[DAWN] TO veil or not to veil, that is the question. And that continues to be asked in Europe where La Belle France, Belgium, Spain and Italia have imposed a ban on the niqab in public places. The niqab shrouds the entire face and leaves small slits for the eyes. The ban does not apply to the more ubiquitous hijab, a head scarf that leaves the face fully exposed. No country has so far restricted the hijab.The latest to pronounce a verdict on this controversial item of the female apparel is the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where a French woman SAS (identity not disclosed) of Pak origin filed a case against the French law forbidding the use of the full-face veil in public places. SAS claimed that the law violated her "freedom of religion and expression".
The law had stirred some controversy in La Belle France when it was being debated in 2010. A section of the Mohammedan community was vocal in its opposition. But that did not make much of an impact as there are five million Mohammedans in La Belle France — the largest number in any West European country — and of these only 1,900 were estimated to wear the full veil when the law came into force in 2011. Now their number is said to have dropped by half.