MOSCOW: Russia’s southern Dagestan region on Wednesday issued a temporary ban against wearing the niqab in the Muslim-majority republic, citing security reasons after a recent attack against churches and synagogues.

This veil — which hides the entirety of a woman’s face with the exception of the eyes — is “temporarily prohibited until the elimination of existing threats”, said Dagestan’s highest religious body.

Last month, gunmen simultaneously attacked two churches, two synagogues and a police checkpoint in two cities in Dagestan, killing 22 people. The attacks came just three months after fighters of the militant Islamic State group killed more than 140 in an assault on a Moscow concert hall, the deadliest terror attack in Russia for almost two decades. Few details have surfaced about the identities and motivations of the attackers in Dagestan.

The incidents had echoes of the kind of insurgent violence that struck the North Caucasus during the 1990s and 2000s, however, the Kremlin has dismissed fears of a renewed wave of violent unrest.

In the 1990s, Moscow fought two wars for control of the neighbouring Chechnya region, with President Vladimir Putin touted his success in quashing the insurgency at the start of his presidency.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024