Bengaluru: In what comes as a strong and decisive move, a Sri Lankan Parliamentary panel has proposed an immediate move to ban burqa. 

The panel has also suggested banning of registration of political parties on religious and ethnic lines. 

A special report in this regard was presented in the Parliament. The report comes in the wake of the last year’s bombings which killed hundreds. 

A popular website quoted thus: The report states that a number of countries have already banned the burqa and suggested that the police should have the power to request anyone wearing a face covering in a public place to take it off in order to establish the person's identity.

In case, such a move was not made, the report added that the police should have the power to arrest the person without a warrant. 

Apart from the burqa ban, the panel has also suggested the election commission to enact a law that forbids parties from registering themselves on ethnic and religious basis. 

Another important recommendation is to absorb students in madrassas into the normal schooling system, under the ministry of education in a time frame of 3 years. 

On April 21 last year, on Easter Sunday, three churches across Colombo were bombed apart from several top end hotels by Islamic suicide bombers. Later, as the country was coming to grips with the tragedy, smaller explosions took place at Dematagoda and Dehiwala.
 
According to official estimates, at least 258 people were killed, including 45 foreign nationals among which were 11 Indians. The church bombings happened at Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo.
The hotels that were bombed were the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn.

According to Sri Lankan authorities, the seven suicide bombers were associated with the National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a local militant Islamist group with suspected foreign ties, already known for attacks against Buddhists and Sufis.