Excerpts from an article in today's ST by Matthew Syed
"You see to understand many of the most urgent failures of integration, you need to understand the clan. These groups are held together not just by ideology or religion; they are cemented by cousin marriage, a common practice in Arabic cultures and, in the UK, many Pakistani immigrant communities, particularly those hailing from Kashmir. By marrying within small, tight knit groups they ensure everything is kept with the "baradari" or brotherhood - property, secrets, loyalty - binding clan members closer together while sequestering them from wider society. In her 2016 report Casey rightly talked about failure to speak English, honour beatings and the like, but she missed the point that many of these problems are a function of marriage practices that isolate communities. The academic Patrick Nash of the Pharos Foundation has written of the baradari life concentrated in small geographical areas spread across a few streets or nearby neighbourhoods where there is little need or opportunity to have much to do with wider society or practice the English Language. To write a report on failures of integration without seeing the link with cousin marriage is, I suggest, like writing on the power grid without noting the significance of electricity. Casey's report on the rape gang scandal was flawed for the same reason. It was a strange experience to read her words as she edged ever closer to grasping the point without quite getting there. She noted the problem is disproportionately concentrated among British Pakistanis. She noted that "two thirds of suspects offended within groups" that were based on pre-existing relationships - mainly brothers and cousins". But then stunningly, she suggested that these links were "unsophisticated" and "informal" Anyone who studies these things could have told that this is the unmistakable pattern of clan based crime: groups whose links are anything but informal and unsophisticated. Charlie Peters who has investigated this problem for GB News told me: "The deeper you probe, the more you see the presence of clans" We know that such communities are more likely to to see others as outsiders, of less moral value and when it comes to the young white girls, fair game (In fact Monica made that point very well on the other thread) to continue "The perpetrators also knew that they could commit crimes without getting dobbed in since loyalty is owed to the clan but not victims. In some cases abusers were aided by relatives in authority. A couple of examples, Last year, Saha Amran Miah 48, Saha Alman Miah 47 and Shaha Joman Miah 38 were convicted at Preston Crown Court of horrific abuse perpetrated in Barrow-in-Furness and Leeds. Yes,these were Pakistani men, but they were also brothers within an overreaching baradari. In Rotherham in 2016 Arshid Basharat and Bannaras Hussain groomed and raped children for nearly 20 years while Qurban Ali was found guilty of conspiracy to rape. Three of these men are brothers and Ali is their uncle. I have long advocated a ban on cousin marriage, but should perhaps say that I've never regarded it as a panacea. Improving integration requires so much more: ending mass uncontrolled immigration, amending legal frameworks to stop boats, deporting foreign criminals, not to mention other policies supported by large majorities but serially ducked by politicians. A ban on consanguinity would, though be of huge value. American states with bans tend to be more prosperous and faster growing. Nations with bans are richer and more integrated, with less corruption and lower rates of crime. A ban would also reduce the prevalence of the congenital diseases causing untold suffering in Kashmiri immigrant communities from Bradford to Luton. He goes on to say that the reason for the grooming scandal was not confronted for so long by both main parties the fear of seeming bigoted for investigating ethnic minorities even while they were gang raping young girls. Matthew Syed is himself the son of a Pakistani immigrant.
