Here is a snapshot for the burka sitch worldwide:
Afghanistan
The full Afghan chadri covers the wearer's entire face except for a small region about the eyes, which is covered by a concealing net or grille.
Before the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the chadri was infrequently worn in cities. While they were in power, the Taliban required the wearing of a chadri in public. Officially, it is not required under the present Afghan regime, but local warlords still enforce it in southern Afghanistan. Chadri use in the remainder of Afghanistan is variable and is observed to be gradually declining in Kabul. Due to political instability in these areas, women who might not otherwise be inclined to wear the chadri must do so as a matter of personal safety.
India
Among the Muslim population in India, the burqa is common in many areas—old Delhi, for example. In the locale of Nizamuddin Basti, the obligation of a woman to wear a burqa is dependent on her age:[11] young, unmarried women or young, married women in their first years of marriage
are required to wear the burqa.[11] However, after this
the husband usually decides if his wife should continue to wear a burqa
Syria
Syria is a constitutionally secular state and discourages the wearing of traditional hijab. Ghiyath Barakat, Syria's minister of higher education, announced that the government would ban students, teachers or staff from covering faces at universities, stating that the veils ran counter to secular and academic principles of the country.
Burkas are also banned in several european countries: France, Belgium, Italy, and Netherlands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa
And then there is Saudi Arabia:
Quote:
In some parts of the Islamic world, a woman is required to wear a burqa at all times in public, and this is enforced by law. Saudi Arabia has a particularly nasty group of police, the Mutaween, who are most famous to non-Saudis for allowing 14 schoolgirls to die in a fire because the girls were not wearing the proper covering.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Burqa
I realize that burkas are not used by all islamic communities. It is a minority of moslem groups that use the burka. The problem is in many cases the burka is in place by force and not by choice.
EDIT: maybe I will come back when those pics are gone.... that is mcnasty, I wish I could un see that. --- Paging mods ----