Sarkozy sparks British Burka debate

Reporter: Marina Berry
Date online: 01 July 2009

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy caused an outcry when he attacked the burka. He expressed a strong dislike for the head-to-toe Islamic veil, calling it not a sign of religion, but a sign of sub-servience. In a major policy speech, he said it wasn’t welcome on French soil, claiming it deprived women of their identity, reduced them to servitude and undermined their dignity. Reporter Marina Berry went on to the streets of Oldham to canvass opinion.

Doreen Farrington, of Failsworth, backed President Sarkozy’s views, saying: “I think they should ban the burka here.

“Most Muslim women don’t wear them in their country, so why should they wear them here? They should dress the same way as everyone else.”

Saddleworth man Jonathan Lowe was also against the form of dress, but for different reasons.

He said: “My view is that it’s not very nice to women. It makes them appear to be subservient.

Oldham woman Saima Khan said people should be able to follow their religious beliefs, and that meant wearing what they liked.

She said: “I don’t wear a burka, but if other people want to wear them then they should be allowed to do so.

“The way people want to dress is up to them. It’s not up to other people to decide what they should wear.”

But, she admitted, it didn’t always make sense from a safety point of view, making it virtually impossible to identify someone who committed a criminal act.

Makmuda Begum said: “I don’t wear the burka, but I feel people who want to wear it should be free to do so.”

She said of Muslim women: “We are meant to cover all our body, but at the end of the day it is up to a person’s own opinion as to what they want to wear.

“No one is forced to wear a burka, and I don’t see why women who do can’t show their faces if people want to see who they are for security reasons.”

Against the burka is Kay McConnell, who said she found it intimidating to speak to someone whose face she couldn’t see.

She said: “I have an Asian friend who wears robes and says there is absolutely no need to wear the burka whatsoever.

“I am not racist — some of our best friends are Asian and West Indian — but I don’t think people should wear the burka in this country.

“I have been told they wear it because their men don’t want other men looking at them.”

Pals Emdadur Rahman and Rahul Choudhury, who both live in Oldham, hold strong beliefs that Muslim women should wear the burka.

Emdadur said: “Women should be allowed to wear what they want Islamically, and I think they should wear the burka all the time.”

Rahul added: “France has no right to do what it has done, it is speaking against our religion.”