Islam a political
target in Norway
The heated debate is a sign that Norway, renowned as one of the most peaceful and tolerant nations in the world, is facing the same issues with its Muslim minority now familiar in other parts of Europe.
Siv Jensen, the 39-year-old leader of the opposition Progress Party, has objected to moves to introduce special measures in order to accommodate Muslims' religious sensitivities, traditions and rules.
"If the Progress Party gets to govern Norway, we will enforce Norwegian law and Norwegian rules. We are not going to allow special demands from any single group in society," Ms Jensen added.
'Islamophobia'
Khalid Mahmood, a Pakistani-born member of the governing Labour Party believes Muslims are being persecuted, and Islam confronted with hatred. "Muslims are the Jews of our times, stigmatised, generalised and presented as a threat to society" he says. "It is not any longer immigrants who are targeted, but simply Muslims", he adds. "We are portrayed as uncivilised people living double lives - orderly and behaved when in public, but at home fundamentalists suppressing and physically abusing women."
Last month, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the racism watchdog of the Council of Europe, published a report warning that Islamophobia was on the rise in Norway. Specifically, the commissioned highlighted the increasingly aggressive rhetoric of the Progress Party.
With an estimated 150,000 of Norway's almost five million population being Muslims, Islam is the second-biggest religion in the country.
But while Norway was ranked the most peaceful country in the world by the World Peace Index in 2007, it is struggling to integrate its religious minorities without friction.
In some places, Islamic traditions still clash with the largely non-religious Scandinavian way of life.
Culture clash
Earlier this year, the Labour Party's governing coalition suggested it would allow police officers to wear headscarves with their uniform, in the hope that it would attract more Muslim women the police force.
On International Women's Day in March, Syrian-born Sara Azmeh Rasmussen protested against headscarves by burning hers in public in the capital, Oslo.
Ms Jensen's party has produced a list of special measures it says Muslims have requested to accommodate their religious sensitivities and traditions.
On top of changes to police uniform, the list mentions inmates wanting Halal food served in prisons, and parents of teenage girls demanding schools separate their daughters from boys during sports lessons.
Most of her supporters say it is exactly her hardline stand against Islamic values and rules that make her their favourite candidate. Some polls suggest that Ms Jensen's party could win the election, and that she could become the country's next prime minister - though to do so she would have to secure the support of other parties like the Conservatives, the Liberals and Christian Democrats.
'Empty rhetoric'
The significant success of the Progress Party has forced the governing Labour Party to react. Earlier this year, the government tightened asylum rules despite earlier pledges not to do so.
However, the former prime minister and Labour Party leader, Thorbjoern Jagland, called it an unnecessary fight that would only lead to confrontation.
While he argued that it was empty rhetoric, saying there was no radical Islam in Norway, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) insists radical Islam represents a threat.
"In Norway, extreme Islamist activity is carried out by small groups. However, the international connections the persons in these groups represent, in addition to activities they carry out, are such in nature that they can also influence that national threat picture," it said in a recent report.
While the debate is getting more heated, not all Muslims agree with Mr Mahmood.
"Three to four articles critical of religion and burning of a headscarf is not persecution of Muslims, it is a process of modernising," says Shakil Rehman, another Labour Party member.
"Criticism isn't a smear campaign, but necessary progress."
Source: BBC News online
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