Love across the culture divide

He claims the proposals, which are included in a White Paper called Secure Borders, Safe Haven, will help build a united country for the future.

The plans do have their supporters, but reporter DAVID CROOKES spoke to two leading Asians in Bolton who are unhappy at the latest proposals from the Home Secretary.

FOR a lesson in arranged marriages, the hit film East is East makes ideal viewing material.

Set in the 1970s, it tells the story of the Khan family, stranded in social limbo because father George, a Pakistani immigrant, is married to Ella, a native English woman.

Their seven children are torn between the Islamic faith and the realities of life in Salford complete with its discos and mini-skirts.

But things take a sinister twist when eldest son Nazir flees his wedding ceremony on the day of his arranged marriage, prompting George to declare him "dead".

East is East uses humour and honesty to highlight a complex social issue.

Yet arranged marriages are no laughing matter -- as Home Secretary David Blunkett discovered when he said Asians should forge relationships within the UK rather than jetting in candidates from the Indian sub-continent.

He came under fire from leading Asians in Bolton for interfering in something, it is claimed, he knows nothing about.

They have accused him of using the issue of arranged marriages as a smokescreen for the control of immigration.

Mr Blunkett's remarks came when he announced his immigration White Paper which detailed plans for citizenship passes, English tests and loyalty pledges.

He said: "We need to be able to encourage people to respond particularly to young women who do actually want to be able to marry someone who speaks their language -- namely English -- who has been educated in the same way they have and has similar social attitudes."

That view has incensed some Asians, with Faruq Mangera, general secretary of the Bolton Council of Mosques telling the BEN: "Mr Blunkett has no idea how our cultures work."

Mr Mangera said the background of people in Britain and India were similar with both sets of people speaking English and having near-identical ideals and upbringing.

"It isn't the case that India is backward thinking at all. Maybe it was 15 years or so ago but now educational standards are high and the people are very intelligent," he said.

"There's no question that they can't come to Britain and integrate into this country but I don't think this is an issue of integration, to be honest.

"It's about controlling immigration and it's something you would expect a Tory Home Secretary to come out with. I find it hard to believe it has come from a Labour minister."

In June 2001, arranged marriages hit the headlines when three sisters from Bolton fled in a rickshaw after being held prisoner by other members of their family.

Narina Anwar, 22, Samina, 20, and Raisa, 16, were being forced into marriage, sent to Pakistan on the pretence their grandmother was ill.

But when the trio arrived, they realised they were expected to marry strangers and they embarked on a perilous journey across northern Pakistan to seek refuge in a British High Commission before being eventually flown back to the UK by the Government.

At the time, a tearful Narina said: "We thought that life would not be worth living if we got married by force, so why not die trying.

"It pains me to think that there are girls who are still in that situation. They may be in Pakistan or Bangladesh for years without even being able to come home."

The Home Secretary is looking to stamp out such scenarios but Mr Mangera said it was not an issue: "Forced marriages are rare. In the vast majority of cases both people have to be happy before they wed. The final decision is left to the girl."

Mr Blunkett robustly defends his proposals and believes encouraging home-grown arranged marriages would "break down terrible tensions that exist when people feel trapped between two different cultures and backgrounds."

It is an argument Uttambhai D Mistry, a leading light in the formation of the Bolton Hindu Forum, strongly disagrees with.

He said British Asians made every effort to find a partner locally.

"But sometimes it is not possible," he added. "People in India observe their religious culture far more than in Britain so anyone who wants a traditional partner would be more likely to look further afield.

"Yet in the vast majority of cases, people don't want someone from outside Britain. It would only arise if there was a scarcity of suitable partners here."

Mr Mistry, aged 53, who comes from Kenya, is married to a 51-year-old Indian immigrant called Jasuben.

He said: "Because Kenya is a former British colony, I had a semi-westernised education so fitting into Britain was not a problem.

"My wife, though, has blended in very well and has not had any difficulties with British culture."

Recent Government figures showed that in 2000, more than 38,000 people were granted the right to live in the UK through marriage.

In the same year there were almost 18,000 grants and entry clearance to spouses from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan - nearly twice the 1996 figure.

Mr Mistry said: "Integration is important but it's a two way process. The white population needs to make an effort as well."

The Home Secretary has been courting controversy for some months now. In December, he came under attack for saying new immigrants should take lessons in English and British "norms of acceptability" -- proposals included in detail in a White Paper called "Secure Borders, Safe Haven."

Mr Mangera questioned the notion of British culture. "What is it?" he said. "Is going to a pub British culture? Is a girl leaving her parents' home at 16 and becoming pregnant part of British culture?

"It sounds like Mr Blunkett wants people to behave in set ways but I always believed this country was open-minded, tolerant and multi-faith.

"Arranged marriages are not, in the main, forced. People do have a choice."

The reforms will crack down on bogus marriages which are designed to obtain a British passport.

Mr Blunkett said the probation period for new marriages would be doubled to two years in a bid to sniff out sham relationships.

Bolton's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies backed the call on the Asian community to end arranged marriages with overseas partners.

He said: "I welcome these comments. They are not a criticism of arranged marriages but a call for people to marry the boy or girl in the next street instead of someone thousands of miles away.

"We want to move forward together as British people seeking to build a better society, not looking backwards from whence we came.

"British Asian girls marrying a partner who has no knowledge of our society and its attitudes can only perpetuate the domestic role of Asian women, which in turn prevents them from reaching their full potential.

"I note that much of the criticisms are coming from Asian men, but it is time we heard the voice of Asian women speaking out clearly." SPEAKING OUT: Uttambhai D Mistry ROLE PLAY: Bolton actor Ian Aspinall who starred in East is East