Take off the veil, says Straw - to immediate anger from Muslims

Take off the veil, says Straw - to immediate anger from Muslims

Cabinet minister opens debate with claim that veil is a symbol of separation

Matthew Taylor and Vikram Dodd
Friday October 6, 2006

Guardian

Jack Straw provoked anger and indignation among broad sections of the Muslim community yesterday after he encouraged Islamic women to stop wearing veils covering their face, saying the practice hindered community relations.
The former home secretary said the full veil - known as a niqab - made "better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult".

He added it was "such a visible statement of separation and of difference".

A likely candidate for the deputy leadership, whose Blackburn constituency has a large Muslim population, Mr Straw said last night that he had chosen his words carefully. "We are able to relate to people we don't know by reading their faces and if you can't see their faces, that provides some separation," he told a local radio station. "Those people who do wear the veil should think about the implications for community relations."

His aide added that this was an important issue that needed to be debated.

But his comments surprised British Muslim leaders and fellow Labour MPs, who pointed to a series of statements from ministers which have challenged attitudes towards multiculturalism. At the launch of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, questioned whether multiculturalism was now encouraging segregation. At the Labour conference last week John Reid insisted Britain would not be bullied by Muslim fanatics, and he would not tolerate "no-go" neighbourhoods. He had already been criticised after telling Muslim parents in east London that fanatics were "looking to groom and brainwash your children for suicide bombing".

Muslim leaders accused the government of destabilising already precarious community relations, which have been buffeted by clashes this week between white and Muslim youths in Berkshire. Scotland Yard's withdrawal of a Muslim officer from duty at the Israeli embassy is now the subject of an inquiry ordered by the Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

Reefat Bravu, chair of the Muslim Council for Britain's social and family affairs committee, said yesterday that Mr Straw's comments had exacerbated existing tensions. "We had John Reid first and now we have Jack Straw ... This is going to do great damage to the Muslim community, again we are being singled out by this government as the problem. Women have a right to wear a veil and this is just another example of blatant Muslim-bashing by this government."

Mussoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said he found Mr Straw's comments distasteful. "Would he say to the Jewish people living in Stamford Hill [in London] that they shouldn't dress like Orthodox Jews?"

Mr Straw, who made the comments in the Lancashire Telegraph, said he had asked women wearing the niqab to remove it when they visited his constituency surgery because face-to-face conversations were of "greater value".

Recalling a conversation with one women, he wrote: "I said I would reflect on what the lady had said to me. Would she, however, think hard about what I said - in particular about my concern that wearing the full veil was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult."

Political allies of the leader of the house said yesterday that they thought Mr Straw's sentiments were misjudged.

Lord Patel, who helped Mr Straw win his Blackburn seat and has known him for more than 20 years, said: " I don't agree with Jack that he should ask women to take off their veil."

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: "I think Jack is at risk of providing succour to people who hold anti-Muslim prejudices. Someone of his stature and understanding of the community, he needs to look at this a bit more in depth and not stereotype a small minority in the Muslim community."

But the Muslim peer Lady Uddin defended Mr Straw's decision to raise the issue, although she said Muslim women should be able to choose what they wore. "I think there needs to be a debate," she said. "He should have the right to raise this question and people should have a right to disagree. I think the Muslim community needs to address this, not just throw its hands up."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Take off the veil, says Straw - to immediate anger from Muslims