Banning burqa can radicalise UK Muslims, Imran warns Brit PM

Islamabad, Jul 27 (ANI): Former cricketer and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan, has warned British Prime Minister David Cameron that any attempt to ban burqa can radicalise UK Muslims and undermine the British way of life.

Addressing a rally in Glasgow on Saturday night, Imran said that the controversy over women wearing the face-covering veil was "much ado about nothing."

A move towards the hard line stance of the French Government, which recently voted to ban the garment in public, would likely be deeply unpopular with the Scots Muslim women who wear it, the Sunday Herald reported.

Imran warned that an official clampdown would serve to radicalise the already disaffected Muslim youth, The Nation quoted the paper, as saying.

"People are allowed to take off their clothes and walk around virtually naked.

And yet people who cover themselves don't seem to have that freedom," he said.

"I think this will be taken wrong. The worry in Britain and Europe should be to stop the radicalisation of Muslims. You remember in the Chilcott Inquiry, the head of MI5 said that there was more radicalisation among young Britons due to the Iraq War," he said.

"Subsequently it's the same with the Afghanistan war, where so many innocent people have been killed. And so there's a lot of anger in the Muslim young and they're getting radicalised. Not everyone picks up arms, but there can be no doubt there is anger."

Imran said, "When you add this (burqa) on top of it, it seems very discriminatory. On one side, if you have freedom to take off your clothes, you should also have the freedom if people want to cover themselves."

Imran warned that Britain's streets have become less safe as a result of the war in Afghanistan. He said he was against the conflict in Afghanistan from the outset. (ANI)