http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6016177,00.html Prescott in talks with Muslim MPs Press Association Tuesday August 15, 2006 6:08 AM John Prescott is meeting with Muslim MPs and others whose constituencies were the focus of anti-terror raids as part of ongoing talks to improve relations with the Muslim community. It will be the first time the Deputy Prime Minister has held face-to-face talks with MPs since police arrested 23 people in connection with the alleged plot to blow up aircraft bound for the US. But a spokesman for Mr Prescott insisted the meeting was not as a result of last week's raids and was part of his "long-term engagement" with the Muslim community. Labour MPs Shahid Malik, Sadiq Khan, Mohammad Sarwar and Khalid Mahmood have met the Deputy Prime Minister in recent weeks and in Tuesday's discussions Mr Prescott will be "talking to them about the challenges the country is facing. It's very much carrying on the engagement that's already started." Mr Malik, Mr Khan and Mr Sarwar were among some of the most influential British Muslims who wrote an open letter to PM Tony Blair warning government foreign policy fans the flames of extremism and may put British citizens at risk of attack, both in the UK and abroad. Ministers hit back, warning policy could not be dictated by terrorists. But writing in The Times, Mr Malik conceded the letter was "open to several interpretations" and insisted it has never been his contention that "the Government ought to change its foreign policy because of terrorist threats within our borders". "Yes, foreign policy causes anger among many Muslims but this does not in itself cause terrorism. Unquestionably, the lethal ingredient is a twisted and perverted interpretation of Islam whereby you can legitimately kill yourself and other innocent people, and you will go to heaven. "Any British Muslim who disagrees with current foreign policy must follow the path of others in exercising their right as citizens to influence policy through the established route: that is, by engaging in the political process. "For British Muslims the fight against extremism is a fight not just for the very soul of Islam but for the freedoms we enjoy as Britons." As a Muslim there is "no better place" to live than the UK, he added.
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