The French government is drawing up a law to ban the full face Islamic veil or burka from public places, according to reports published in the European press.

The Elysee presidential palace in Paris said on April 21 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy had ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils that hide the face - such as niqab, burka or veil- in the street and other public places.

Meanwhile, the French government announced that the proposed ban would also apply to visiting tourists as well as residents.

It may also be recalled here that in March France’s highest legal advisory body had warned against a full ban on face covering veils, which it believed, could be unconstitutional.

A parliamentary committee examined the issue for six months last year before recommending partial ban on full veils such as burka and niqab in town halls, hospitals, buses, trains and government offices.

Earlier in January Prime Minister François Fillon had asked the Council of State to examine how France can put total ban, "the widest and most effective " ban on face covering veils without "offending our Muslim compatriots". The Council concluded that a total ban in all public places could violate the French constitution and the European law. Even limited restriction would be hard to enforce, the Council had opined.

Meanwhile, the French move has invited criticism not only from the Muslim community in France but also from the international media and even the French Catholic Church.

The influential US paper, Los Angeles Times commenting on the move said in an editorial that the law banning the veil would be a shame. Moreover it is unlikely to achieve its goal and could have the opposite effect instead. The paper said, France…. they cannot.

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