Calls to pass such a bill came one day after the statement of Nassif al-Khutabi, the head of the local government in Karbala governorate, pledging to take “severe measurements to impose a law on the hijab” in Karbala.
The recent uproar is a reaction to the visit of Maysoun al-Damlouji, a parliamentarian for the National Coalition, to Karbala on Feb. 5 without wearing the veil.
Damlouji responded to Khutabi’s statement, saying, “The provincial council of Karbala should have paid more attention to the cleanliness in the streets of the city instead of starting talks about the veil or the etiquette of my visit to Karbala.”
Currently, no rule in Karbala obliges women to wear the hijab once they enter the city. This is why some believe the local government is trying to restrict freedoms in the community for electoral purposes.
There are also fears that Iraq will be turned into a “hard-line religious state.” These concerns are based on a series of attempts to do just that, such as the law banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol passed by the parliament last October. Others also believe that post-Islamic State Iraq will be a country controlled by extremist Shiite parties.
The news about Karbala’s provincial council to pass a law on imposing the veil caused a split among the community inside the governorate. While politicians and members of the local government supported such a law, activists condoned it. Some of them appeared on TV to voice their opinion, considering such a law to be the extension of extremist ideologies in Karbala.
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