The Home Secretary has praised the Telegraph & Argus for its series of articles about the issues surrounding arranged marriages.

Jack Straw, whose Blackburn constituency has a large Asian community, has pledged to seek meetings with the Commission for Racial Equality about growing concerns about Asian women running away from home to escape arranged or forced marriages.

Labour MPs Ann Cryer of Keighley and Halifax's Alice Mahon held a meeting with Mr Straw yesterday in London and took with them the articles by the T&A's religious affairs reporter Marianne Sumner.

The news special focused on the dramatic rise in the number of Asian women who run away from home each year to escape arranged or forced marriages.

Mrs Cryer said the problem first came to their attention through their own advice surgeries and was then highlighted by the T&A.

She said: "We want the local Asian community to work with us to persuade the small number of families involved to deal with these problems without resorting to threats of violence or intolerable pressure. The good name of the Muslim community is being tarnished by this small minority."

Mrs Cryer said that some months ago she came into contact with two girls from the Bradford district whose lives were under threat.

She said: "These are extreme cases, but these frightened girls were on the run and were in hiding.

"But I don't want people to go away thinking this is typical, because it isn't. They are two extreme cases."

Mrs Mahon said she was pleased with the Home Secretary's reaction to the meeting.

She said: "Mr Straw responded very positively to our request. He accepted that the T&A has brought out into the open a very serious problem facing the Asian community. He is now going to contact Sir Herman Ouseley at the Commission for Racial Equality to organise further meetings to look at the best way forward."

Mrs Cryer and Mrs Mahon have also agreed to hold further meetings locally to ensure that the issue remains in the open. Mrs Cryer said she will be seeking talks with community groups in the Keighley area.

Mrs Mahon said: "The Home Secretary has a very clear understanding of the culture of arranged marriages. He has no intention of undermining that culture, but we all agree that Muslim women should enjoy the same rights as all other women.

"If they choose to assert those rights, we have a duty to support them."

Mrs Cryer said: "We wanted to see Mr Straw about what we are doing and to see if he agreed with us. We want to work with the Asian community. We cannot remedy the situation ourselves."

The majority of the Asian community is in favour of the tradition of arranged marriages, as long both bride and groom have their views taken into account. Problems arise when family pressures force the couple into a marriage against their will.

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