Muslims across the country have kicked against heightened searches conducted on women wearing Islamic dresses by security men.Muslims who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH this weekend cautioned security agencies against frisking Muslim women dressed in hijab and burka, adding that such an action would amount to profiling them.
Wikipedia describes the hijab as a “veil that covers the head and chest, which is often worn by Muslim women beyond the age of puberty in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family as a form of modest attire.”
Other dresses worn by Muslim women as a religious duty are the niqab, which only leaves the area
around the eyes open and the burka which is a dress that covers all parts of the body leaving just a mesh over the eyes.
Nigeria’s neighbour, Chad – which is also part of the multinational joint task force – banned women from wearing hijab both in private and public places, following two suicide bomb attacks. The hijab was also banned in public places in Congo-Brazzaville, to counter terrorism in May.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that due to the rising cases of Boko Haram female suicide bombers hiding explosives beneath the Islamic dress, Nigeria’s security agents in the North have also begun to search women who wear Islamic dresses for bombs.
Last year, there were about 10 cases of female suicide bombers who used the Islamic dress to conceal explosives in parts of the North. This year there have also been similar cases recorded in some parts of the country.
In May, a 10 year-old girl detonated a bomb concealed under her religious veil killing five and injuring many others at Bayan Tasha motor park in Damaturu, Yobe State.
Two months earlier, in February, two hijab-wearing women said to be in their late 20s in Yobe State killed two people when they detonated explosive devices hidden beneath their clothings.
On February 11, in Borno State, another female suicide bomber in a burka attacked a crowded market, killing seven people and seriously injuring 20 others.
Prior to the February suicide bombing, a girl believed to be no more than 10 years old detonated explosives hidden under her burka at a crowded Maiduguri Monday market, killing 20 people and wounding many more in January.
The UNICEF child protection specialist Laurent Dutordoir, had last month, noted that female suicide bombers were on the increase in Nigeria.
Following this development, the army and the police had deployed more female operatives for the purpose of frisking women wearing hijabs especially in states where Boko Haram have attacked more than once.
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