I quite agree with the attached. Pakistani Embassdors have never really sought to make a real difference in inter communal relations - it seems Dr Lodhi has more sense. I’ve always felt there was a deep sense of ‘ghettoised - inward looking - protectionist culture’ amongst Pakistani’s living in the North which is mixed up with trying to preserve their version of Islamic values (in fact this is the case not just in the North but wherever there are ghetto’s including parts of London). Hope Dr Lodhi can stir some debate and action.
http://www.ypn.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=892136
Adopt the British way, Pakistan’s envoy urges’Modern attitudes will beat the extremists’
Rob Waugh
BRITISH Pakistanis living in Yorkshire should be more prepared to embrace the British way of life and not isolate themselves from mainstream society, says Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK.
In an exclusive interview with the Yorkshire Post, Dr Maleeha Lodhi warns that an unwillingness to integrate runs the risk of playing into the hands of Right-wing extremists such as the British National Party (BNP), who have used segregation between communities to fuel tensions.
She also fears segregated communities give Muslim extremists more opportunity to prosper.
But Dr Lodhi, who is recognised as one of Pakistan’s most influential voices, said that the road to integration had to run both ways and indigenous communities here need to be “open-minded and open-hearted” towards the Pakistani community to pave the way towards better relations between the two.
The High Commissioner, who will visit the region in the New Year, expressed her views against a backdrop of tense community relations in West Yorkshire in recent years including rioting among the Asian community in Bradford and a significant advance by the far-Right BNP which won four seats on Bradford Council in June.
The Ouseley report, released in the aftermath of the rioting, emphasised the issue of segregated white and Asian communities and the social problems this division was causing.
Expressing forthright views on the need for the Pakistani community to become more progressive, and less tethered to outdated views, Dr Lodhi said that attitudes towards the role of women needed to change. They should be treated as equal partners and not hidden away in the family home, she said.
To press home the point, Dr Lodhi said she would refuse to address any male-only audiences when she visits Keighley at the invitation of local Labour MP Ann Cryer.
She also said the use of English, and learning the language, should be encouraged in the home as early as possible to help improve relatively-poor educational achievement among Pakistani children.
The High Commissioner questioned the continuing practice of bringing marriage partners in from the sub-continent, saying it was common sense that young Pakistanis already living in the UK were more likely to be compatible with each other.
As a high-profile figure, both in Pakistan and overseas, Dr Lodhi’s views carry considerable weight. She has previously been her country’s ambassador to the US, and in 2002, she was selected for inclusion in a list of world figures changing the world, published by Newsweek.
Ten years ago, Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 people most likely to set the political agenda for the 21st century.
Speaking passionately about her wish for greater integration, Dr Lodhi said: "You can integrate without assimilating, so you are part of British society. You should be good British citizens, you should be part of this society.
“And nobody’s asking you to give up your religion, your culture, your traditions, but if you want to have an influence and an impact on this society you must be part of that society. You cannot isolate yourself and then expect people to listen to what your grievances are.”
Community leaders broadly welcomed Dr Lodhi’s comments. But there was a significant gap between their perception of progress, and the experiences of Mrs Cryer and a large number of Pakistani women – and increasingly, men – in her constituency who are seeking help because they feel coerced into arranged marriages.
Mrs Cryer, who has doggedly campaigned for a greater recognition of some of the problems affecting the Asian community in Keighley, said she was delighted a Pakistani woman of international standing had supported what she described as a lonely seven-year battle since she was first elected.
In 2001, when the Keighley MP voiced her belief that bringing in poorly-educated partners from the sub-continent, with little or no English, was effectively “importing poverty”, her views were described as “sinister” by Shahid Malik, then a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, and now prospective Labour Party candidate for Dewsbury.
When Home Secretary David Blunkett took up her theme of immigrants embracing Britishness and the importance of learning English, he was accused of pandering to the Right wing.
Last night, Mrs Cryer said: “I am very much in agreement with what Dr Lodhi is saying. I may not say things as diplomatically as she does, but we are saying very similar things.”
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20 November 2004
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