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"I can't recall a single occasion when the lady concerned had refused to lift her veil; and most I ask seem relieved to have done so," Straw claimed.
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LONDON — Former British foreign secretary and now
leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw triggered a controversy on
Thursday, October 5, asserting he asks Muslim women to remove face
cover when they visit his constituency office seeking help.
"Indeed, 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 wrote in his regular column in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.
"I defend absolutely the right of any women to
wear a headscarf," he said, asserting that covering the face
"breaks no laws."
"I go on to say that I think, however, that
the conversation would be of greater value if the lady took the
covering from her face."
Straw, whose Blackburn constituency has a
22-percent ethnic minority population, claimed that most women had no
problem complying.
"I can't recall a single occasion when the
lady concerned had refused to lift her veil; and most I ask seem
relieved to have done so."
He said he now makes sure he has a female member of
staff with him during meetings in his office.
Straw was moved from being foreign secretary to the
government business management job of leader of the House of Commons
in May, widely seen as a demotion.
After Prime Minister Tony Blair, he is the
politician most closely associated with Britain's decision to join the
invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In March, when he was still foreign secretary,
Straw took United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to
Blackburn, where the pair were greeted by a series of anti-Iraq war
demonstrations.
Selective Discrimination
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Shadjareh said Straw should represent the interests of his constituency "not to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion."
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Straw's revelation drew immediate rebuke from
Muslim community leaders.
"I was shocked and dismayed by his
comments," Nasrullah Anwar, spokesman for the Council of Mosques,
told Sky News.
"You would think that someone in his position
would be a little more sensitive and more understanding and perhaps
better advised on what is a acceptable means of communicating your
wishes and what's not," he said.
Anwar said the issue revolved around respecting the
wishes of the woman who has chosen to cover her face.
"It is astonishing that someone as experienced
and senior as Jack Straw does not realize that the job of an elected
representative is to represent the interests of the constituency, not
to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion," said
Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
Halima Hussain, from civil liberties group the
Muslim Public Affairs Committee, asked: "Who is Jack Straw to
comment on negative symbols within a religion that is not his own?
"The point is these women have chosen to wear
the veil and it's their own decision," she told BBC News 24.
"These are not oppressed women. I don't think
he's right to say this at all."
Council of Lancashire Mosques chairman Hamid
Kureshi accused Straw of "giving a small point a very big
importance".
He told BBC Radio Five Live that those who wanted
to remove their veils could, but that many would not want to.
"Jack Straw is putting them into a very
awkward position by compromising the faith they believe in and that is
ill-placed," he added.
Islamic dress codes, especially hijab, has taken
central stage in several European countries, especially after France
banned it in state-run schools and public institutions.
