Pakistani communities – SEDAA

Naz Shah and Salma Yaqoob: two sides of the same coin?

30th October 2019 admin

By Khadija Khan The row between Labour shadow minister Naz Shah and prospective candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor Salma Yaqoob reflects the abominable situations within Muslim communities, where women have to grapple with a doubled-edged sword in order to get to positions of power. It is unfathomable how difficult it is for women of Muslim heritage to excel when men are disproportionately in top positions, and some women try to put down women also of Muslim heritage through smears and mudslinging. Shah accused Yaqoob of being unfit to be a Labour candidate…

Mahira Khan: A double helping of hypocrisy

24th September 2017 admin

By Aisha Ali-Khan This is a cross-post The latest Pakistani woman to take a few million direct hits in the past 24 hours has been Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. So what was her ‘crime’, I hear you ask? Well the only ‘crime’, in my honest opinion, that she may be guilty of is not giving a flying hoo ha of what people think of her. Her other crime, if you must know, was to enjoy a cigarette with a male colleague, Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor, while at work….

Amina Lone and the shame of the Labour Party in the UK

27th August 201731st August 2017 admin

By Iram Ramzan Dissenters from within Muslim communities are often silenced by being cast as ‘traitors’ or dismissed as not being ‘authentic’ often. Often, wider society either looks away, or sides with the reactionary forces within our communities because of fear of causing offense. A high-profile female councillor in Manchester has been forced out for being too ‘outspoken’. The Manchester Evening News website reported how in-fighting within Manchester City Council has been blamed for pushing out Hulme councillor Amina Lone after seven years at the town hall. Sedaa readers will…

Vilification of Faryal Makhdoom confirms outdated attitudes towards marriage break ups in South Asian communities

14th August 2017 admin

By Aisha Ali Khan This is a cross-post The announcement by Amir Khan on Twitter that his marriage was over was shocking enough. But then he followed it up with a series of even more bizarre, disturbing and downright scandalous tweets in which he accused his now estranged wife Faryal Makhdoom of not only being a gold digger, but also of cheating on him with a fellow boxer, Anthony Joshua. Khan’s last tweet reads: “Mans (sic) like (Anthony) Joshua can have my left overs” Calling the mother of your child ‘my…

In the name of honour

31st July 2017 admin

By Saima Baig Qandeel Baloch was an anathema for a country like Pakistan. Coming from poverty, she rose to become independent and support herself and her family. She was an anathema because she did not care. She did not care what society thought of her and she did not care if they made fun of her. She was the bold and the beautiful. And one year ago, on July 15, 2016, she was murdered in the name of that tenuous and all important property of Pakistani men: honour. Her…

Why Aren’t Women Taking Control of Their Lives?

27th February 20175th May 2017 admin

By Faiza Yousaf The way I started living life changed a lot post-divorce. Ironically, I gained freedom in more ways than one. Other than the most obvious — freedom from a bad marriage — I also started living life in a way I should have a long time ago. The pivotal moment came for me when I decided I wanted to travel more and secondly undertake some aid work. Like most people, I fancied a partner in crime so waited around to see who would be free to join me….

The Mystery Woman

4th February 201728th September 2017 admin

By Jimmy Bangash There was this time when I was younger and lived at home. I think I was 12 or 13 or 14, or thereabouts. Dad brought this woman home. She came to live with us for a while. She was from Pakistan, about my mum’s age, and spoke the same language. I didn’t understand why she came to live with us so I asked dad and he said she was there to help mum with the house work and he would be paying her. We were a…

Casey pulls no punches but will anything change?

12th December 20165th May 2017 admin

By Iram Ramzan This is a cross-post from Integration Hub A much-awaited report which contains no big surprises received reactions that were entirely predictable. From segregation and misogyny, to the child grooming gangs and Sharia councils, Dame Louise Casey’s lengthy, evidence-based report pulls no punches. Towns and cities with high Muslim populations, such as Oldham, Rochdale, Blackburn and Bradford are mentioned as places of concern. Some of them are areas with large numbers of people who came from Pakistani-administered Kashmir, particularly the rural region of Mirpur. They came to the former…

An ex-Muslim’s brief recount of working with the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat

24th October 20165th May 2017 admin

By Zee Jay August 2009. I finally touched down to the country that was regarded as providing opportunities for many. Here I was, ready to embark on exploring uncharted waters and break new mould. It was my desire to meet and interact with people and observe the British way of life. What I wasn’t expecting was to get drawn back into the web of Islam after already having left a strain of it when I left the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This was at the time I was still…

My issues with the Muslim Council of Britain’s alternative to the Prevent strategy

20th October 20168th May 2017 admin

By Iram Ramzan Critics of the Government’s counter-terrorism Prevent strategy often claim that it disproportionately targets and focuses on Muslims, despite the fact that it actually works on countering the far-right too. So what does the Muslim Council of Britain decide to do? It has decided to set up its own programme to target, er, Muslims. In a direct challenge to the government’s ‘controversial’ Prevent scheme, the MCB plans to start the Muslim-run counter-radicalisation scheme next year. The MCB said in a statement: In reflecting the wishes of a cross-section…