WITH ONE ARTICLE in a local newspaper, Jack Straw has built up the walls of ignorance and division ever higher.

A Muslim community that has been on the defensive for years is now finding itself facing a barrage of criticism about the way it chooses to express its faith; jeopardising its basic right of religious freedom.

I oppose Mr Straw asking Muslim women who talk to him to take off their veils, not because I believe the veil is compulsory in Islam but rather because his politically motivated opinions have created a climate of intolerance against the veil and those who wear it. His actions have demeaned the veil’s significance, as those who wear do so as an essential part of their faith.

A gaggle of noisy commentators have joined the fray, coming up with unfounded and prejudiced objections to the veil. Some say that women are forced to wear it by overbearing fathers and brothers or that this garment has been imported from some far-flung backwater.

Nonsense. Most women who wear veils here are British-born and bred. More often than not their mothers, who perhaps like most older generations had less choice, did not wear one. A younger generation, however, has used its freedom to think and has adopted the veil. I do not wear a veil and nor does my mother, but my sister has chosen for herself to wear one; this is not uncommon.

Others say that the veil is somehow a rejection of Western society. But isn’t the liberty to choose how to practise a faith based on one’s own understanding of it part and parcel of British life? Isn’t it a basic right in a democracy that as long as something does not damage the public interest, then people should be free to do it? So why should the veil which harms no one be treated differently?

The real issues that affect community relations is the ghettoisation of minorities, exacerbated by poor housing, second-rate education and inadequate job opportunities.These problems are rife in Mr Straw’s constituency and a glaring testament to the failure of his Government’s policies.

In the face of the alienation caused by these social problems, it is absurd to suggest that the tiny minority (less than 5 per cent) of British Muslim women who wear the veil are the barrier to good community relations.

Rajnaara Akhtar is chair of Protect-Hijab