Burqa a Garment of Seduction?

So the three killed by the Taliban in last Monday’s attack on election workers were, as you probably correctly guessed, women, should come as no surprise. What’s distressing beyond the death and mayhem these “concrete blockheads” (as one reader aptly calls them!)inflict is the alarming fact that their strategy of harassment and terror may be putting Afghan elections off into 2005. And on top of this we learn that women are still wearing burgas in overwhelming numbers. While there apparently is some sense of safety in wearing a garment that renders one virtually invisible, a 1998 UN Human Rights report found that sexual harassment of women actually increased considerably after the Taliban mandated wearing the burqa – apparently some men find it provocative. Go figure.