Manama: Kuwait's parliament is heading towards more divisions after a conservative lawmaker pledged to bring up in the parliament the issue of making the veil mandatory for elected and appointed officials.
"It is obvious that according to the constitution that states that Islam is the country's religion, and to the rules, women elected to parliament or appointed as ministers should wear the veil," MP Mohammad Al Hayef said.
"The government is not able to apply the law or to impose the veil on its minister, Moudhi Al Humood. The government seems not able to choose a veiled ministry. Therefore, we will take up the issue to the parliament and allow the nation to see how the law is being broken," he said at the weekly parliamentary session.
However, MPs Abdul Rahman Al Anjari and Aseel Al Awadhi rejected Al Hayef's claims while Justice and Endowments Minister Rashid Al Hamdan refused the pressure on the government and insisted that there were other parties concerned.
"From the religious point of view, the Endowments' fatwa says that the veil is mandatory. However, the Constitutional Court is in charge of explaining the regulations in the electoral law," he said.
"In all cases, the government cannot on its own decide on the issue. We have one minister, but you have four women MPs. It is a common responsibility that we should shoulder together," he said.
The issue of women MPs and ministers not wearing the veil inside the parliament has grated with Islamist lawmakers since 2005 when the Kuwaiti parliament voted 35-23 to give women the right to vote and run for parliament.
The situation was compounded when four women were elected in May 2009 to the parliament for the first time, with two of them refusing to wear the headscarf.
The results set the women and liberals on a collision course with conservative MPs who boycotted the swearing-in ceremonies of the women lawmakers.