This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2247
August 15, 2006
MIM Deja vu all over again,since the last government call after the 7/7 bombings for Muslims to root out extremists was also accompanied by hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds of aid.The government also set up a panel to 'combat extremism' the only problem is.all of the Muslims on the panel supported the bombers and blamed UK foreign policy for provoking the attacks.This new display of dhimmitude by the UK government The UK in the wake of the failed airline bombing plots, is even more egregious ,and shows how ineffectual the government is. The UK Communities and Local Government Secretary hads gone before Muslims and tacity agreed that foreign policy is to blame .She hurried to placate Muslims they are 'helping the Muslim community in Kosovo', and assuring them that the PM is involved in the peace process. Accepting that "their is a lot of anger and frusturation in the community that needs to be expressed" as if the Islamists were as innocuous as a bunch of children who had simply had to learn to behave properly. The Muslim head of the Met Police Tariq Ghaffur, has sided with his fellow Muslims and has warned the government that if they start profiling they will incur the wrath of the Muslim community.
Ms Kelly acknowledged the government had to explain more what it had been doing, for example, to help the Muslim community in Kosovo, and how the Prime Minister had been involved in developing the Middle East peace process, but told the representatives she did not accept that British foreign policy should be dictated by a small group of people.
She said: "What I do accept is there is a lot of anger and frustration in the community that needs to be properly expressed and vented through the democratic process."
A spokesman for the Ramadan Foundation, furious that they had not been invited to the meeting, blamed Muslim extremism on the government's double standards on foreign policy, but other Muslim leaders were more conciliatiory.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/67932-print.shtml
You must do more to fight extremists, Muslims told | |||||||
CATHERINE MacLEOD, UK political editor | August 15 2006 | ||||||
Muslim leaders and imams were yesterday urged by ministers to do more to tackle extremism in "the battle of hearts and minds" against Islamic terrorism. --------------------------- British Muslim leaders call for more government support to tackle extremism
LONDON (AP) - British Muslim leaders met Monday with senior British officials, and called for more support to tackle Islamic extremism. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly met about 30 religious representatives, and officials said there had been frank exchanges of views during three hours of talks. "There is a battle of hearts and minds to be won within the Muslim community, working with the Muslim community to take on the terrorist and extremist elements that are sometimes found within it, not just in the Muslim community, but elsewhere as well," Kelly said following the meeting. She said there had been "sharp and challenging exchanges" and acknowledged more needed to be done to develop channels for young British Muslims to vent their frustrations at government policy. Legislators and religious leaders have frequently identified Britain's military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq as a key factor in radicalizing young British Muslims. However, in an official report into the London transport network bombings last July, which killed 52 commuters and the four bombers, the government acknowledged only that perceived Western injustices against the Islamic world had been a contributory factor. "I come across on a day-by-day basis people who have significant anger and significant frustration at the position that's held by the British government," said Hamza Vayani, a 23-year-old Muslim from the Youth Voice organization, who attended the talks. "These are mainstream individuals who perceive and feel a sense of injustice." Home Office officials said privately there was a sense of shock when it was revealed that three of the four suspects behind last year's London bombings had been born in Britain. Kelly said measures to combat extremism drawn up in the aftermath of the July attack and pioneered in central England and east London would likely be rolled out across Britain. Her office said it hoped to stage more community forums which bring together young Muslims and moderate Islamic clerics to discuss issues of extremism. Mentoring schemes for young people, which would see them offered advice from Muslims considered to be positive role models, will also be extended, a spokesman for Kelly's Department for Communities and Local Government said on customary condition of anonymity. "Clearly there is a need for far greater government focus in terms of time, attention and resources," said Asim Siddiqui, chairman of the City Circle network - a London-based organization of Muslim professionals - who took part in the talks.
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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2247