In London, Gov. Bobby Jindal slams Muslim 'no-go zones'

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday during a speech in London that some countries are allowing Muslim enclaves to be created with Sharia law. 

Some countries have allowed Muslims to establish autonomous neighborhoods in cities where they govern by a harsh version of Islamic law, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday during a speech in London.

The Republican, who is considering a presidential campaign in 2016, later defended — and repeated — the statement after facing reporters' questions about his claims.

In a speech prepared for delivery at a British think tank, Jindal said some immigrants are seeking "to colonize Western countries, because setting up your own enclave and demanding recognition of a no-go zone are exactly that." He also said Muslim leaders must condemn the people who commit terrorism in the name of faith as "murderers who are going to hell."

Jindal aides said he did not make significant changes to the prepared text.

The claims on "no-go zones" are similar to those a Fox News guest made last week about places where non-Muslims were not welcome in parts of the United Kingdom such as Birmingham, and "Muslim religious police" enforce faith-based laws.

Steven Emerson, an American author who often is asked about terror networks, told Fox News that in Britain "there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim, where non-Muslims just simply don't go in."

Prime Minister David Cameron responded by calling Emerson a "complete idiot."

Emerson later apologized and said his comments "were totally in error." Fox News also issued apologies for broadcasting the comments.

Jindal, however, used similar rhetoric during a speech, warning of "no-go zones" in London and other Western cities. Jindal's remarks come in the wake of the massacre by Islamic extremists at a Paris magazine's offices and subsequent attack on a kosher supermarket in the city. Three gunmen killed 17 people in the attacks.

"I knew that by speaking the truth we were going to make people upset," Jindal told CNN during an interview from London.

"The huge issue, the big issue in non-assimilation is the fact that you have people that want to come to our country but not adopt our values, not adopt our language and in some cases want to set apart their own enclaves and hold onto their own values," said Jindal. "I think that's dangerous."

Jindal's parents immigrated to the United States from India. As a young man, Jindal converted from Hinduism to Catholicism.

Asked for evidence of "no-go zones," Jindal pointed to a weekend article in The Daily Mail, a London tabloid, that said killings, sexual abuse of minors and female genital mutilation are believed to go unreported to local police in some areas. The article did not give specific religious groups or towns.

"The bigger point is that radical Islam is a threat to our way of life," Jindal said. Asked if he regretted talking about "no-go zones," Jindal replied: "Not at all."

Jindal spoke to the Henry Jackson Society, a British think tank named for a former U.S. Democratic senator from Washington state who was a presidential candidate in the 1970s.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribute

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to In London, Gov. Bobby Jindal slams Muslim 'no-go zones'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2015/0120/In-London-Gov.-Bobby-Jindal-slams-Muslim-no-go-zones
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe