Representational Image | Source: Flickr

Tunis: Citing security reasons, Tunisia’s Prime Minister Youssef Chahed banned the niqab face covering for women in government offices. Signing a government circular the PM’s office said that the ban will be enforced strictly and now anyone with their face covered will not be allowed to access public administrations and institutions.

The ban on the niqab comes following a June 27 double suicide bombing in Tunis in which two people died while seven were wounded.

This was the third such incident in a single week and it came at a time when the country is gearing up for autumn elections. With tourism as a main source of income, Tunisia is known for its golden beaches and beautiful weather. Tourists come in droves to see major Tunisian attractions which also include the ancient ruins of Carthage and affordable resorts in Monastir, located on the central coast of the country.

This is also one of the reasons behind banning the niqab.

In February 2014, the interior minister ordered the police to increase supervision of women wearing the niqab as part of anti-terrorism measures, to prevent its use as a disguise or to escape justice.

The Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights, however, urged that the measure will only be temporary.

“We are for the freedom to dress (as one pleases), but today with the current situation and the terrorist threats in Tunisia and across the region we find justifications for this decision,” the league's president Jamel Msallem told AFP.

Msallem said that the ban should be repealed once the North African country returns to normalcy.

During the rule of autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, niqab was not tolerated but it made a comeback after he was toppled in Tunisia's 2011 revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution.

However, since the overthrow of Ben Ali in the revolution, the country has witnessed an increase in terrorism in which many civilians and tourists have been targeted.

Rise of radical Islam has further forced the government to provide additional security at popular tourist and archaeological sites with the deployment of armed tourist security officers near the coast and inside popular resorts and hotels.

After the deadly 2015 attacks in which many members from the Tunisian security forces and tourists were killed, calls were raised to re-impose the ban in the country.

In 2002, Ghriba synagogue bombing was attacked leading to the death of 14 German tourists, three Tunisian and two French nationals. In March 2015, Bardo National Museum in Tunis was attacked in which 22 European tourists died. The same year in June, two resorts at Port El Kantaoui were targeted leading to the death of 38 people with a majority of them from Britain.