Norway: Pakistanis to honor Obama

Norway: Pakistanis to honor Obama

Barack Obama will be honored with the Bridge-builder Award on the Pakistani National Day. The Norwegian-Pakistani August 14 Committee also decided to award Carl I. Hagen and Alexander Rybak.

The Pakistani minority in Norway has celebrated Pakistan's National Day since the first immigrants came in the 70s. Aamir J. Sheikh is a politician for the Conservative Party and heads the Norwegian-Pakistani August 14 Committee, which wants to make the celebration of Pakistan's national day more like the celebration of the Norwegian May 17th.

"We will have as usual a children's procession, and we're actively working to have women and children participate," says Sheikh, who hopes several hundred children and adults will partipate in the procession from Frogner park to the Pakistani embassy.

Later in the evening there will be a Bridge-builder Concert, which will be opened by former PM Kjell Magne Bondevik. And this will also be the place where the Bridge-builder awards will be given out. This is an award that has been awarded every year since 2003 to poeople that the August 14 Committee thinks work towards reducing the distances bewteen people

Aamir Sheikh says that the August 14 Committee decided to award the Bridge-builder 2009 Award to US president Barack Obama. He's an example for minorities all over the world. He's the first American president who wants to fight terrorism and at the same time conduct a dialog with Muslims leaders in order to put an end to extremism. He's got a lot of trust, and Muslim leaders listen to him.

He admits that it's too early to see any big results but that Obama has made a good start.

Barack Obama will be represented at the award ceremony in Oslo by a representative from the US embassy. An excerpt from Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last June will be read there.

Hillary Olsin-Windecker, a spokesperson at the American embassy in Oslo, told VG Nett that it's an honor that the August 14 committee decide to give the Bridge-builder 2009 Award to president Barack obama. He reaches out to the Muslim world and she thinks it's nice that he's getting this recognition.

In addition to the president of the US, Grand Prix winner Alexander Rybak and Conservative Party politician Per-Kristian Foss will be awarded a cultural Bridge-builder award. Former head of the Progress Party (Frp), Carl I. Hagen, will additionally be awarded for having dared to put controversial integration issues on the agenda.

This hasn't gone unnoticed by social-debater Atilla A. Iftikhar, who says that it doesn't look serious. Carl I. Hagen is a leader of the Progress Party, and the party had done more than enough to worsen the relationships between ethnic Norwegians and the whole Muslim community in Norway, including the Pakistanis.

Iftikhar also says that the countless attacks by Hagen and Frp against 'non-Western' and particularly Muslims these past years are inexcusable and have directly caused Muslims today to feel more physically insecure in public in Norway.

He also thinks it's strange that president Obama is getting the Bridge-builder award. He says that the choice of who's getting the award and how he's managed to involve Obama and Rybak in this celebration is incomprehensible. The only thing he believes is that the Conservative Party wants to suck up to the Frp before the elections, claims Iftikhar.

Aamir J. Sheikh defends the choice of Carl I. Hagen saying that the August 14 Committee is concerned with building bridges in Norwegian society.

It's important that people don't isolate themselves, but actively take part in common arenas and develop their thoughts and attitudes through dialog. Even if we don't agree in everything he's done, we think he deserves an award for his strong engagement in integration politics, says Sheikh to VG Nett.

Carl I. Hagen told VG Nett that he's positively surprised for having being chosen to get the award and will personally receive it on August 14.

He says that people having different points of view on various social issue is part of democracy, but he can understand that many are critical. Those who think Frp is hiding turned out to be wrong, since the party's has gone out in the open with their points of view, and in several cases those have been accepted later.

Carl I. Hagen says that the first time he proposed that immigrants must pass a test in Norwegian and an understanding of society, he was called a racist. When he said that integration is dependent on making demands from immigrants, he was met with curses. When he pointed out in the 80s that immigration from an alien culture will bring with them big challenge and latent problems, the same happened. Today we clearly see the challenges of the multicultural society in schools, forced and arrange marriages, gang crime, and young people who stand with one foot in each camp.

He says he doesn't understand Atilla A. Iftikhar's accusation that the Frp contributed to Muslims feeling more physically insecure in Norway.

Aamir Sheikh hopes that many will take the tour to the Bridge-builder Concert in Gamle Logen and will be further enticed by the Pakistani fashion show and meeting with political leaders, business leaders, and the Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan and guests from Pakistan, including movie star Zeba Ali and pop-artists Rabi Peezada.

Among others, Pakistan's former minister of the interior Aitzaz Ahsan will participate in the event. he's been former PM Benazir Bhutto's closest adviser and a close friend of the current president Asif Ali Zardari, and he's described as a future PM of Pakistan.

Pakistan's former president Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, who was fired by former general General Pervez Musharraf in 2001, is also among the confirmed participants, according to the August 14 Committee.

Source: VG (Norwegian)