The Sri Lankan government insisted yesterday that preventing Muslim women from wearing a burqa or niqab was a national security move, as it faced protests over the decision.

Sri Lankan Muslims decried the measure as a new act of discrimination against their community, which accounts for 10 percent of the 21 million, Buddhist-majority population.

Colombo's nationalist government has taken a tough security line since suicide bomb attacks in April 2019 that killed 279 people.

The ban on the burqa, a traditional Islamic head-to-toe garment, and the niqab veil, was announced last Saturday with Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera saying they were symbols of Islamic extremism.

The minister said Sri Lanka would also shut down private madrasas, Islamic religious schools.

After a cabinet meeting Monday, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said: "We will move forward on the basis of national security, nothing else."

He said there would be more cabinet talks before the ban is legalised and implemented.