What's really surprising is
the volume of Muslims in India and Pakistan is not much different yet I always thought there were far more Muslims in Pakistan than India
That Indonesia has the most Muslims - above Pakistan

That Iraq and Afghanistan have so few Muslims yet these are the places you hear from mostly in terms of contravention of human rights

What would be interesting is to understand of the above, which countries are the most extremist Muslim countries.

yep, proportionatly there is less chance of a Muslim being on the forum

I've inserted the percentages of population. I had also assumed that there was a far higher number of muslims in Pakistan vs India.

Thanks mate - that's getting a more clearer picture

Muslims in India = 13.4% of total population
Muslims in Pakistan = 96.3% of total population
Muslims in Indonesia = 88.2% of total population
Muslims in Iraq = 99% of total population
Muslims in Afghanistan = 99.7% of total population

What would be interesting is to understand of the above, which countries are the most extremist Muslim countries in terms of adopting the burqa?

Against the legal ban, and against burqas and niqabs. Let popular contempt handle the situation, and common sense prevail in situations where the face needs to be seen.

British maybe... but when was the last time you looked at the Immigration forum?
Judging from what I see on there I would guess it's over 50% Muslim.

I'm not sure that it would be over 50% but definitely well over 2.7%.

hmm.. tricky question... I've got a very limited understanding on the different types of dress, let alone what countries wear them. I know that in Afghanistan they wear a "stricter" version of the burka.

I agree with Creature, based on postings in there over the last few months I'd say 50% would be a conservative estimate actually.
While I appreciate you can't always tell from posts, our Immigration forum has suffered considerably in the last few months from an exodus of established posters going to other forums, partly due to the increase in immigration queries on here from people from a Muslim background. We have several threads containing strings of posts praising Allah and thanking him for visa grants, and I've lost count of the number of posts I've removed due to people communicating in various Arabic and other non-western languages.
Cultural differences mean that people from places like Pakistan, India, Arabic nations expect instant answers, keep asking if they don't get the instant answers, and are often abrupt (or what we view as rude) in their requests and replies. They pester agents for free info - which has led to most of them cutting their posts dramatically, and there is also a constant insistence that people should reveal all their personal details "where are you from, tell me all the small details of your timeline etc" - which goes against the British reserve against sharing details like that. This has led eventually to a huge downturn in queries from people looking to migrate from the UK, and even from other parts of Europe.

Can't help wondering - as many people have posted, the women wearing the burqa often do so because their husband demands it (regardless of their own feelings), and their beliefs are such that they do what their husband says, they wouldn't dream of doing otherwise.
So that raises the question - if the burqa were to be banned, and these women could not wear it in public - would they even be allowed to leave the house? By banning the wearing of the burqa in public, could the govt actually be condemning women to a life of virtual house arrest?

I think so. I'm sure women with these husbands are only allowed out because of the Burqa. You can't ban a 'dress', where would it stop, ban the burqa, next the turban and then the kippah etc.

Move this thread to the Immigration Forum... it would liven it up a bit if nothing else.

Ban Islam. Problem solved.

Very interesting and lively discussion. Sorry for being late in the party. I'm a Muslim, from Bangladesh. How can I help?

Ahhhh..here you are

Yes, you can help mate.

We are discussing whether there should be a ban on anyone wearing the burqa in Aus. What's your views on this please mate?

Ban it from places where you are required to verify someone's identification but don't take away their freedom from wearing it altogether.

Burqa ban will directly affect only a handful of the minority, but it'll scare the rest of us because we'll be thinking 'what next'?

If you're trying to free someone from supposed oppression, handing a ban isn't the answer. Raising social awareness would serve them better IMHO. Educating women about their options in Australia regarding any social violence/oppression would be more helpful for them.

It's probably worth mentioning that, there seems to be a general consensus here that Muslim male oppress their female family members, which is a gross generalization. It's not what I've seen in my 26 years at home and 2 years here. We need to remember that it's only a news when something goes wrong and if our opinion is only a sum of these wrongs, then at the end of the day we'll have a wrong picture.