Norwegian muslim political party being launched in Pakistan.....

The latest entry from Bruce Bawer's blog....

Ghufoor Butt is one of those Western Muslim men who are always being labeled moderates because they dress in Western fashion, don’t have beards, speak the language of the country they live in, have achieved a degree of professional success, and just plain look and sound seem like reasonable guys who are comfortable with Western values. Butt, who according to Dagbladet “has acted in 20 Pakistani movies, is still a big name in Pakistan and was a famous Pakistani political journalist,” moved to Norway in 1974, making him a member of the first wave of Muslim immigrants to the land of the fjords, and now owns a thriving DVD outlet in Oslo’s immigrant quarter. Now Butt (who told Dagbladet that "if Norwegians didn't drink alcohol, have sex, and eat pork they would be the world's best Muslims") has founded a new political party that seeks to woo the nation's Muslim voters, and in the fall will head up his party’s slate of candidates for Parliament.

What is his party's platform? Well, for one thing, while more and more Norwegians realize that immigration laws providing for “family reunification” have led to disaster and need to be drastically overhauled, Butt’s party wants to move in the other direction, granting Norwegian visas automatically to anyone who marries a Norwegian citizen. Also, the party wants children who belong to Norway’s six largest immigrant groups to be taught in their mother tongues; it wants the government to pay imams’ salaries; it wants people who publish Muhammed cartoons and the like to be punished. Butt also told Dagbladet that the party wants to prohibit homosexual activity, but on Monday he called the newspaper back to say that although Islam does indeed forbid such behavior, the party doesn’t “want to change Norwegian law” in this regard. Butt further maintained that America commits most of the terrorism in the world, and suggested that “the Jews” were behind 9/11.

Because his party is aimed at voters who, though living in Norway, may not understand Norwegian, its official name is in English: it’s the Independent Labor Party (ILP). And its official launch next Monday will take place not in Norway but in Pakistan, where Butt will appear on two TV channels. “Isn’t it strange to launch a Norwegian party in Pakistan?” asked Dagbladet. “No,” replied Butt. “Most Norwegian Pakistanis watch these two TV channels. So if you want to reach them, these are important channels.”

Butt looks forward to a Norway which, in 15 years, will have a prime minister with an immigrant background. But he believes another breakthrough will occur much sooner – namely in the 2012 local elections: “I believe that in three years the mayor of Oslo will be a Norwegian Pakistani,” he says. He may well be right.

I can't wait until Bawer's new book comes out....I suggest everybody order a copy through Amazon asap.