Hidden danger in tampering with the veil

This article was published in The Australian 1 February 2010

Like the Americans waging war in Afghanistan, the French demanding their government ban the burka would do well to look back in history at the experience of others who pursued a similar path.

In 1935, the shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, embarked on a sweeping program of modernisation. He built railways, factories and a university and prohibited the photographing of camels, which he believed made Iran look backwards. He also outlawed the chador, urging his countrywomen to "cast their veils, this symbol of injustice and shame, into the fires of oblivion".

The move was "part of a continuous Westernisation campaign whose primary aim was to weaken Islam", Iranian historian and author Mohammad Gholi Majd wrote.

Women who resisted had their veils forcibly removed and troops killed hundreds of protesters at mosques.