The Trendy And The Tarnished

[Windjammer]

Lahore, Pakistan ... trendy youngsters out hitting the plastic in shopping malls

Dewsbury, W Yorks ... Muslim women go swaddled in black as they shop in 'liberal' Britain


THE top photo featuring trendy young girls dressed in jeans and T-shirts, quenching their thirst for shopping was taken in Pakistan — traditionally seen by those in the West as teeming with religious fundamentalism and poverty.

The bottom picture of women dressed head to toe in black burkas and niqabs was taken in modern day Britain.

How ironic.

Pakistan was created in 1947 and its revered founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a Western-educated barrister, envisaged a state where everyone could practise their faith, or no faith at all.

Islam, however, is obviously the dominant religion and five times a day you hear the call to prayer. You see women in face veils and burkas but there are also plenty of women who are not covered up at all.

In the growing number of shopping malls in cities like Lahore and Karachi, I saw and heard young girls chattering into mobile phones about an upcoming party.

“I have absolutely NOTHING to wear,” shrieked one. “What about your Gucci dress?” offered another helpfully.

“No yaar,” she replied. “It’s gone for dry-cleaning. Will have to dig out that Chanel number.” All the women seemed to be decked out in designer sunglasses and handbags.

Modelling agencies have sprung up, private parties are legendary and it is bewildering to think that this is going on in a country traditionally seen as claustrophobically conservative.

In fact this is a modern, open and liberal society.

In Britain it is a completely different story. In Dewsbury and parts of Bradford in West Yorkshire, for example, the face veil is becoming MORE popular. It is not uncommon to see women swaddled in black.

British Muslims are becoming more religious while in Pakistan there is a more liberal atmosphere.

I met a group of eight girls at university. Only one was wearing the face veil. The others mostly wore a scarf around their shoulders and had their hair loose.

They told me how education is the latest “must have” for young Pakistani women, no matter how modest their backgrounds. Girls are encouraged to go on to higher education.

At Karachi University female students now outnumber men. Women are also guaranteed a third of the places in parliament.

There don’t seem to be the same problems in Pakistan that there are in Britain. Forced marriage, for example, has all but died out.

Mahwish Akram, 21, said: “It is more likely to happen in remote tribal areas but it doesn’t happen here. It is strange it happens in Britain. You’d think it would be more modern there.”

Views on the veil are mixed but Mahwish said: “In my opinion what is inside is more important. People say it is to protect the woman.

“I personally think the veil is a real barrier. I think it would stop me achieving my goals in my career. Besides no one in my family wears it.”

Only one of the women said she was under pressure — and that was to remove it. Amber Shaheen, 22, said she chose to wear the face cover because it was an expression of her dedication to the word of God.

She didn’t understand or care how it caused offence. “We don’t criticise women in the West who go around half naked so why does it bother anyone else if I go around covered?”

But she said members of her family told her to remove it. She said: “My brother tells me to take it off. He says it is backwards and not necessary.”

Amber has received wedding proposals. She said: “But one suitor said I should take the veil off. I told him I liked the niqab more than him.”

She added: “The British are very hard-working and polite people. They have a good sense of humour. What I like best though is that they don’t take things too seriously.”

I know. How ironic.
Two nations are worlds apart | The Sun |News