Sri Lanka rights activists Tuesday asked the island’s top court to reject a presidential order that restored a decades-old ban on women buying or selling alcohol, calling the move discriminatory. The historic ban was overturned by Sri Lanka’s finance minister earlier this month but was reinstated just days later by President Maithripala Sirisena after protests from conservative Buddhists. The law, dating back to 1979, bans women not just from buying alcohol but working in bars or factories where liquor is manufactured or sold. Women’s activist Bhavani Fonseka appealed the ban in the Supreme Court, saying it violated women’s rights to equal treatment, which are guaranteed under the Sri Lankan constitution. Liquor vendors in Sri Lanka are also forbidden from selling spirits to police or members of the armed forces in uniform.

Source: Punch January 23, 2018 11:48 UTC