A Britain without honour or shame
At a Civitas lunchtime seminar today Nazir Afzal, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service for West London, spoke forcefully about the appalling persecution of Muslim women in Britain through forced marriages and honour-based violence. Such violence is based on a cultural assumption that women are of low worth and their lives must be controlled, and that if they break free of that control they may bring shame upon the family honour for which they are punished by violence and murder. He said:
The greatest fear of Muslim women [in Britain] is not of Islamophobia or being arrested by the police — it is of being attacked in their own homes.The meeting heard an impassioned intervention by a Muslim woman, Gina Khan, who was born and bred in Birmingham. Delighted as she was, she said, that this issue was finally being brought out into the open, it was twenty or thirty years too late.
I grew up listening to these shocking stories. There were women students twenty, thirty years ago who just disappeared [to the Indian subcontinent to be married against their will]. All this time Muslim women have been treated as if they don’t exist. We were given an interpretation of the Koran by people we didn’t question, and because we didn’t speak Arabic we just accepted it. Now we British-born Muslim women have to break our silence about all this.What makes this situation doubly dreadful, however, is the persecution of those who speak the truth about it. Afzal himself, whose family came from Peshawar, is subjected to repeated death threats and other pressure to stop him from drawing attention to the plight of Muslim women. After fruitlessly trying to get the issue raised at the Muslim Safety Forum, the (highly compromised) body that advises the police on Muslim matters, Afzal was horrified when a senior police officer who vouchsafed the correct information that the actual number of honour attacks in Britain was some thirty times the official figure subsequently felt obliged to apologise for saying so.
His ostensible offence? It seems it was to have been reported in the press as saying that the true extent of the problem was not being grasped. This comment reported in the Times apparently sealed his fate:
Referring to the 33 girls missing in his area, he said: ‘If these girls are missing, who has been told? Who is doing anything about it? I want to know from every education authority, “How many children did you lose last year? And where are they?” At the moment, we just don’t know. It’s like knocking a nail into a piece of stone.’As the Times subsequently reported, for such remarks — which were clearly in the public interest — Balmforth was suspended and faced the prospect of dismissal:
The former police inspector, regarded as a national authority on ‘honour-based’ violence, stands accused of ‘damaging the reputation’ of West Yorkshire Police by speaking to a newspaper without consent. It is understood that the force, which has investigated 176 cases of forced marriage in the past year alone, took action against Mr Balmforth after receiving a complaint from Bradford council. Senior figures on the local authority are said to have claimed that his high-profile work was damaging the city’s image and was ‘bad for regeneration’.Ms Cryer, however, electrified today’s meeting by claiming that Philip Balmforth was the victim of the ‘biraderie’ — the Punjabi word for the extended family — which now ran Bradford city council. The Muslim councillors wanted Balmforth out, she said — and their non-Muslim colleagues on the council, with an eye to their Muslim voters (and doubtless also embarrassed by the national high profile this problem has now achieved), were going along with the witch-hunt.
If this is so, and if Philip Balmforth is indeed sacked for seeking to protect British Muslim women from harm — thus enraging those who would harm them and embarrassing those who should have done more to help him protect them — it will be another grim watershed in this country’s spineless surrender to the forces of darkness.
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Verity
April 1st, 2008 8:27pm"...another grim watershed in this country’s spineless surrender to the forces of darkness."
Yes, indeedy.
Rob
April 1st, 2008 8:31pmWell done Melanie and Ms Cryer for exposing this. Now if you can stomach it, here's the caring councils website advice and wisdom on dealing with abuse.
I suggest that this council is bombarded with mails and phone calls over this!
Information and Communication
Taking a hard line on domestic abuse Taking a hard line on domestic abuse
A campaign is being launched to tackle domestic abuse in the lead up to one of the most stressful times of the year.
Although the Christmas season is traditionally a time when families get together, it is also a time when stress levels can soar, triggering a rise in the levels of domestic abuse.
The campaign is being led by the Domestic Abuse Partnership - which is made up of The Safer Communities Partnership - a partnership between Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police, the Probation Service and Bradford & Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust - and voluntary sector organisations.
The Partnership has developed a strategy to tackle the crime on a range of levels and ensure that women experiencing abuse have a range of options to help them. Domestic abuse includes physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse.
Domestic abuse figures do rise during the holiday season such as Easter, summer and Christmas, but there are also other triggers such as pregnancy.
This particular campaign, which is being launched at St Peter's House, Bradford, on Wednesday, December 5, features an image of a perpetrator attacking a pregnant woman on posters, bus adverts and billboards.
The launch of the campaign is followed by a performance by Certain Curtain Theatre Company of The Lady in Red*, a 45 minute educational drama highlighting why women stay in abusive relationships.
