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"What Jack Straw was saying was perfectly sensible," said Blair. (Reuters) |
LONDON — British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday, October 10, that his former foreign secretary Jack Straw was "justified" in raising the issue of whether Muslim women should wear face veils in public.
"What Jack Straw was saying was perfectly sensible, which is that if we want to break down the barriers between people and between different cultures and religions, then it is important these issues are raised and discussed," Blair told the BBC television.
"I see nothing wrong with that and I think it is perfectly sensible if you raise it in a measured and considered way to have a proper public discussion about it."
Straw, now leader of Britain's lower chamber of parliament, the House of Commons, wrote in his local newspaper that he asks Muslim women to show their face when they visit his constituency office in Blackburn, northwest England, seeking assistance.
He saw the face veil as a "visible demonstration of separateness" in a country where "parallel communities" are forming.
Straw followed up by admitting he would prefer if Muslim women did not wear the face veil at all.
The comments, which won support from some cabinet ministers and opposition from others, have provoked a diatribe from Muslim leaders and rights activists.
Muslim rights activists have warned that Straw's remarks could be a prelude to a hijab ban in state schools and institutions.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
As for the face veil, the majority of Muslim scholars believe that a woman is not obliged to cover her face or hands.
Personal Freedom
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| Muslim women in Blackburn, England, protest Straw's remarks. |
Blair, however, said Muslim women are free to wear whatever they want, sidestepping a question about whether he would ask Muslim women to remove their face veils.
"I think it is, in the end, it's a matter of them choosing what they want to do," he said.
"But I think the reason why Jack raised it is these are issues that people do feel quite strongly about. How do we make sure that people aren't trying to separate themselves from the mainstream of society?
"So it's a difficult and tricky debate to enter into as we can see over the past few days, but actually I think he's raised it in a sensible and measured way."
Muslim leaders have pinpointed a growing sense of alienation from other communities, particularly among the young, saying Straw and his supporters had no point when they argued that the face veil impede integration.
They said the government should have addressed the underlying causes of this alienation like unemployment and poor education that had led to areas becoming "ghettoized".
A government-backed study showed in May that the Muslim minority in Britain — estimated at some 1.8 million people — faced some of the most acute conditions of multiple deprivation.
The study, conducted by university researchers in Birmingham, Derby, Oxford and Warwick, said 14% of Muslims aged over 25 were unemployed, compared with the national unemployment rate of 4%.
Commissioned to review the prospects of faith communities in England, it also found Muslims had poorer levels of education and were more vulnerable to long-term illness.
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