http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,,2002516,00.html
Tories accused of anti-Muslim bias · Party is scaremongering, says umbrella group · Organisation led by hardliners, claims report Karen McVeigh and Will Woodward Wednesday January 31, 2007 The Guardian The Muslim Council of Britain accused the Conservative party of bias against Muslims yesterday and of "scaremongering about the so-called Islamic threat". In a report published yesterday, the party singled out the leading Muslim group for criticism and claimed that many Islamic organisations in Britain were keener to promote ideology than the communities they "claimed" to represent. In response, the MCB said the report was an attempt by the Tories to "marginalise Muslim organisations". Article continues The report, by the party's policy group on national and international security, followed an attack by the party's leader, David Cameron, on multiculturalism and his assertion that separatist Muslims who promote sharia law and demand special treatment are the "mirror image" of the British National party. It questioned the MCB's claim to "foster good community relations and work for the good of the community as a whole", suggested it is dominated by "hardline members" and described Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the MCB's previous leader and Muhammad Abdul Bari, its current leader, as among those who foster "identity policies". The report, entitled United Front, also attacks the organisation's support for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a conservative Islamic scholar. Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary of the MCB, which has 400 affiliate member organisations, said: "Being described as hardline shows the bias of the authors of this report. "It contains nothing positive about the work of the MCB, nothing about letters sent out to members urging them to work with the police after the Madrid bombing, nothing about working with the Association of Chief Police Officers to promote the terrorist hotline. "It is clearly an ideologically driven report seeking to marginalise Muslim organisations ... the only Muslim groups which are acceptable to them are docile and unwilling to stand up for their rights." Mr Bunglawala said that describing MCB leaders as fostering identity policies was "like accusing Jewish communities of fostering identity policies by having Jewish schools. It is absurd, people will not join an organisation if they feel that they are not doing something valuable." He dismissed the report's description of Mr Qaradawi, who was banned from entering Britain by Michael Howard when he was home secretary but has been allowed to visit subsequently, as someone who believes that all Muslims everywhere should live under sharia law. While the report was stinging in its criticism of the MCB, it also praised a pilot scheme run by the organisation to train imams and encourage them to preach in English. Pauline Neville-Jones, the report's author, said yesterday the MCB should "please get on with it", as she endorsed the report's suggestion of temporary government subsidies for imam training in Britain. She said she would hold talks with the MCB to inform the policy group's final report in the wake of their protests yesterday. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
