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Monday, October 6, 2003

Islamic veils have no place in French schools: Raffarin

Press Trust of India
October 6

Islamic veils and other religious symbols have no place in French schools,
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said in a television interview.

Schools "should not be the place where people display their religious
affiliations," Raffarin said during a wide-ranging interview on French
channel M6 late on Sunday.

The question of traditional Islamic dress is at the centre of deliberations
by a national commission seeking consensus on France's secular principles.
While France is overwhelmingly Catholic, some five million of its 58 million
inhabitants are Muslim.

The debate over whether Muslim women have the right to wear headscarves or
veils at school, at work or even on identity photos, regularly causes a
furore in France, which is fiercely proud of the state's secular nature.
French Muslims themselves are divided over how to deal with the issue.
Wearing a headscarf is down to an individual's interpretation of Islam,
while the debate itself is seen by many as showing Islam in a negative
light.

The commission set up to consider the matter is split between those seeking
an outright ban and those who prefer dialogue with the Muslim community.
Raffarin, while proclaiming himself in favour of everyone being free to
practise their religion, said he remained opposed to "ostentatious
expression of religious conviction," stressing that "the school is not the
place for political or religious propaganda".

© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.
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