British cabinet minister Jack Straw has sparked controversy among the Islamic community by saying he asks Muslim women to remove their veils when they visit his office.
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CTV.ca News Staff
Muslim women are seen wearing a niqab. (AP /Anjum Naveed)
Jack Straw, Leader of the House of Commons, provoked anger when he said the wearing of veils made community relations "more difficult" because they acted as "a visible statement of separation and difference."
"I explain that this is a country built on freedoms. I defend absolutely the right of any women to wear a headscarf," Straw wrote in a column for the Lancashire Telegraph newspaper.
But, he said, "The value of a meeting, as opposed to a letter or phone call, is so that you can -- almost literally -- see what the other person means, and not just hear what they say."
Straw represents the low-income, heavily Muslim community in the northwestern city of Blackburn, England.
"I'm not talking about being prescriptive," Straw, Britain's former foreign secretary, told BBC radio on Friday. "But with all the caveats, yes I would rather (women did not wear full veils)."
Straw said he had received a positive response when he asked women to take off the scarves when they came to see him.
Fury
While many British newspapers and commentators applauded Straw's stance, which he said was designed to provoke a "mature debate," many Muslims reacted with fury on Friday.
The Lancashire Council of Mosques described Straw's comments as "ill-judged and misconceived" and said many women found them "offensive and disturbing."
And a leader of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said Straw's position "put barriers" in the way of Muslim women at a time when they are encouraged to participate more in British society.
"We're really astonished that someone so senior and responsible as Mr. Straw would make such a statement," chairman Massoud Shadjareh told reporters.
"I'm sure many people go with many different types of clothing and fashions. Why does he suddenly have a problem with this? It's outrageous."
But Daud Abdullah, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told Britain's Press Association news agency that he understood Straw's position.
"The veil does cause some discomfort to non-Muslims. One can understand this," he said.
Abdullah said Muslim scholars differ over whether it is obligatory for women to cover their faces, but agree that they should cover their hair, PA reported.
Meanwhile, calls to re-examine almost 40 years of Britain's multi-cultural 'experiment' are increasing, in particular from politicians and academics.
A study carried out recently by the University of Leicester, England, stated that multi-culturalism had 'failed' and should be replaced by a policy aimed at integration.
"It was a concept and a social re-engineering policy with the best of intentions, but with little debate at grass-roots level," said Asaf Hussain, co-author of the study.
"Multi-culturalism has failed. Britain's population has to become integrated." |
