The Netherlands might be first European country to ban burqa, the proposal was put forward by independent politician Geert Wilders.

"That women should walk the streets in a totally unrecognizable manner is an insult to everyone who believes in equal rights," he said.

The Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk made the pledge after a majority in parliament said it would support such a ban.

But the process of legalizing the ban is not just one of the daily routine measures taken in Dutch parliament, there is huge risk that Dutch political elite might became even more possible target of islamic fundamentalists.

Geert Wilders together with Somalian descendant Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsh Ali as the most outspoken in warning dutch society of 'realistic threat' to western cultural values and democracy from islamic fundamentalists.

Both are on the death list and constantly guarded by Dutch police and bodyguards.
But Minister Rita Verdonk is not save too an unknown gunman opened fire on her office when she has threatened to expel radical Muslim clerics. Windows were shattered, but no one was injured.
Dutch authorities acknowledged that they don't yet understand the roots of the problem. "This is a very fundamental question, and we don't have a very good answer," said Vincent van Steen, a spokesman for the Dutch intelligence agency.

For a country which was and is frontrunner through history in sheltering respecting and protecting human rights and liberties and in the recent time was in between the firs to legalized gay marriage, prostitution, euthanasia and cannabis, one should wonder why such prohibition is needed, one hardly ever will see a burqa on the streets of the Netherlands, though the issue could prove explosive, Dutch general public is silently supporting this measure, moderate muslims are unhappy to be often stigmatized as part of the problem while extremist might use it as one more reason to harden their actions.