This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2249
August 15, 2006
MIM:The appointment of Tariq Ghaffur as the first Asian Muslim chief constable was hailed as a milestone by the police and government. Ghaffur's appointment may be a milestone, but closer to the book of the same name by Muslim Brotherhood ideolouge Sayib Qutyb. Ghaffur, and the police, work together with the Muslim Safety Forum, whose mission's name clearly shows that they are not concerned about terrorism but with the after effects that it could have on the Muslim community.
The MSF aims 'to scrutinise police activities that have been affecting the Muslim community' meaning thwarting any measures the government implements to counter terrorism. On the one hand the Muslim community tells the goverment that terrorism is a reaction to UK foreign policy, issuing veiled threats that unless there is a major policy change non Muslims in the UK can expect more attacks from angry Muslims, while at the same time, complaining that the goverment has not reached out far enough to them, or funded them enough, and that they are the key to thwarting terrorism.
After the July bombings, hundreds of thousands of pounds were invested in setting up working groups to deal with the problem, the only problem was, the intiatives were directed by Islamists,who used the funding to try to recruit converts, and as an opportunity to do da'wa.While at the same time asking for more money and working groups to be financed to deal with the problem. The disingenuous rhetoric was the same after 7/7 - instead of the UK government and officials who asked the Muslims to join them in the counterterrorism effort saying they are let down it is the Muslims who say that they feel 'let down'!
Labour MP Sadiq Khan has said that members of the working groups feel "let down" by the lack of action.
Kelly is said to be keen to show that a "substantial action plan" is already in place, with a new Commission on Integration and Cohesion set to be launched in the coming weeks.
The meetings, which are also set to take place in locations around the UK, come in the wake of a serious rift between the government and Muslim leaders.
A letter published at the weekend and signed by senior community representatives said a change in foreign policy was needed "to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion".
But home secretary John Reid and Foreign Office minister Kim Howells criticised the letter, saying the signatories risked appearing to justify terrorism and give in to threats of violence.
"No government worth its salt would stay in power in my view and no government worth its salt would be supported by the British people if our foreign policy, or any other aspect of policy, was being dictated by terrorists," Reid told BBC News 24.
MIM : After the London bombings in 2005 Tariq Ghaffur stated that :
"... he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.
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Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new "shoot-to-kill to protect" policy of dealing with suicide bombers, he said.
"There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased."
And he warned: "It can lead to these communities completely retreating and not engaging at a time when we want their engagement and support."
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http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1190732006
MIM: Metropolitan police constable Tarique Ghaffur's threat that the government's showing dhimmitude to the Muslim community will be the only way to keep them from being alientated and turn to violence was echoed by another Muslim policeman who was more concerned with the idea of profiling offending Muslims, then the possibility it could save hundreds or people's lives.
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Ali Desai, one of the country's top Muslim police officers, said of the plan: "What you are suggesting is that we should have a new offence in this country called 'travelling whilst Asian'."
"What we don't want to do is actually alienate the very communities who are going to help us catch terrorists," he told BBC Newsnight on Monday.
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MIM: It appears that the London Police might be waking up to the fact that Ali Desai and Tariq Ghaffur are more interested in not offending their co religionists through profiling then protecting the public from Islamist terrorism.
Tarique Ghaffur and Ali Dizaei under fire over profiling
The police service has become embroiled in an embarrassingly public feud with two of its most senior Asian officers over the issue of passenger profiling in the fight against terrorism.
Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur and Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei have warned against pandering to Islamophobia and creating the offence of "travelling while Asian". But yesterday another chief superintendent as well as the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, retaliated with scathing comments about the two men.
Alan Gordon, the Federation vice-chairman, accused the Asian officers of displaying "blissful ignorance". He went on to describe Mr Dizaei's comments as "cheap, sensationalist soundbites". Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Simon Humphrey said: "Unfortunately, a small, extremely vocal and potentially very influential minority are trying to hijack the terrorism issue and turn it into a debate on racism."
