"Hijab should be given a modern interpretation rather than basing it on outdated notion," he said at a discussion on hijab organised by the Assembly for Protection of Hijab, Bangladesh at the National Press Club to mark the International Hijab Solidarity Day yesterday.

Moudud termed France's ban on the use of hijab a sad incident and said, "We had a very good idea about France for its democracy and liberalism, but now I am surprised that such a discriminatory law has been passed in the country."

"Wearing decent clothes strengthen women's empowerment," the law minister said, adding that any resistance to hijab is also a violation of fundamental and human rights although it is related to religion.

Justice Abdur Rouf said, "France only considered the social implications [of hijab] and ignored its scientific aspect." France has violated the fundamental rights given in a charter of the United Nations, he added.

Dr Syeda Sultana Razia of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) presented a keynote paper in which she said France's effort to bring its Muslim women into the mainstream through banning hijab in fact made the country more insecure.

"Any ban on hijab should be resisted to protect the Muslim women worldwide from any racial, sexual and religious discrimination," she said in the paper. She noted that some other European countries like Germany and Belgium and Australia are also trying to ban hijab in an effort to present the Muslim women as repressed.

Former Secretary Shah Abdul Hannan said, "There is no clash between secularism and hijab, but the president of France considered hijab as a political symbol, which is an assault on Islam."

Editor of the daily Naya Diganta Alamgir Mohiuddin described the ban on hijab in France as a "well-thought political attack on Muslims".

Barrister Fatema Anwar of Bangladesh Supreme Court, Elahi Newaz Khan of Dhaka Journalists' Union also took part in the discussion.