Not a One Off - More a Bigoted Way of Life

And before anyone reading this blog comes to the conclusion that what happened to me in the 'Village of Fear' was just a 'one -off ' and these 'happenings' are few and far between; here is an extract from an article in The Observer relating to the house opposite (there are only two in Market Square just off the High Street). I too, was threatened with petrol bombs if I didnt get out of 'Doggie' and I got exactly the same response from John Burton - Blairs agent who told me he was coming to see me the 'back end of next week'.

I'm not holding my breath as that was 2004 - I'm still waiting!!!

`If nobody helps me, I'll kill myself'- By Burhan Wazir. 26 September 1999 The Observer(c)1999

Samina Yunis is 14. Her father's shop was petrol-bombed.

Her family hardly dares step outside the door.

She wrote this plea to her MP.

His name is Tony Blair Locals call West Cornforth `Doggie' the dog's end of Sedgefield borough.

The village, hunkered down in a valley off the dual carriageway to Durham, marks one of the most depressed areas in Tony Blair's constituency.

Mohammed Yunis moved his wife and seven children here in September 1997. A shop in the High Street for #85,000, including the large semi-detached house that cradled it,seemed a remarkable bargain.

The previous owner assured Mr Yunis of the shop's high weekly turnover; the corner-placed, licensed grocery was the sole outlet for National Lottery tickets in the town, averaging #3,000 in ticket sales.

A pub opposite, the Flintlock Inn, would provide a steady stream of customers. After having driven a taxi for a firm in Bradford for most of his working life, Mr Yunis viewed self-employment with ambitious aspiration.

But the cultural differences with their new neighbours were instantly apparent. The taunts began almost immediately minor abuse from locals spilling out of the pub, casual shop-lifting by unruly children.

Then the taunts grew worse, escalating from graffiti scrawled across

the shop's shutter
`Fuck Off Pakis', and `Wogs Out' to windows shattered in the dead of night. Mr Yunis even began to think about returning to Bradford.

His wife convinced him to stay; the locals would tire of intimidating West Cornforth's new arrivals, she told him.

On the morning of 27 December last year, Mrs Yunis awoke at around 3am.

A security alarm could be heard ringing from the shop floor downstairs, so she nudged her husband awake. Mohammed moved to investigate, opening the bedroom door.

`When I opened the door to go down to the shop, there was just black smoke,' he told me. `I couldn't get past the smoke, so I shut the door again and opened the window to shout for help.'

When the fire brigade arrived, they found smoke streaming out of the property and the family huddled into a bedroom upstairs.

All nine family members were immediately taken to Bishop Auckland Hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

No one has been arrested for the attack. The shop has not reopened for business since. `I just can't bear to open the shop again,' says Mr Yunis. `It has a curse to it now, given that it was burnt down during Ramadan.

Perhaps God intended to tell me something, that the food I was putting on the table was not to be provided by this shop.

The fire has reinforced my belief in Islam. Maybe I am being punished for past mistakes.' The persecution of the Yunis family has continued.

More graffiti, stones hurled through windows, nuisance telephone calls and public taunts from the high street outside mean that the family remain indoors.

Since the fire, locals have walked past the house, yelling `Burn, baby, burn' and `Who was the fire-starter?'

The children now refuse to attend schools; none has entered a playground since May.

Rarely does a family member venture outside on to the street. `We go to visit friends in other nearby areas,' says Mrs Yunis, `but we have to go carefully.

No one knows what might happen to the house while we're gone.'

A month ago, Mohammed's 14-year-old daughter, Samina, wrote to her local MP.`My life depends on moving from here,' reads her letter to Tony Blair.

`You are the only person I feel can help my family move from here.

Ever since my dad's shop got petrol bombed, I fear to sleep in case they do it again. At this moment, I want to kill myself.

And if nobody helps me and my family, I will kill myself because I am too scared to live this life. 

I'd rather die than live this life.

I am going to keep a copy of this letter and if I do kill myself they will know why I killed myself because I didn't get any help off anybody.

I would love to have a free life just like everybody else.'

Dated 26 August, Samina's letter was acknowledged by a four-line response from the constituency office one week later.

John Burton, agent to the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, wrote: `I am very concerned by the circumstances you describe, and I will make inquiries, as quickly as possible, about what action might be possible.'