KARACHI: Attributions of 9/11 to Muslims questioned
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Oct 6: The West's policies in the Middle East and attributions of 9/11 tragedy to Muslims without providing credible evidence to that effect was questioned in a seminar which deliberated on the issue of immigration to Europe.
The consequences of Turkey's entry into the European Union otherwise dominated the day's proceedings while the issues connected with the attitudes and problems of the Diaspora communities in some of the Western European countries were also discussed.
The two-day seminar on "Immigration to Europe from South Asia and the Muslim world" was organized on Wednesday by the Area Study Centre for Europe, the University of Karachi, in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
Prof Udo Steinbach, director, German Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, Hamburg, set the tone by focusing on the Turkey's effort to get into the European Union and what effect it would have on the Muslim community in Europe at large.
He acknowledged that migration of Muslims had always been a problem, but, at the same time developments in the Middle East contributed to Islamophobia and xenophobia. He was of the view that rejection by Europe could result in upsurge and rise of Islam in Turkey.
On the contrary, Turkey's entry would mean that the EU was not a Christians' club and would indicate that Turkey had the capacity to integrate fully with European society, he added.
He also discussed trends in evolution of migration policy, with particular reference to Germany. Dr Esra Hatipolglu of Turkey discussed the impact of Turkey's entry into the EU particularly on the old values of the Muslims community and said that scarf issue was controversial in Turkey as well.
She said that there were currently around three million Turkish immigrants (descendants of immigrants, naturalized citizens and political refugees) in Europe. The largest number of Turkish immigrant workers lived in Germany followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, England, Austria and Switzerland.
She also discussed the Turkish expatriate community's problems relating to social, economic and cultural integration and assimilation. Besides, the impact of geographical proximity between Turkey and Europe and the economic exclusion and cultural marginalization of Turkish immigrants were also discussed.
Dr Esra Hatipolglu also examined the Turkish community's image in Europe and the participation of individuals of Turkish origin in the socio-economic structures and cultural and political institutions of the host countries to highlight the level of the community's integration and assimilation.
Mumbai-based Dr Maneesha Tikekar, who is head of the department of politics at the South India Education Society College, dealt with Hindus and Sikhs in multicultural Britain. She argued that diasporas had caught the attention of social scientists and of 'home' governments in the recent years for altogether different reasons.
Examining the identity construction among Indian Hindu and Sikh diasporas in Britain, she discussed the experience of the two communities vis-a-vis politics of the adopted and the home country; and the community's perceptions of its position vis-a- vis other racial or religious minorities in the host country.
Dr Maneesha also dealt with the crystallization of unitary and overarching neo-Hindu and Sikh identities in Britain in the recent years, despite the caste and sectarian differences, and practices of religious syncretism prevalent among them.
She contended that the British policies of race relations and multiculturalism, and developments in India had contributed directly or indirectly to ethnicizing the Hindu and Sikh identities with the effective employment of 'exclusionary' and 'inclusionary' strategies by both the communities in Britain.
She also discussed the attitudes of Hindus and Muslims vis-a- vis each other in their host country and the country of their origin. Prof Zig Layton-Henry of England dealt with the models of British immigration policy from laissez faire to migration management.
He examined the political and economic pressures which caused these policies to be adopted and discarded, and in particular analyzed the political imperatives which brought about changes in immigration policy.
In her paper on "Pakistani community in Europe and its identity", Dr Sabiha Hassan Syed discussed the process of migration and analyzed the way it affected the migrants' adaptation to local conditions.
She also highlighted the new developments that had taken place in their social lives like building multi-standard relationships and extended origin-based networks.
The Pakistan immigrants and their social networks had not received the much needed attention of research for policy with some exceptions in the UK and Norway, she said.
Due to lack of data on illegal immigrants, she added, the number of Pakistani immigrants in Europe remained a mystery. This had resulted in more situations of conflict and confrontation, discrimination and xenophobia, she added.
Shiela Zulfiqar Ahmad of the Higher Education Commission deliberated upon Muslim immigration moving Europe rightward? She discussed the growing wariness towards Muslim immigrants in particular and assessed, for instance, to what extent the issue of unemployment in Europe or the rise of xenophobia after 9/11 was responsible for this phenomenon.
She also analyzed the level of success or failure of these policies, their effects on the Muslim psyche in Europe and on the image of the continent's secular and liberal traditions. She also questioned the West's discriminatory attitude over headscarves.
Dr Mohammad E-Sayed Selim presented paper on North African Diaspora communities in Europe. He was of the view that attributions of 9/11 to Muslims without providing any evidence had serious ramifications.
He pointed out that on Sept 24, 2001 Colin Powell had promised to provide evidence about Al Qaeda's involvement in the tragedy, but, three years had passed without any evidence to that effect.
Sri Lanka's former ambassador (retd) Nanda Godage discussed various reasons of immigration from his country to Europe during the early post-independence years. In late 1970s, he explained, a large number of people from the lower income groups began to immigrate to Europe and other developed countries for seeking a better quality of life.
The other phenomenon was the want of political asylum, primarily by ethnic Tamils claiming that they were victims of human rights violations. This was a result of separatism-related violence and terrorism, which adversely affected Sri Lanka's image, he said.
He also deliberated on the Tamil issue and the support it was getting by diaspora in Europe. He alleged that Indians had trained the Tamil militants. He pointed out that Tamil diaspora was well organized in Europe and was contributing to the LTTEs crusade.
Dr Stefano Allievi spoke on Muslims and their socio-religious presence in Europe. He also analyzed the impact of their religious presence in Europe, particularly its social, cultural and religious specificities.
He was of the view that it would not be possible to understand Europe without Islam or Islam without Europe and claimed that in years to come there would be changes in theology of the Muslims living in Europe.
His focus of the paper was on the presence of Muslim religious symbols in the European public space, and the debates, interaction and negotiations that were taking place at political, institutional and media levels.
He also discussed some emerging issues concerning the relations between religions, the international dimension and some important cultural changes emerging within the Muslim communities in Europe.
