NIJMEGEN, the Netherlands, Nov. 17 — Five days before a national election here, the center-right government announced Friday that it planned to introduce legislation to ban burqas and similar garments in public places, saying the full-body garb worn by a small number of Muslim women in the Netherlands posed a grave security threat.

The Netherlands has been considering such a move for months, in reaction to the burqa and other articles of clothing that hide the wearer’s face. The government has raised the fear that a terrorist might wear such a garment to move beyond security checks and carry out an attack.

The Dutch discussion is part of a European debate about how far governments can go in legislating what people — specifically Muslim women and girls — can and cannot wear.

Last month, Britain’s former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, raised a commotion when he urged Muslim women to remove full facial veils when talking to him, saying the veil was “such a visible statement of separation and of difference” that it jeopardized British social harmony. Prime Minister Tony Blair subsequently backed Mr. Straw.

The fate of the Dutch proposal is uncertain, and critics accused the government of introducing it as a campaign ploy in a country that is still reeling from the 2004 murder of a filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, by a Muslim fundamentalist.

But if it should pass in Parliament, women would be prohibited from wearing burqas in a variety of public settings, including schools, trains, courts and even on the street.

“The cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing — including the burqa — is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens,” the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said Friday.

About a million Muslims live in the Netherlands, about 6 percent of the population, and only 50 to 100 women regularly wear a burqa here, Muslim groups say, making them a rare sight. In light of that, some Muslims say they see the entire burqa issue as a referendum on their very existence here, a suggestion that government officials deny.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Yasar Kalkan, a Muslim auto mechanic in Leidschendam.

“When you go out on the street, how many burqas do you see? None,” he said, adding that Ms. Verdonk “should find something better to do with her time.”

Ms. Verdonk and others noted that the law would extend beyond religious garments to include head-size helmets with full-length visors and any other article that completely covers the wearer’s head and face.

“We want to see whom we are talking to,” Ms. Verdonk said last week.

The Dutch are not alone among European countries in seeking to restrict some forms of Muslim dress.

France banned from its schools the hijab, the head scarf worn by many Muslim girls and women, along with other conspicuous religious symbols. Britain’s highest court ruled this year that a secondary school was within its rights to bar a female student from wearing a jilbab, a loose, ankle-length gown, instead of the regular school uniform.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy has also joined the debate. “You can’t cover your face, you must be seen,” Mr. Prodi said last month. “This is common sense, I think. It is important for our society.”

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace, said, regarding the veil, that immigrants of other religions “must respect the traditions, symbols, culture and religion of the countries they move to.”

Ms. Verdonk said she learned only this week that the Dutch cabinet could pursue a burqa ban after getting the go-ahead from legal experts. Those consulted by the government do not believe that such a ban would violate Dutch or European Union laws regarding religious freedom.

NYTimes