A chapter in Subba, Tanka and Sinha, A.C. (eds)(2016) Nepali Diaspora in a Globalized Era (Delhi: Routledge) Dreams of Sacrifice: Changing Ritual Practices among Ex-Gurkha Immigrants in the UK MITRA PARIYAR Following the recent ban on the full burqa in France, and other European nations considering the same, the issue has been passionately debated in the UK as well. A Yougov poll, published in July 2010, shows that 67 percent of British adults want a total ban on the face- cover, while 42 percent strongly feel that this should be the case. A Tory Member of Parliament has presented a private members’ bill in Parliament calling for the ban, prompting the Immigration Minister, Damian Greene, to label the proposed move as ‘un-British’. There are questions being raised about why Muslim women should be allowed to appear in public with their faces covered, while others are not permitted to do so. The opponents see the cover as an overt means of suppressing women, under Islamic laws, which should no longer be tolerated in a country like Britain. However, those who disapprove of the call argue that the UK is a free society; therefore, it would be wrong to outlaw religious practices of minority groups. Another published case will also be relevant here. A man of Indian origin in Newcastle demanded that his dead body be cremated in an open pyre, according to the traditional Hindu practice. Despite his long campaign, the local Council was adamant in its stance that the cremation should take place only in a closed-door venue with a traditional, Anglo-Saxon design. The struggle culminated in a court case, where the judge presented an ‘ingenious compromise’, which allowed the cremation to be conducted inside the four walls