Sri Lanka to Ban Burqa, Shut More Than 1,000 Unregistered Islamic Schools: Minister

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab walks through a street near St Anthony's Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 29, 2019. Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

COLOMBO—Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday.

Minister for public security, Sarath Weerasekera, said the new policy was based on considerations for “national security” during a news conference on Friday.