your columnist Shuiab Khan is very much mistaken when he maintains in his article that “most people couldn’t care less” about Asian females wearing the burka and flippantly remarking that “we should draw a veil over the whole issue”. I for one refuse to do so.

A recent poll for the Independent found that six out of 10 UK citizens proposed a ban on wearing it in all public places.

I award full marks to Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Maria Carfagna, Italian equal opportunities minister, in their latest iniative in attempting to defend the dignity and rights of Asian women and taking the first steps to outlawing the hideous full face covering that masquerades as a religious tradition while turning women into a mobile prison shutting themselves off from the entire community.

If only our government could display such determination although I suspect the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights will have something to say about the plans of our European neighbours. I am all in favour of living in a tolerant society but oppressive men preventing women from playing a full part in a free society and using a medieval garment to alienate and control women under the guise of religious freedom in my book is totally unacceptable.

Neither do I accept the argument that it is their choice. Perhaps so, but what pressures have been brought to bear on them?

The reality is that many women are not free to choose. The veil is an imported Saudi Arabian tradition which is not just regressive but oppressive and dangerous. It restricts women and prevents them from achieving their full potential in all areas of life and, most importantly, it is a barrier to communication and integration. Personally, I find it intimidating. I accept that both the Bible and the Koran are open to interpretation but Muslim acquaintances of mine insist that nowhere in the Koran does it state that a woman’s face and body must be covered in a layer of heavy black cloth. Instead, it encourages women to dress modestly covering their arms and legs.

The burkha is the ultimate visual symbol of female oppression and debasement &and the weapon of radical and funda-mentalist muslim men who want to see a Talibanistic society and Sharia law on Britain’s streets and would love women to be hidden, unseen and unheard.

It is totally out of place in a civilised country.

Jim Oldcorn, Ridgeway, Great Harwood.