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Muslim leaders informed, but wary, of anti-terror raid

Aug 10, 2006 1:18 pm By Robert Spencer

While the British government kowtows to them, Muslim leaders in the UK are still in complete self-righteous denial about how the ideology that leads to terror attacks incubates within their communities. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Josephnadir:

Muslim community leaders were contacted by the police and Government officials early this morning as the first statements were released to the press.

Khurshid Ahmed, leader of the British Muslim Forum was rung by a chief superintendent from the Metropolitan Police and a senior official from the Department for Communities and Local Government just before 7am to be told the arrests had taken place.

The police also contacted Dr Muhammed Abdul Bari, General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, at 6.54am. He was told that a number of arrests had taken place “for the public’s safety” but given few details.

Mr Ahmed said that he felt the operation had been handled well but he warned that if the police failed to find any evidence to incriminate the people concerned then relations between the government and the Muslim community would deteriorate further….

Mr Ahmed said he had spent the morning contacting local authorities, police authorities and Muslim community groups to ensure there was no “backlash” when further information was released about the identity of those arrested. He had already spoken to leaders in Bradford, London and the Midlands….

Note that all his remarks seem to be about backlash and false arrests. None address the problem of terrorism within the Islamic community. He should be promising to work with officials to root jihadist sentiments out of the Muslim community. Instead, he issues vague threats.

But he admitted that it was very difficult to know whether there had been an overreaction, until further details emerged: “I have no information about that whatsoever.” He said that if the arrests turned out to have been based on faulty intelligence, as happened after the arrests and shooting at Forest Gate, the community would react badly.

“It would be very unfortunate. It would further cloud relations between the Government and the Muslim Community and would reinforce the perception people have got that the police are targeting the Muslim community. I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen and we do find there is substance in the allegations.”

The Muslim Council of Britain said the police had gone out of their way to ensure that the arrests were low key and had not attracted undue attention….

How very kind of the British to be so sensitive.

Ali Miraj, member of the Conservative’s policy commission on international and national security said he would personally support the police action to ensure public safety. But he said that the mood amongst the Muslim community at present was very antagonistic. He also said current events in the Middle East would only encourage radicalism among disaffected young Muslims.

“I just hope they find some stuff on these guys. If they don’t they will seriously dent confidence with the Muslim community in future. Otherwise people will think they are crying wolf and it’s a Forest Gate Mark II. If they find nothing when they raid these people then there will be a real fear the police are deliberately targeting our people.

“The botched terror raid at Forest Gate, East London, in June was regarded as a very disproportionate response. Two hundred police uncovered nothing and the community was unfairly targeted,” he said.

Of course, he doesn’t know that they uncovered nothing.

Mr Miraj said there was huge anger amongst the grass roots and he was not surprised that some were prepared to take drastic action. Many would not help the police with information about suspicious behaviour, he said. “One Muslim said to me recently outside a mosque: ‘What is grassing on our Muslim brothers going to achieve?'”

Hmmm. Good question. Could the answer be, maybe an end to jihad terror attacks?

Fahad Ansari of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said that many Muslims would be sceptical about the police statement. High profile arrests in the past,including Forest Gate had failed to produce any evidence of terrorist activity.

“I think you will get cynicism from the community,” he said.

“Over the last few years we have seen many high profile raids like this plastered over the press to terrify the public.

“We have seen it time and time again. It has been hit and miss on too many occasions. It is causing a lot of mass hysteria.”

He suggested that the raids could even have been timed to distract attention from the criticisms of the Government’s stance on the Lebanon crisis.

“There has been so much pressure on the Government, it could be a way of diverting attention away from its policy on the Middle East,” he said.

He accused Tony Blair of being in a “persistent state of denial” on the impact Britain’s foreign policy – from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Middle East – was having on Muslims in Britain.

“He has to realise that there was a relationship between 7/7 and British foreign policy,” he said.

Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood appealed to local communities to help provide as much extra information as possible to help the police thwart the terrorists.

He said he believed the arrests were based on “fairly good intelligence” and would not prove unfounded and increase tensions fuelled by recent events in Forest Gate.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, warned against any attempt to blame the Muslim community at large.

“Only a united London can help defeat terrorism, which means that all London’s communities have their part to play,” he said.

“No community in London can or should be targeted or blamed because of the actions of people who are pure criminals.”

In fact, the Muslim community in London can be blamed for not having put in place long ago a comprehensive anti-jihad program. For not expelling jihadists from its ranks. For not making it clear that they support the British governmental structure and don’t want ultimately to replace it with Sharia.

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