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Posted on Monday, August 21, 2006
The Muslim Safety Forum (MSF) was formed by some leading concerned Muslim organisation following 9/11 and the subsequent unfair focus on the Muslim community when it came to policing activities and enforcement of anti-terror policing legislations. This decision was taken as the Muslim community will not suffer in silence and allow misconceptions, prejudice and ignorance to influence the policing activities in the UK. Consequently, the MSF came into existence in the year 2000 and had been scrutinizing police activities that have been particularly affecting the Muslim community.
In 2004 the MSF developed its own constitution, held election for chair and the executive committee. It now has a dedicated office with two employed staff, a voluntary executive body, and a membership of over 30 national and regional Muslim organisations.
The MSF is now the key advisory body for the Police Service and has signed a working protocol with the Metropolitan Police to build better police / community relations. It has been advising the police on matters of safety and security from the Muslim perspective.
It meets on a monthly basis with senior representatives of ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) and the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service), the MPA (Metropolitan Police Authority), Home Office and the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) amongst others.
The MSF has been sitting on the strategic Stop and Search group, as per the MPA scrutiny panel recommendation, and has raised issues concerning stop and search and in particular the use of S.44 powers under the 2005 Terrorism Act.
Furthermore, MSF have undertaken significant TV, Radio and Press interviews covering local, national and international media. The messages have been of unity, justice, safety, security and a 'zero tolerance' response from the police against Islamophobic crimes.
Aims and objectives
MSF - Workstreams
Currently we are scrutinising and advising on several areas of policing that is affecting the Muslim community including:
· Islamophobia – we are looking at activities within the policing services that can generate anti-Muslim feelings or disproportionate policing in the community (e.g. Stop and Search, Anti-Terror Raids, Islamophobic hate crimes)
· Anti-terrorism – we are constantly questioning policing tactics and policies on the usage of the anti-terrorism legislations to gain clarifications on:
§ Intelligence being opened up to selected independent community people who can provide oversight and advice on such materials before any operations are mounted
§ The police working systematically to redress the sense of injustice felt by those who have been traumatised by anti-terror raids and are released without charge. Maximum effort should be exerted to explain to those involved and their family what had happened and why. This should further be communicated to the wider community
1. Levels of redress include unqualified apologies to reasonable compensations
2. Protocols should exist by which immediate investigations can take place on ‘police leaks' to media that act to slur or bring doubt about those arrested. Initiation of an investigation should not rely on a complaint being made; it is advisable that these investigations be carried out by the IPCC, if however this is impractical then at least with MSF oversight
3. The police create a cadre of family liaison officers who will work with the MSF to look after the family and their needs
§ The need for the police to be more informative in their communications with the community and its partners and proactively seek to dispel misinformation and misreporting by anyone regarding the matter
§ Police Training which should look at more direct input for counter-terrorists /specialist officers and the general police force from the Muslim Community and its key partners. This training needs to be available at recruitment stage as well as during their time in service
· Reviewing Internal Police Service controls and mechanisms so that prejudice and disproportionate policing activities are minimized.
· MPS & ACPO Monitoring & Accountability
· Policies & Procedures
· Contingency Planning
· Training (Police) & Guidance
· DPA & ACPO Press
· Muslim Advisory Groups Local borough and constabularies
· To set up Muslim advisory groups in London Boroughs and regional police constabularies
· To ensure that there is clarification on the role of local advisory groups and the MSF. Central or over-arching issues should only be resolved at the MSF
· Funding for MSF to establish local MSFs
MSF Contacts
For enquiries please call our public relations officers on: 07887 553419 (Naeem Darr - Press Officer) or 07939 059819 (Muhammad Abul Kalam - Asst. Press Officer)
or email us at [email protected] / http://www.muslimsafetyforum.com/
Muslim Safety Forum
London Muslim Centre
Suite2, Business Wing
2nd Floor, 38-44 Whitechapel Road
London E1 1JX
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MIM: The da'wa site below is the taxpayer and government funded website of the Association of Muslim Police, more proof if any was needed, no one is guarding the guardians, and that the Muslim guardians are helping the radical Islamists.
