The Bluer Pastures

By Maheen Usmani – 

In the throes of what it fears is the ‘Islamification of Britain’, the Cameron government has taken to tightening the screws on immigration

The first waves of Muslim migrants appeared in Britain 200 years ago and the migration has increased in leaps and bounds in recent decades because of the open door policy of successive governments. In April 1968, two weeks after the riots that devastated U.S. cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the British Tory politician Enoch Powell (who as minister of health between 1960 and 1963 had presided over large-scale recruitment of nursing and health staff from Britain’s former colonies) predicted that a similar fate was facing Britain.

“We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”

Though the Tory party leader Edward Heath immediately sacked him from his post as opposition spokesman on defence, Powell’s demographic predictions proved pretty accurate.

Powell had predicted that Britain’s nonwhite population of barely a million would reach 4.5 million by 2002; according to the Office of National Statistics, the size of Britain’s “ethnic minority” population actually reached 4.6 million in 2001.

His predictions for the ethnic composition of major cities such as Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Inner London were similarly on the spot. Britain’s Commission for Racial Equality predicted that by 2011 the population of Leicester will be 50 percent nonwhite, making it the first major British city without a white majority.

“Mounting concerns about immigration is evident in a recent survey where 53pc of British people said that Muslim immigrants are not integrating well into British society.  Almost half of those polled (49 %) believe this is because the immigrants themselves are unwilling to integrate”

While aging populations need immigrants to sustain their economies, the newcomers threaten ideas of cultural homogeneity that are already endangered by globalization.

Muslims now form over 4 percent of the British population and they mostly live in the largest cities of the country — London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle. About one million Muslims live in London which has become a cosmopolitan city where one is as likely to hear Urdu or Punjabi as English.

In fact, there are many times when queries in English at shops manned by immigrants are answered in Punjabi if one happens to be a “desi”. British society is being transformed by these immigrants who are increasingly finding a voice within their areas, but instead of being agents of change and reform, many of them are trying to bring British society in line with Islamic values and laws.

Thousands of Muslims in the U.K. are turning to Sharia councils to help resolve family, financial and commercial problems in accordance with Sharia principles.

While there are increasingly strident calls for a wider application of Sharia law in Britain, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16522447, critics claim that the spread of Sharia law is creating a parallel legal system that opposes equal rights.

Mounting concerns about immigration is evident in a recent survey where 53 per cent of British people said that Muslim immigrants are not integrating well into British society. http://tribune.com.pk/story/114836/new-survey-immigration-a-sore-point-in-uk/

Almost half of those polled (49 %) believe this is because the immigrants themselves are unwilling to integrate. The survey examines attitudes to immigration in the U.S., Canada, and some western European countries.

The survey reveals that the British are far more fearful of immigration than U.S., Canada and parts of western Europe. Almost one quarter (23 %) of Britons thought immigration was the most important issue facing the country against 10 % and less in other surveyed countries.

The 7/7 bombings which traumatised Britain were carried out by immigrants of Pakistani origin who were radicalized whilst leading ordinary lives on the fringes of British society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings#Profiles.

The contempt many Muslims have for their fellow citizens runs deep as evident by the notorious Rochdale case http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/08/rochdale-child-sex-ring-case. It is clear that the convicted men thought of the victims as “white trash” because they were Christian and westernized, hence disposable commodities.

As former Conservative Party Co-Chairman, Baroness Saeeda Warsi put it, “There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game. And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.’’

“The proposals are expected to cut immigration, currently standing at 250,000 a year, by 25,000. They are designed primarily to combat claims that some foreigners are marrying Britons to take advantage of the U.K.’s generous welfare system”

Some sections of British society here believe the social isolation of immigrants stems from Islam itself and hence they feel threatened by the ‘Islamification of Britain’.

Fears abound that the values promoted by Islam are “incompatible” with those of Britain’s secular democracy as people from the left and the right of the political spectrum weigh in on the debate to question whether Muslim integration is possible. Humayun Ansari, Professor of Islam and Cultural Diversity at Royal Holloway College, says the lack of education and social deprivation are the root causes of the lack of integration.

This may be a mitigating factor, but does not explain the prevalence of such attitudes even amongst the educated middle or upper classes of Muslim immigrants who prefer not to socialize or interact with anyone who is white.

From where springs this desperate need of Pakistanis abroad to cling to our own culture, traditions and community and look askance at others’ way of life?

Is our faith so insecure that we need to constantly reiterate its superiority and look down on the culture of our adopted country?

