The role of a humble regional columnist

I think it's important to know the basis of my role. As a writer I'm trying to open a debate about the composition and nature of our society and its elements.

I am not anti-Muslim - or at least no more so than I am anti-Hindu, anti-Christian or anti-Sikh.

However, I have written about my very enjoyable experience of working in a predominantly Muslim women's academy and felt that girls - irrespective of their backgrounds (whether they're Asians, white or black - Muslims) - are essentially similar in terms of their aspirations, their dreams, their hopes and fears.

Similarly, sometime ago I wrote about my experience of working as a writer-in-residence in a school in a socially volatile area and concluded that if we - as educationalists and critics - really want to tackle the disaffection of young Muslim boys we need to confront them about issues they want to discuss about belonging, religion and cultural identity. What they say might not be what we want to hear (might not be pc) -but that's what debate is all about. And we've got to bear in mind that we can't censor thoughts and expression because of political correctness. As long as they don't advocate violence or hatred what they say should be permissible. In the TES, I am the one who wrote about the way the head teacher tried to ban the lyrics of a small group of Muslim boys because they wrote the following relatively innocuous rhyme,'my friends think they're funky, but I know they're all junkies'. Can you believe it? She said it might give the school a bad image!

I also want to stress that I am passionate about giving everyone the right to choose and that also includes religion. Children and young people should be allowed to explore spirituality on broader scale and not just be put into a specific religion purely because of their birth. Personally I am not very religious but I do have a lot of respect for religious people, genuine religious people - not those who carve out a career about spirituality and God(s). As such, I'm quite happy to go to a mosque, a sikh temple and a mandir - with family and friends - and, respectfully, say a prayer for people who are not as lucky as us to be living in a free country such as this where there are so many opportunities to do whatever you want and say what you please without being gagged.

Despite this I believe that so many atrocities are being committed under our very nose in the name of culture/religion. Some young Asian girls are forced to marry against their wishes, locked up in their own homes, denied the right to choose, taken to other countries - practically abducted - and even killed. Such cases defy Human Rights legislations and hundreds - if not thousands of girls - are denied protection. Our criminals in our courts - where I am a magistrate - have more rights than these girls who suffer in silence. I think we have a duty to expose the cultural hypocrisy that enables such violations.

I have criticised aspects of my parents' religion (Hinduism) and some Hindu (men and women) who argue (even today) for the right to practise self-immolation (suttee) which the British, quite rightly, banned during the Raj. That has got to be absurd - and no one (Hindu or otherwise) should even attempt to argue for that. I also believe that a cow - or any animal for that matter - in pain should be put down especially if it's advised by the RSCPA - the very organsation looking after the welfare of anmals and animal rights. The animal - and not cultural sensitivities - should be a our primary concern.

And, to widen the canvas, I have also criticised Christmas and Easter which have become nothing more than a spree of commercial hedonism.

Yet despite being an Asian critic - or critic who just happens to be Asian - there are, on the other hand, wonderful aspects I like about Asian culture as well. I like the phrase 'Allah ke marriz' (it's God's wish) stated at funerals or greetings such as 'salaam lakum' and the Sikhs' 'sasari akal' - both recognising the importance of God. I like the way asian families have respect for their elders and look after them in old age and not throw them in a residential care home.

However, other aspects I am less keen on.

I am against the veil because I think it makes people feel uncomfortable when they can't see the person their talking to especially when the veiled woman is a doctor, a nurse, a teacher etc. Essentially I think Jack Straw was right we should raise these questions for debate if we are to have a truly open, frank, cohesive society.

I am in favour of immigration controls because I think any government policy that allows easy access to people from abroad will inevitably cause resentment amongst the British people - whether their black, white or Asian. This is visible already in some parts of our country.

I am also vehemently against the Asian concept of arranged marriages - which, in many cases, are accompanied by emotional - if no physical - blackmail.

As for the muslim woman at the check-out desk, honestly, I was not attacking her religion - merely objecting to her condescending, patronising tone. I only mentioned her religion because later in the piece I refer to her aggravating the situation when she threw my card on the counter without handing it to me. I just thought that was rude and stated so. Religion - or culture - cannot be used as a justitification for this.

It's nothing to do with Islamaphobia.

And finally, my comment about Iraq is, of course, facetious and acts as a sort of a hook to pin this post. As readers will no doubt know, it's what columnists sometimes do to defuse the seriousness of a subject. It is by no means meant to undermine the gravity of the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.