Chief Superintendent Sarah Brown, Co-chair of the Bradford District Safer Communities Partnership, said: "Domestic abuse is a serious crime and Bradford District Safer Communities Partnership has a range of services working together to provide advice and support to victims. We urge anyone experiencing domestic abuse to report it to the Police."
Coun Martin Smith, Bradford Council's Executive Member for Safer Communities, said: "Domestic abuse is completely unacceptable and we are committed to tackling it across the Bradford district.
"If you or a friend or family member is suffering from domestic abuse we urge you to take action and report it to the police on 0845 606 0606. Always call 999 in an emergency."
*The drama performance is part of the work by the Lindsay Bridge the Council's Domestic Abuse Awareness Training Co-ordinator to train staff to be able spot the signs of domestic abuse. There will be two further performances on 18 and 29 February.
Officer/Contact
James Lee
Senior Marketing Officer for Safer & Stronger Communities
Telephone: 01274 437591
Media Relations Officer
Jane Lewis
Telephone: 01274 433526
Fax: 01274 432005
Email: press.communications@bradford.gov.uk
Date: 30.11.07
aram karibian
April 1st, 2008 9:39pmPerhaps some international pressure could be brought to bear on these officials. I'd be happy to lend a voice if I knew whither to direct it.
Verity
April 1st, 2008 9:40pmSo perhaps Blair could explain why we imported this problem into our previously law-abiding homogenic (including long-settled immigrants) society. We always knew he was lying about the economic benefits, so perhaps he could be forced to tell the truth. That he was set on the destruction of Britain, which he loathes.
D Gray
April 1st, 2008 11:00pmI just seen an extended and in-depth report on this on the main BBC national news programme.......N O T.
David Simpson
April 2nd, 2008 6:28amactually melanie if you bothered to do any research then you'd find that around half were boys and only 2 were of south asian ethnicity.
That's aside from the fact that if Philip Balmforth had been doing his job rather than spouting to the rightwing press he would have known this anyway.
Kevyn Bodman
April 2nd, 2008 9:28amVerity:
An interesting article by Simon Heffer in today's Daily Telegaph.
He says the current state of Britain is not a result of NuLab incompetence; they've done it deliberately.
Kevyn Bodman
April 2nd, 2008 9:34amI came here first, as I like to, before going to Coffee House; now I see they've spotted Mr. Heffer's article too.
Rachel Miller
April 2nd, 2008 9:35amMr Simpson,
Would you care to present the source for your claim? I take it you are involved in research into this area.
Roger Henderson
April 2nd, 2008 11:51amNo doubt David Sampson, in your perverse little world it would have been alright if Philip Balmforth had spoken to the Left-Wing press, and the fact that the police had investigated 176 cases of forced marriage in the past year was just another example of discrimination that Muslims face in the racsist country that you choose to live in. Oh I'm sorry you chose to ignore that part of the story because it would have interferred with your interpretation of the facts as presented by Melanie. What an odious little toad you must be to be more concerned with shooting the messenger than to be concerned with the horror that these women are forced to live with.
Dee Ranged
April 2nd, 2008 12:37pmAccording to the ex-Muslim Abul Kasem http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=8AD3D2F1-FD2C-4E78-B233-2F97FCF97B94
The husband’s permission is required for a wife to work (Doi, p.117).
Beating a wife is allowed (Doi, p.130).
The wife must worship the husband. Unbridled freedom of modern women is not good (Doi, p.132).
Muslim women can’t marry unbelievers under any circumstances (Doi, p.138).
The guardian of a woman must be a male. A woman cannot be married by herself. A widow can marry by herself (Doi, p.141).
Hanafi, Shafii and Maliki rate the marriage of a minor boy or a girl as lawful (Doi, p.142).
A Muslim man is allowed to have four wives at one time (Hedaya, p.31; Doi, p.147).
A law against polygamy is against the Qur’an. Not a single Hadith is against polygamy; modernists reject Qur’an and Sunnah. Satisfy more wives (Doi, p.152).
Prohibition on polygamy is a violation of Sharia provision. Court does not understand biological need. Follow Muhammad (59:7) (Doi, p.153).
A drop of semen is the greatest sin (Doi, p.236).
Adoption is not allowed in Sharia (Doi, p.463).
Circumcision is obligatory for both men and women (foreskin for men, prepuce of clitoris for women) (e4.3, p.59).
Wudu (ablution)—use not less than 0.51 litre of water (e5.24(1), p.66).
Ghusl (bath)—use not less than 2.03 litres of water (e5.24(2), p.66).
Make repeated love, do repeated ablution (e5.29, p.67).
Human private parts are impure; do not touch them with your hands (e7.4, p.74).
Stoning to death for adultery (married person, man or woman) (o12.2, p.610).