The distaste for the British way of life and its liberal values is well illustrated by the Shafilea Ahmed case where a teenager was murdered by her parents in her own home. Her crime? She wanted the freedom to live her own life on her own terms and shunned the arranged marriage she was being thrust into, a prospect so terrifying for her Pakistani parents that they chose to strangle her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Shafilea_Ahmed The poetry and notes left behind by Shafilea speak of her anguish at being torn between East and West, saying poignantly “I’m so trapped”.

As her parents were sentenced to life terms, the judge summed up Shafilea’s tragedy thus. “She was being squeezed between two cultures, the culture and way of life that she saw around her and wanted to embrace, and the culture and way of life you wanted to impose upon her … an expectation that she live in a sealed cultural environment separate from the culture of the country in which she lived was unrealistic, destructive and cruel. Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than your love of your child.”

The way that segregated immigrant communities have preferred to ghettoize themselves instead of integrating into British society has drawn criticism from various quarters, including Prime Minister David Cameron who has claimed that young Muslims are becoming more separated from society than their parents.

Stressing that the U.K. is facing a growing problem of “cultural separatism”, the Tory leader has advocated lessons on “being British” and reiterated that all immigrants should speak English.

Warning that the country had failed to build a sense of common citizenship or national identity, Cameron said history lessons should teach children about concepts such as the rule of law, free speech, freedom of the individual and parliamentary democracy.

The Tory government has unveiled a new set of laws aimed at curbing galloping immigration. British citizens who marry foreigners now will have to earn at least £20,000 a year if they want to set up their family home in the U.K.

They will also have to pass a strict new ‘combined attachment test’ to prove they share a genuine loyalty to Britain, not another country, and they will remain on probation for five years instead of the current two.

The proposals are expected to cut immigration, currently standing at 250,000 a year, by 25,000. They are designed primarily to combat claims that some foreigners are marrying Britons to take advantage of the U.K.’s generous welfare system.

In Islam, a marriage without consent is invalid, and yet in Britain there are between 5,000 and 10,000 forced marriages every year. The Government’s Forced Marriage Unit last year helped 1,468 British victims.

“In Britain, there are between 5,000 and 10,000 forced marriages every year. The Government’s Forced Marriage Unit last year helped 1,468 British victims. Many of these were spirited abroad — almost half to Pakistan — having grown up here. It also rescued 350 from their hellish lives overseas.  But experts believe the true total could be more than 8,000. The youngest victim was just five and the oldest 87”

Many of these were spirited abroad — almost half to Pakistan — having grown up here. It also rescued 350 from their hellish lives overseas. But experts believe the true total could be more than 8,000. The youngest victim was just five and the oldest 87. According to Islam, marriages are made in heaven, but a forced marriage is hell. And now the government has been spurred into action.

Cameron was prompted to act by Baroness Warsi, who convinced ministers that the practice is a modern form of slavery. The Muslim peer accused governments of pussyfooting for too long on forced marriages, often used as an immigration scam.

David Cameron has gone on record to say: “I want to send a clear and strong message: forced marriage is wrong, is illegal and will not be tolerated.”

Parents who force their children to marry will now face jail under tough new laws. Under the new package, there will also be a nationwide education campaign to ensure all young Britons know their rights and are empowered to stand up for themselves. Home Secretary Theresa May has revealed that extra money will be pumped into a special unit to track down and rescue victims who have already been sent abroad.

Mrs May said: “Forced marriage is an appalling practice and by criminalizing it we are sending a strong message that it will not be tolerated. This practice has no place in modern Britain.”

The new law could require all people marrying abroad to declare their intent first with their local registrar in Britain. All religious ceremonies would be void unless they were also entered in the civil register. This would make it harder for parents to lure their daughters abroad and blackmail them into marriage.

Lady Warsi firmly asserts, “the practice of forced marriage and the denial of human rights must stop, it is immoral, inhumane and nothing less than a prison sentence which can be mental and physical torture. This law will give hope and rescue many innocent and helpless victims before they drown in a life of despair and unhappiness.”

In the final analysis, Muslims have only themselves to blame for their attitude and mulish ways in a land which has given them not only livelihood but also prosperity.

The tug-of-war between ghettoized Muslims and a concerned government is set to intensify in the coming years as the British struggle to cap the genie they let inadvertently out of the bottle.

While racial stereotyping may occur at times, Muslim immigrants need to realize that they are not doing anyone any favours by isolating themselves and their children from mainstream life in their adopted country which has bred insecurity, radicalization, bigotry and hostility within their ranks. Multiculturalism can only succeed in Britain if Muslims participate in a dialogue to change antiquated notions of honour and trust which has led to a deep and widening chasm between them and their fellow countrymen.

The writer is a freelance journalist with interests ranging from socio-political issues to sports and culture