if she’s Misbah she needs to get sent packing back to Scotland, that country in second only to Wales in being Most Fucking Boring Place in Western Europe. If she’s Molly then her Muslim Pakistani heritage clearly doesn’t matter because she looks like she can ‘pass’ for a Molly anyway.

I hope she keeps rocking her bright salwars wherever she lives I think Sriram’s comment before about the process being more important than the policy is true for the British legal system. Also the fact is that most judges in western legal systems belong to a certain social group (say it along with me kids), white middle class males, whose basic knowledge of anyone from Third World countries is a glorious combination of immgigration/anti terrorism laws, World Vision ads, token characters in movies and boiled orange cream with boneless chicken masquerading as a curry…

as in the country where I live, many UK judges would rely on a rudimentary judgment of how much a young brown minor knows about traditional foods, clothing and religious practices before deciding which country they can live in.

I have to say I agree with Sin’s view that realigning oneself with traditional religion has become a mechanism for some people to find a shortcut to getting a perfectly clear cut identity…I just hope Molly/Misbah realises wherever she lives, that for many of us including her, there is no such thing. She should be proud of both her names, just like both her pics with her parents show her Scottish and Pakistani heritage.

Mmmm … custardy politics

What I gathered from the articles I read, is that it was her stepfather calling her Paki… doesn’t matter what she looked like, just the fact that she’s half Pakistani is enough to make it a perfect sore spot in a fight between husband and wife when stepdad’s drunk.

She looks just like mum, and adorable in orange salwar kameez

I just hope that she’s able to rise above the nasty custody politics and unneeded media attention to become a well-adjusted adolescent who doesn’t need too much therapy…..

a girl who was – she claims – racially abused and called a “Paki”.

From the picture in that article, she doesnt look “Paki” at all. Here you decide

Sorry for the tangential comment.

Where is Kolkata?

The soccer team, “The Mohammedans” are very popular and deeply entrenched amongst their fans for now ages.

Also, there is a huge portal – Chowk – mostly run by Hindus and Muslims from India and Pakistan. It dicusses a lot of India-Pakistan and Islam related issues. I often read Chowk.

Prior to independence, however, both the players and supporters were predominantly muslims. They had a very strong team in the 30s and had a glorious run in Calcutta football league. After Bengal’s partition, Dhaka’s Mohammedan Sporting Club was created as a branch of Calcutta MSC and along with Abahani Krira Chakra, they dominate the Bangladesh football scene.