Fornication: scourge 100 stripes and banish 81 km for 1 year (for unmarried persons) (o12.2, p.610).
Men scourged standing, women sitting (o12.5, p.611).
Stone the adulterer/adulteress even in severe cold or illness (o12.6, p.611).
Sodomy and lesbianism considered as adultery; same punishment; kill both for sodomy (p17.2, p.665).
To get united with the previous husband a divorced wife must marry another person, have complete sex with him and get divorced by him voluntarily (Hedaya, p.15, n7.7, p.565; p29.1, p.673).
When making love, no talking (r32.7, p.767).
Unlawful for a man to look at a woman who is not his wife or one of his unmarriageable kin (m2.3, p.512).
Husband and wife cannot look at each others genitals’ (m2.4 p.513).
Unlawful for a woman to show any parts of her body to an adolescent boy or a non-Muslim woman (m2.7, p.513).
Whatever is unlawful to look is also unlawful to touch (m2.9, p.513).
A woman must not conduct her own marriage; she requires a male guardian (m3.4, p.518).
A non-Muslim man cannot be the guardian of a Muslim woman; a Muslim man cannot be the guardian of a non-Muslim woman (m3.4, p.519).
A male guardian of a virgin woman may force her to marry a man of his choice (m3.13, p.522).
Arab women cannot marry non-Arab men (because Allah has chosen the Arabs above others) (m4.2(1), p.523).
A man of lowly profession cannot marry the daughter of higher profession (m4.2(3), p.524).
When the husband settles the dower (bride money) or defers it, a wife must immediately submit her private parts to her husband’s demand for sex, unless she has legitimate ground of not doing so; if she requests to wait the maximum waiting time is three days (m5.1, p.523).
A husband has the full right to enjoy his wife’s person, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet (m5.4, p.526).
It is unlawful for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man (m6.7(5), p.529).
Husbands are not obliged to provide doctor’s fees, medicines and cosmetics to wives; they must provide only food, cloths and housing; rebellious wife doesn’t get anything (Hedaya, p.140; m11.4, p.544).
A Muslim man is allowed to beat his wife or wives (the Qur’an, 4:34 ; m10.12, p.541; o17.4, p.619).
If wife refuses sex, the husband is not obliged to support her until she surrenders her person to the husband (m11.9, p.545).
A divorced wife gets maintenance only for maximum three months (Hedaya, p.145, Shafii law, no support during her waiting period if pregnant, then support is on daily basis until she gives birth (m11.10 (3), p.546).
A son is obliged to finance his poor father’s marriage (m12.5, p.549).
Husband divorces wife instantly even under torture, compulsion, alcohol, narcotics and jokes; then he can marry a new set of four wives and continue the cycle (Hedaya, p.81, 253; n3.5, p.560).
The only way for a wife to get divorce is to convince the sharia court and also to pay money to her husband (Hedaya, p.112; n5.0, p.562; n7.7).
EyeSee
April 2nd, 2008 1:47pmDavid Simpson. We need to understand what you agree with. Do you believe there is a problem of forced marriages, violence against women and 'honour(!)' killings in the UK? Do you believe it might be Islamic in origin? Do you believe there is a country called Pakistan?
Verity
April 2nd, 2008 2:07pmKevyn Bodman - Yes, thank you. I saw it and it is superb. This is something I - and I'm hardly alone - have been saying for 10 years. It was deliberate. Every step carefully planned. Far from being inept, "New Labour" has been cunning, patient and deeply malignant.
None of what has happened to Britain was through bad planning or incompetence. It was very well executed indeed. This includes sluicing an alien, hostile culture into our society, and then according them rights and privileges above those of the natives.
It includes the destruction of the education system. It includes the destruction of the family. It includes the unpicking of the tapestry of our ancient civil laws and rights. It includes the facilitating of publid disorder.
What was astounding to me was that so people realised the malice with which all this was executed. They put it down to incompetence and bad planning and lack of understanding.
Not at all.
Verity
April 2nd, 2008 3:57pmH odd that all this violence against Islamic females is suddenly in the news, just when a strong light is being shone on the New Labour malignancy.
I see it as a diversion. Labour knew what it was importing. I don't believe they were ignorant of the way women and girls are treated in the more primitive, conservative Islamic countries,i.e., Pakistan. They knew. Their treatment of girls and women was imported as part of the destabilisation of our society -- a further assault on the norms of an advanced civilised.
And sure enough, the vile Brown announced that the British taxpayer would be giving "benefits" to polygamous wives.
Adela Kostea
April 2nd, 2008 7:10pmThere`s no England anymore...
Verity
April 3rd, 2008 4:52amAdela. D'accord. It breaks my heart to type it and I could never have conceived this situation when I was growing up, but I have no country any more. My country has been battered to death, while it lay supine. I have a passport, but no country.