Islam & Immigration in Norway

A Pakistani living in Norway, Ghufoor Butt, has formed the 'International Labour Party', which has some rather interesting political goals:

The new party will prohibit homosexual practices and lower gasoline prices. “In about three years will the mayor of Oslo be a Norwegian-Pakistani,” says Ghufoor Butt.

“If Norwegians had not drunk alcohol, had sex before marriage and eaten pork, they would have been the world’s best Muslims. They are honest, not criminals, and love peace,” said Butt .

Butt is the leader of the newly-established party, the Independent Labor Party (ILP), and the leading candidate for the party in this year’s parliamentary elections.

"We are a party for everyone that works, including immigrants. Therefore, we have an international name,” said Butt, who himself moved to Norway in 1974. He does not understand why some Norwegians feel threatened by Islam.

“That we do not have sex before marriage or drink alcohol is not a threat to Norway. Muslims love Norway, and many have switched their citizenship to be Norwegian. We are no threat,” says Butt.

The party wants to make family reunification easier, and will provide automatic Norwegian visas to anyone who marries a Norwegian citizen. They want to remove the requirement that one must earn over NOK 270,000 ($41,300) a year to bring a new spouse to the country.

“This is unfair to young Norwegian-Pakistani that are starting-up,” says Butt.

In addition, he wants to provide mandatory bilingual education to the six largest immigrant groups in Norway, and that all religious leaders such as imams and priests should receive state pay.

“When you see how little money many mosques have, it is necessary to help them pay for the imam,” says Butt.

The 63-year-old is critical of the U.S. war on terror, and put the question of Western media portrayals of Osama bin Laden.

“Who has served in the terror with Osama bin Laden? It is notMuslims. In Islam it is illegal to practice/work with terror,” says Butt. He believes the U.S. is behind most of the terror in the world.

“How is it possible that they have not managed to capture Osama bin Laden. Either he doesn’t exist, or he worked for the U.S. and lives there now,” says Butt.

The Norwegian-Pakistani [Butt] is also skeptical of the official version of the terrorist attack September 11, 2001.

“Where were the Jews? And how many were killed? These are questions I think, today, that we do not have answers for,” said Butt, who believe the Israeli intelligence service Mossad may have been behind the attack.

“The United States has not answered the big questions. Who was behind the attack? There is also a big question how many Jews died? This we do not know today,” says Butt.

Minority politicians stood in 1995 and 2007 with their own list to the council elections in Oslo, with no luck. Butt still believes they [i.e., his new party] will succeed where others have failed.

“I have a lot behind me to achieve this. I think people trust me,” says Butt.

In the autumn he hopes for a seat in Parliament. But it does not stop there.

“My hope is that in about fifteen years in Norway, like the United States see a second-generation immigrant in the job of prime minister,” says Butt. Also at the [Oslo] council election in three years, the 63-year-old hope for a “break election”.

For the rest of the interview, see Gates of Vienna.

Is Islam a threat to Norway?

Well, recently the PST, the Norwegian security services, seemed to think so. The following story is translated by Islam in Europe:

Oslo: Terrorism investigation leads to former Taliban health minister

The Norwegian Security Service (PST) conducted this winter an operation against a certain community in the Oslo area linked to extreme Islamism. PST head Jørn Holme told Dagbladet newspaper that 25 adults belonging to the same group were systematically looked up by PST agents. After careful evaluation PST chose to conduct confidential talks with them. The operation was part of the PST efforts to prevent possible terrorist acts.

He confirms that all the men lived in the Østland area and the main part of the operation took place in winter, but he did not want to go further into its background. Holme did not want to say whether anybody was arrested or deported.

The 25 men did not form a dedicated organization, but there is no doubt that they were all part of the same community and had close contacts with each other.

Dagbladet reveals that several of the men had been followed for a long time through phone tapping and seaches. PST got confirmation then that the suspects had very worrisome conversations based on extreme Islamism. Some of the conversation could be interpreted as wishing to carry out terrorist acts in Norway. Others were about a Holy War abroad.

Though they did not reveal that anybody was in the process of planning terrorism against a certain target, the communications between the suspects were at a level which led the PST to take more active measures. When the PST agents came to the door, most of the suspects were extremely surprised. Holme says this people were a real concern in connection to terrorism and that this is one of the more extensive issues they've worked on in the past year.

He compares the recent operation with the PST's part in the investigation of the GSPC terrorist network in 2006, when the Norwegian security service worked together with the Italian police.

Thirteen people were deported from Norway in the wake of the operation, after searches and taps revels their contacts with terrorist suspect Salafists abroad.

The PST cooperated with a former Taliban minister who stood behind the terrorist community in Oslo.According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, PST help the man get asylum when he came to Norway and later with family reunification. The former health minister in the Taliban regime also conducted dialog with the PST.

PST spokesperson Martin Bernsen told news agency NTB that after what happened on September 11, 2001, it was natural for them to speak with him and that it's natural for the PST to have contact with such a person. He is not a source anymore and hasn't been for a long time.Newspaper VG reported that several of the 25 young men had frequent contacts in a mosque in Grønland in Oslo. They received ideological training there from the former Taliban minister.

The 49 year old came to Norway and to a city in Østlandet in 2001. He lived on welfare and at the same time worked as an unpaid imam in a community in Oslo. PST confirms it helped the man with family reunification, but says they had nothing to do with his asylum case. According to VG the Norwegian authorities have been working recently on deporting the man from Norway. One of the reasons is that he's been sentenced for violence against his minor daughter.

When he discovered that his 14 year old daughter got email from an Indian boy he beat her, while swearing on the Koran. According to the judges in the Oslo court and the Borgarting Court of Appeals, he beat his daughter repeatedly in the face, before beating her with a cord while she lay on the floor. In the appeals court he was sentenced to four months in prison.

The former Taliban minister also made several trips to Pakistan, where the PST thinks he made contact with terrorists.Martin Bernsen told NTB that he can't confirm or deny whether they're following him but he can emphasize that he's no longer a PST source.

It would seem from this that unchecked Muslim immigration to Norway, as to any Western country, does constitute a threat.

On the one hand we have crime, terrorism, vastly different cultural values which lead to conflict; on the other, as represented by Ghufoor Butt, we have the attempts at 'reverse integration', whereby Norwegians are supposed to accept that their society is now multicultural melting pot with growing Muslim influence - however bad that influence may be.