Why this sudden urge amongst Muslim women in the West to wear the burqa or niqab anyway? I lived amongst the Bradford Pakistani community in the '70's and never saw a Moslem woman cover up her face. They wore the shalwar kameez and a headscarf and deemed this sufficient. I think that the burqa originates amongst the Wahabbi sect of Islam in Saudi Arabia so why is it now being adopted by Moslem women in the West? What has changed in the attitude of Western Moslems between the '70's and the present day?