Some Muslims seem to have no trouble turning from calls for the freedom to wear headscarves in France to denying the freedom not to wear them elsewhere. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:
Three Islamic rebel groups in Indian-controlled Kashmir have demanded that women in the region wear head-to-toe veils and that all beauty parlors close, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The groups want restaurants to shut partitioned areas supposedly reserved for families – but in reality also used by young couples. It also wants tutoring centers, which prepare teenagers for college examinations, to segregate girls and boys, the Times of India newspaper said.
The demands were made by the Al-Madina Regiment, which the newspaper described as a collection of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Al-Umar and Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen militant groups.
The rebels have been fighting Indian security forces since 1989, seeking independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan. More than 65,000 people have died.
Anyone failing to meet the demands by March 1 would “face the consequences,” the newspaper quoted Al-Madina Regiment chief Umar Khalid as saying.
Similar demands have been made in the past – and few are adhered to.
Muslim women in Jammu-Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, usually don’t wear head-to-toe burqa veils and instead cover their heads with loose scarfs.