Pakistan in Media

The News International, Pakistan

Monday, June 01, 2009

The report of the deporting of a Pakistani student from the UK, for a minor offence involving work beyond the hours permitted to students by their visa, again brings into focus Britain’ s relations with its Muslim community. This relationship has of course been under intense focus lately, with recent terrorist accusations against ten Pakistani students and accounts of how young Muslims were recruited from universities by extremist groups. We still do not know if there is more to the account of the most recent deportation than what has surfaced in the media. But if it is truly an act of blatant discrimination, London needs to extend an explanation. As many students will testify, working additional hours is common practice and usually attracts only a reprimand if detected.

The issue however ties in to the larger one of combating terrorism. It has become clear that the UK remains a focal point for the activities of groups involved in it. The British government needs to consider how this has come about. It must also find means to end the nexus that links up outfits in that country with those elsewhere and with the student community, including the significant segment of it that comes from Pakistan. The best means to do this is to work with Islamabad and indeed also other Muslim nations. There is plenty of evidence of inter-connections that fuel international terror. But Britain must also realize that perceptions of ugly racism and bias do more than anything else to drive it on. Incidents such as the most recent deportation tie in to the anger that stems from discrimination. Its presence presents a risk to all of us. London needs to find a way to tackle it and to ensure the decisions it takes are fair and not the result of the xenophobia directed against Pakistanis that many say is sweeping across its university campuses.

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