{"id":94741,"date":"2013-07-09T05:27:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T23:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=94741"},"modified":"2013-07-16T23:10:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:40:59","slug":"gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka &#8211; An Online Petition Launched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bodu Bala Sena has launched an online campaign against\u00a0Burqa and Niqab. &#8220;Ban of face covering cloths&#8221;, the BBS CEO <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Dilanthe+Withanage&amp;x=8&amp;y=5\">Dilanthe Withanage<\/a><\/span> posted in his Facebook. He also posted the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.government.nl\/news\/2012\/01\/27\/government-approves-ban-on-clothing-that-covers-the-face.html\">official web link<\/a><\/span> of the Government of Netherlands decision to ban clothing that covers the face, which says; &#8220;The government has reaffirmed the decision to introduce a general ban on wearing clothing that covers the face in public. It believes that people need to be able to look each other in the eye and interact with recognisable faces. Open communication is vital in public places. Wearing clothing that covers the face is not appropriate in an open society like the Netherlands, where participation in social intercourse is crucial.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/burqa\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-94750\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-94750\" title=\"Burqa\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a>Meanwhile <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/petitions\/the-secretary-of-defence-mr-gotabaya-rajapaksha-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka#supporters\">an online petition<\/a><\/span> also launched urging Secretary to the Ministry of Defence to ban the Burqa and Niqab in Sri Lanka. The petitioners says;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Secretary of Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksha: Ban the Burqa and Niqab in Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We believe that the government should Ban the Burka.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a threat to national security<\/p>\n<p>This is still officially a buddhist country and it should not go out of its way to appease foreign ideologies. This isn&#8217;t even just a religious symbol, considering some islamic countries have bans<\/p>\n<p>It is a symbol of oppression of women in foreign countries<\/p>\n<p>We call on the government to Ban the Burka immediately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/dilanthe-1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-94745\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94745\" title=\"Dilanthe 1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"514\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe-1.jpg 514w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe-1-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 514px) 100vw, 514px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/dilanthe\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-94742\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94742\" title=\"Dilanthe\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"513\" height=\"713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe.jpg 513w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Dilanthe-215x300.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/ban-the-burqa\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-94747\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94747\" title=\"Ban the Burqa\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Ban-the-Burqa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"589\" height=\"874\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Ban-the-Burqa.jpg 589w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Ban-the-Burqa-202x300.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":94750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched  - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched  - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-08T23:57:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-16T17:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/\",\"name\":\"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-08T23:57:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-16T17:40:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg\",\"width\":\"299\",\"height\":\"168\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka &#8211; An Online Petition Launched\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched  - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched  - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-07-08T23:57:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-16T17:40:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":299,"height":168,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/","name":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka - An Online Petition Launched - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg","datePublished":"2013-07-08T23:57:51+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-16T17:40:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg","width":"299","height":"168"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-sri-lanka-an-online-petition-launched\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Ban The Burqa And Niqab In Sri Lanka &#8211; An Online Petition Launched"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Burqa.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94741"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95817,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94741\/revisions\/95817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}