination is very effective in reducing the number of death significantly. He said that since the number of vaccinated people in the world reached 400 million, the number of infections and deaths has decreased in America, Britain, and many countries.

He added that in the next stage and after the month of Ramadan, anyone who is not vaccinated will be prevented from entering the cinema any place where workers have not been vaccinated will also be closed.

SOURCE: TIMESKUWAIT

 The ‘Rohingya crisis’ surfaces once again in the country, as the Delhi police detained 88 Rohingya refugees protesting in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in New Delhi last week. Out of the 88 detained Rohingyas, 17 were pregnant women and children, and 71 were men.

This comes in the wake of the March 6 incident this year, when 168 Rohingya refugees were rounded up in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and detained. Rohingya refugees in J&K were hauled up for “verification” at Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu, where they were required to provide biometric and biographic data, including information about relatives at risk in Myanmar.

During the verification process, 155 refugees were chosen at random by the police and detained. Later the same day, 13 more refugees were arrested. The following morning, police along with their vehicles were stationed near several refugee settlements. Fearing deportation, many refugees fled from their homes in J&K and many went into hiding.

Some of the displaced Rohingyas came to Delhi and staged a protest against the police action, even while seeking sanctuary outside the UNHCR office in the capital. The protesters fearing arrest by the Indian authorities, who have announced plans to deport them, were seeking protection from the UN body. Besides, they had wanted to renew their refugee cards.

The detained refugees from J&K possess either valid or expired refugee cards issued by the UNHCR. According to a Mohammad Rafiq, a detained refugee, they had UNHCR cards, which give them refugee status. “We are not illegal immigrants. We came to India in 2012 and we have been living here since then. Some of us have expired UNHCR cards which we have been unable to update due to Covid-19 restrictions and Internet blackouts in J&K,” he added.

They had come to Delhi to ask UNHCR to help them since the Indian authorities were planning to deport them. “But, they didn’t listen to our plight,” he said.

Another detained refugee Ali Mohammed was anxious about his wife and children. He said, “I am very scared as they have taken the children and women elsewhere. I don’t know what they will do to us.”

Vikas Sahu, sub-inspector, Vikaspuri police station confirmed that 88 persons have been detained, out of which 17 women and children have been taken to the UNHCR facility in Vikaspuri. The 71 Rohingya men have been moved to a shelter in the capital’s Inderlok area, he said.

Meanwhile, officials in Jammu said the detained Rohingyas will be deported to their homeland, Myanmar. “A list of the Rohingyas currently in a holding centre will be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry will send the list to the Myanmar government and after verification of their nationality we will deport them,” Jammu Inspector General of Police, Mukesh Singh told the media.

UNHCR cards do not entitle refugee status to Rohingyas in India, he clarified. “We can deport them even though they have the UNHCR card. This issue can be referred to the Indian government and the Supreme Court,” he added.

Rohingyas in trouble after BJP came to power

India has an estimated 40,000 Rohingyas, at least 16,500 of whom are registered with the UNHCR. According to UNHCR, 350 Rohingyas are ‘in detention’ in India, some of them have been arbitrarily detained for 7 to 10 years with limited access to UNHCR and legal representation.

But since 2016, extremist Hindu groups have targeted Rohingya refugees in India and have demanded their eviction. BJP has labelled Rohingya refugees as “illegal immigrants” and has sought to ‘identify’ and locate them with the clear purpose of deporting them to Myanmar.

A public anti-Rohingya campaign, claiming that they are “terrorists,” instigated some vigilante-style violence, including a reported arson attack by unidentified assailants on five Rohingya houses in Jammu in April 2017.

Indian authorities have deported 12 Rohingyas since October 2018. The police detained approximately 60 refugees in Assam, West Bengal, and New Delhi between November 2020 to January 2021. In Haryana, refugee families have faced harassment by the police, who have displaced them from their homes.

In February, at least 81 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh refugee camps, were found crammed in a fishing boat drifting in the Andaman sea, after its engine had failed on the way to Malaysia. They were suffering from severe hunger and dehydration; eight people had died.

After the refugees sent their GPS location to relatives, the Indian navy and coast guard located the boat and provided food, medical, and technical aid. The Indian government has sought to send the refugees back to Bangladesh, which has refused to accept them.

The Rohingyas in Delhi took asylum in Budena Gaon where 30 Rohingya families live, who had been part of an earlier exodus in 2012. The same is true for the camps located in Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, and Chennai.

M Jaman, a Rohingya pointed out that they have been living in Delhi for the past 10 years. “But now we are scared. For the last 3 to 4 years, there is constant pressure on us. Police come anytime and note down our names and numbers. Our children are born in India and we don’t want to go back to Myanmar,” he said.

“We are not ready to return until the situation improves in Myanmar,” said Mohammad Saleem, another Rohingya. “It is extremely distressing for us to be sent back to Myanmar against our wishes.”

Indian rights activist Tapan Bose of the Free Rohingya Coalition advocacy group said this is completely a BJP agenda. “BJP is saying that the Rohingyas are a threat to the country and national security. These are people who have been prosecuted and beaten up for several decades. They have never done anything violent in terms of protest. I feel ashamed that the Indian government is doing this. This is a humanitarian cause and deporting them is totally inhumane,” she said.

“Any plan to forcibly return Rohingya and others to Myanmar will put them back in the grip of the oppressive military junta that they fled,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “Myanmar’s long-abusive military is even more lawless now that it is back in power, and the Indian government should uphold its international law obligations and protect those in need of refuge within its borders.”