OnIslam & News Agencies
WELLINGTON — A diplomatic row has developed in New Zealand after two Saudi students were ejected from local buses for wearing face veil, triggering calls from Prime Minister John Key for tolerance and respect for different cultures and religions, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
"I think where practical, and on both sides, people should respect others' culture and cultural beliefs," Key told reporters on Tuesday, July 5.
The row developed after Gawheer Saud Al Thaubity, a veiled student from Saudi Arabia, was left standing on the street in tears after she was ordered off a crowded bus because the driver objected to her covered face.
The incident, in May, came just two days after another driver from the same company, NZ Bus, ordered another woman to remove her veil.
Denouncing both incidents, the Saudi consulate general wrote to the New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry to complain about the incidents.
PM Key defended the women's right to cover their faces, saying he was comfortable with women wearing veils.
"It doesn't offend me. It's part of people's beliefs," he told reporters.
He described New Zealand as a tolerant and inclusive society, saying he saw no need to ban Islamic veils in public, as France has done.
“There are practical reasons why sometimes a burqa won't be applicable -- banks for example, for security reasons from time to time they will enforce that,” PM Key said.
“But for the most part we are a multi-cultural society and we should respect other's cultural beliefs.”
The new veil row adds to controversy stirred currently in New South Wales in neighboring Australia over Muslim full face veil or niqab.
Yesterday, a low change was approved in New South Wales to grant police officers the power to ask for the removal of face-veils during routine car stops.
The south-pacific island country of New Zealand is home to 36,000 Muslims, according to the 2006 census.
While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil, or niqab, but believe that it is up to women to decide whether to cover her face.
Counseling
The country's largest bus operator, NZ Bus, involved in both Auckland incidents, said that bus drivers were not dismissed as their actions were not religiously motivated.
"Both drivers... claim it's not religious... but they genuinely have a phobia of people wearing masks, hence why we have not dismissed them," NZ Bus general manager Jon Calder told the Dominion Post.
Calder added that the drivers were being counseled after being given a final written warning and will lose their jobs if the behavior is repeated.
According to the New Zealand Herald, one driver had finished the counseling program, and had visited a mosque and apologized to one of the women.
The Tramways and Public Transport Union, representing bus drivers, says it does not support denying women entry if they are wearing veils.
National secretary Gary Froggatt urged need for offering drivers training in cultural and religious protocols to avoid such inconvenient incidents.
Froggatt added that bus drivers fear of veiled women should not be a justification for banning them entry to the bus, adding that they can stop the bus and call for assistance in they fear for their safety.
"Every passenger has the right to board the bus without any problems,” he said.
“If the driver does have concerns about a passenger that might affect his safety, it mainly relates to people who are under the influence or alcohol and or drugs."
July 05, 2011, OnIslam & News Agencies
