Srinagar: As women in France continue to defy ban on burkinis, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti joined in to call out the ban.
The first female chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that wearing a Burkini or bikini should be left to a woman.
Taking to her Twitter handle, Mehbooba said, “It should be a woman’s choice whether she’s comfortable in a bikini or burkini.” She wrote.
Burkinis, a mix of the words “burka” and “bikini”, are marketed to Muslim women as a way for them to swim in public while adhering to modesty edicts.
But the burkini remains controversial in France, where authorities in several French towns have proposed banning the garment altogether.
In 2010, France became the first European country to ban the full-face veil in public.
Meanwhile, despite the heat wave sweeping across western Europe, lifeguards in Grenoble have shut down the city’s two municipal swimming pools after Muslim women went swimming in burkinis.