Britain's Refugee Stance No Deterrent for Desperate
He was 25 when he fled Afghanistan, fearing Taleban persecution for his Shia Muslim beliefs. He paid traffickers $5,000 for a one-way trip in the pitch-black cargo hold. "Sometimes there were hundreds of people, sometimes there were 10 or 20 or 30," he said. "It was very cold, and very hot, and I couldn't see a thing. There were always people bumping into one another. I felt like I was dying."
Now settled in northern England, Mured studies software engineering and spends his free time making radio shows with friends in his native Dari language, Reuters reported.
He is at ease among the dozens of Asian, African and Eastern European asylum seekers gathered at a community center for a weekly dinner organized by a refugee support group in Bradford.
Most are young men, some of whom worked as doctors, journalists and film directors before seeking refuge in Britain.
Two boys play hide-and-seek and a young girl hula-hoops in the middle of the room as a chicken curry simmers in two large pots.
Mured, with his open, easy manner, links conversations across the room by switching easily from English to Dari to Russian.
But he didn't want to give his real name for fear of stirring up trouble in his new home. Despite Bradford's established Asian population and a recent influx of refugees to the region, he said the plight of most newcomers was still misunderstood.
He used his own story as an example, saying the $5,000 he spent to escape Afghanistan would be unthinkable for those who did not come from privileged families. "Asylum seekers are almost always the rich people, the well-educated, the intellectuals," he said. "They have travelled using desperate measures to get into this country."
--- Magnet for Immigrants --- Bradford, once dominated by bustling wool mills, attracted thousands of Asian and Eastern European immigrants from the 1950s onwards.
When its textile mills closed in the 1980s, unemployment swept the city and relations between immigrant and native communities cracked.
Housing remains largely segregated, with ethnic communities living in clusters around the city center. Most schools are either mostly Asian or predominantly White.
As one of the first multi-ethnic northern cities, Bradford seemed a natural choice for Britain's first attempt to move asylum seekers away from dense immigrant communities in and around London.
Three years ago, the Labour government picked Bradford as a destination for asylum seekers under a new "no choice dispersal" program.
Under the new program, those applying for refugee status in Britain were given accommodation while their cases are considered, but had no say on where they went.
Those gathered for dinner at the Bradford community center were among the 3,000 asylum seekers sent to the town in the past three years.
Jim Johnson, Director of Bradford Action for Refugees, said the influx added to existing tensions in the community. "I don't think anyone...was prepared for what dispersal was going to mean," Johnson said. "About 40 to 50 new nationalities arrived in Bradford with no interest in being here."
The policy has been particularly unpopular in run-down areas susceptible to racial unrest following last summer's riots between Whites and Asians in several towns and cities in northern England, including Bradford.
But pockets of tolerance are started to emerge. "People are just beginning to form small pockets of support for each other," Johnson said. "That will act as an anchor for those who are settled here." -