BEIJING: The legislature of northwest China's disturbed region of Xinjiang has banned the wearing of Burqa by Muslim women. This is a significant decision in Muslim inhabited province, which also borders Muslim countries in Central Asia and Pakistan.

The Communist Party leadership in Urumqi, provincial capital of Xinjiang, decided to ban the Burqa last month. Communist leaders feel Xinjiang is going through a phase of rising Islamic fundamentalism, which plays a role in the growth of separatism.

Discussing the legislature's decision, the official Xinhua news agency said that " The regulation is seen as an effort to curb growing extremism that forced Uygur women to abandon their colorful traditional dress and wear black burqas". Xinhua also noted that the Burqa has been banned in Belgium and France, and that it is "not a national dress of Muslims".

Xinjiang province is witness to regular terror attacks and clashes with security forces by separatists fighting to create an independent East Turkmenistan nation.