Head Scarves in Kosovo

[Ivo Skoric]

Dispute over Muslim women wearing head scarves goes beyond Florida 
and France. Here is from Kosovo. Fabulously, there local ALbanian 
Muslim principal is against the scarves, while the internationals are 
defending the scarves. Double standards?! Besides, RFE/RL insists on 
calling Kosov@ by its Albanian name Kosova (the Slavic version is 
Kosovo), while it names the capital by its Slavic name 'Prishtina' 
instead of using the Albanian spelling 'Prishtine'. Political 
correctness? Inconsistency? Indolence? Or ignorance?
ivo

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 28, Part II, 12 February 2004
DISPUTE OVER ISLAMIC HEAD SCARVES IN KOSOVA. Marek Nowicki, 
who is
Kosova's ombudsman, wrote the Education Ministry to protest the
recent ruling by the principal of the Sami Frasheri High School in
Prishtina banning a pupil from wearing an Islamic head scarf in
school, Deutsche Welle's "Monitor" reported on 11 February. Nowicki
called the ban a serious violation of human rights. The principal
told reporters that she is simply enforcing the ministry's policy.
Most of Kosova's ethnic Albanian majority is of Islamic heritage but
highly secular in outlook, as is typical of much of former
Yugoslavia. PM




ivo