Owing and feeling nothing

There's a long interview with Hassan Butt in Prospect magazine. It's conducted by Aatish Taseer. The interview contains much of interest, but I'll just highlight one element here. In introducing the interview Aatish Taseer writes:

Britishness is the most nominal aspect of identity to many young British Pakistanis. The thinking in Britain's political class has at last begun to move on this front, but when our tube bombers were growing up, any notion that an idea of Britishness should be imposed on minorities was seen as offensive. Britons themselves were having a hard time believing in Britishness. If you denigrate your own culture you face the risk of your newer arrivals looking for one elsewhere.

In the interview itself, here are a couple of Hassan Butt's responses:

Taseer: Where do you think the covenant of security idea comes from? I spoke to an imam who said that you cannot strike against your host country. If you want to support Iraqis, go there and support them.

Butt: Most imams, as you know, have come here not as British citizens. There is a difference between a citizen who is born in a country and someone who is here on a visa or a permit. Islamically, I agree that someone who runs from the middle east - where people like me are persecuted - and says, "Britain, I want you to protect me" has entered a covenant of security. They say, "Look, protect my life and as a result I won't do any harm to you." That I agree with 100 per cent, but most of our people, especially the youth, are British citizens. They owe nothing to the government. They did not ask to be born here; neither did they ask to be protected by Britain.
.....
Butt: I feel absolutely nothing for this country. I have no problem with the British people... but if someone attacks them, I have no problem with that either.

Read the whole thing. (Thanks: NA.)