Try it on for size

It is understood that in some communities, putting on the veil is supposed to repel attention away from oneself, but according to Zaiba Malik, a freelance writer and broadcaster in London, it has quite the opposite effect of what it is trying to achieve.

She has her points but the objective she set out to do with this report is clearly lopsided. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that people are welcome to have their own opinions.

I just wished she or anyone could have been less "provocative" in the pursuit of that. When will it all end if we keep going at it? Let us all live and let live.

Below is an excerpt of her report:

There's a poster on the wall of an Islamic dress shop in East London showing a young woman in a black hijab. Above her is the word "Pure."

I'm here for the full Islamic covering, the complete three-piece suit: the hijab that I will wrap around my head, the shapeless robe known as an abaya, and the now-terribly-controversial niqab — a square of material that goes over one's face with a slit of about five inches for my eyes.

... I take it all home, but I don't put it on until the next morning. When I do, I see myself for the first time in full Islamic dress — and I'm horrified.

... I don't understand the need of women to wear something as severe as the niqab. But for that tiny number that do, I will shake their gloved hands for bearing this endurance task — the staring, the swearing and the discomfort. On the streets of London, the black veil does nothing to distract attention — and everything to attract it.