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I condemn, without reservation, any violence or murderous act by
anyone for ‘honour’ of family, religion or social tradition.
The murder of Heshu Yones by her father Abdalla Yones has been the
subject of articles in our national press by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Amir
Taheri, Lina Das and Gitangeli Sapra. These authors analyse the reasons
behind such action and philosophise on contributory factors based on
religion or ethnic background.
Yasmine Alibhai-Brown (The Mail) believes, I think incorrectly,
that “such crimes occur mainly in uneducated families”. Lina Das (The
Mail) claims that a girl is “stained” if she is involved sexually with
a boy with a different religion and cultural background. Such action is
perceived to defy her family and community. Gitangeli Sapra (The Sunday
Times) sights family honour, jealousy and financial greed as some reasons
for males in a family to intimidate a daughter or young bride. Amir Taheri
(The Independent) highlights the unacceptable deficiency of Muslim
journalists and intellectuals in raising the issue of ‘honour’
killings.
Progressive Muslims such as Queen Rania of Jordan ask why there is
such a negative perception of Muslim women in the western media? Such a
question can be extended to cover Hindu, Sikh and other Asian women.
Social tradition in most Asian and Arab societies perpetuates the virtue
of virginity, respect for family blessing, approval for marriage and
fidelity in marriage. Pre-marital sex and marriage to one with a different
religion are discouraged. Such Victorian values were not uncommon in
Britain many years ago, including the hesitancy of Catholics to marry
Protestants. Any divergence from such expectations is perceived as a
challenge to the authority and sanctity of the family and the community.
Parents uphold these principles in order to maintain their status within
their community.
Therefore, social and religious inflexibility, inherent in
immigrant communities, act as serious impediments for the young immigrants
as they meet their British peers enjoying freedom of thought and action.
The public perception is that ‘honour’ killings occur only in Muslim
families. This is not true as many Hindu, Sikh, Chinese and Arab families
also face the same problem. The ‘dishonour’ inflicted on the family is
a characteristic of social tradition – it is not a breach of religious
belief. Neither Islam nor Hinduism advocate or condone ‘honour’
killings. Religion, social tradition and cultural diversity are often used
by the guilty to justify their action.
The impact of western culture and lifestyle is most significant for
immigrants from Asian villages. Their children experience a dramatic
change and difficult challenge in school when they face their peers. They
feel restricted to their school, mosque or home as their parents, speaking
little or no English, live in poor houses and are mainly unemployed.
Insecurity, fear and financial limitations result in congregation of
immigrants in generally the poorest part of towns and cities. This
isolation reinforces social traditions and enhances the influence of local
religious or community leaders. These conditions prevail in northern
cities where there are large numbers from rural areas in Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
Some of these immigrant families are unable to cope with their
children asserting their independence of thought and action. These
families fail to realise that lifestyle of every immigrant family changes
with each generation. They must accept that their children must be free to
seize opportunities for higher education and employment away from home to
escape poverty and isolation. Such freedom for their children can only
help the family and it need not threaten their religious belief or
culture.
We must find practical ways of assisting these families, especially from
rural India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to face this problem of adapting to
a new way of life. We must encourage them to break away from their
isolation and help them integrate better with the host community. In this
way these immigrants will acquire the linguistic skills and build a social
confidence that will allow them to be self-reliant and make a positive
contribution to the life of their local community. Only then we shall
succeed in eliminating the hideous crime of
‘killing for dishonour’. |