http://www.met.police.uk/associations/muslim_police.htm
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MIM: Tariq Ghaffur exploited the London bombings as an excuse to portray Muslims as the real victims- even citing 'hate crime' statistics ! He also explained that he "had never seen Muslims so angry" intimating that the attack could have been expected. Ghaffur then went on to alarm the public by gratuitiously stating that officers were being taken from the murder investigations unit to deal with the London bombings, implying that London was less safe, not because of the Muslim terrorists - but because there were 10% less officiers dealing with murder cases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4740015.stm
| Hate crimes soar after bombings | ||||||||||||||
There were 269 religious hate crimes in the three weeks after 7 July, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004. Most were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but damage to mosques and property with a great "emotional impact" also occurred, police said. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.
Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new "shoot-to-kill to protect" policy of dealing with suicide bombers, he said. "There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased." However, Mr Ghaffur also pointed out that the rise was partly due to the fact that faith hate crimes were now recorded separately from other racial incidents. And he warned: "It can lead to these communities completely retreating and not engaging at a time when we want their engagement and support." Mr Ghaffur revealed that in the first three days after suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 700 more, there were 68 "faith hate" crimes in London alone. Racial profiling A spokesman for the Muslim Safety Forum, an umbrella group which works closely with the police, said the figures reflected the increase in calls to their members about abuse and attacks since the London bombings. "It's something we've been saying for a few weeks now but it's good to see senior police managers like Tariq Ghaffur have got up and actually said it," spokesman Tahir Butt said. "Although police are talking about a zero tolerance policy the test is how effective that is at ground level when you go in and report a crime," Mr Butt added. But chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority Len Duvall said that although any hate crime was not to be tolerated, many incidents previously defined as race crimes were now designated faith crimes, leading to a "large percentage increase from a very low base". Faith hate crimes are currently prosecuted under anti-racism legislation, but a bill to create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred is currently going through the Houses of Parliament. The bill, which has attracted criticism from many quarters, has passed its Commons stages but is set to get a rocky ride in the Lords. The alarming figures emerged as Home Office minister Hazel Blears held the first in a series of meetings on Tuesday with Muslim community groups across the country. Those meetings come amid increasing concerns that young Muslims are being targeted by police in stop-and-search operations.
Ahead of the meeting, Ms Blears pledged that Muslims would not be discriminated against by police trying to prevent potential terror attacks. She insisted "counter-terrorism powers are not targeting any community in particular but are targeting terrorists". She also opposed police use of racial profiling, saying stop and searches should be based on good intelligence, not just skin colour. Mr Ghaffur also revealed that the specialist unit dealing with serious and organised crime had lost 10% of its staff to the bombings inquiry. 'Stretched' Between 300 and 473 of Specialist Crime Directorate detectives have been seconded at any one time since 7 July. As a result Mr Ghaffur said key leads would be followed up but proactive work on major murder inquiries had "slowed to a trickle". These include the 2004 murder of Amelie Delagrange, linked to five other attacks on women in south-west London, and the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common. "The Met is stretched," he said. "There may be longer term implications if this level of activity continues." Last week Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair revealed the anti-terrorism investigations were costing £500,000 a day.
MIM: A month before 24 UK Muslims were arrested for planning to bomb 10 airliners Ghaffur deliberated downplayed the terrorism threat. He apparently forgot that after the July 7th bombings, he warned the UK government that as a result of the attention focused on young Muslims there 'were people who "were very angry" implying they might understandably be forced to use violence to vent there hostility.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2254929,00.html
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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2249
Mosques outside London were also attacked after the bombings
It [religious hate crimes] can lead to these communities completely retreating 
