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Muslims offer help in probe
02/07/2007 20:28 - (SA)
London - British Muslim leaders have urged their communities to help fight extremism after three failed car bombings, amid signs that the new government may be better able to win over their "hearts and minds."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has argued that co-operation from Britain's estimated 1.6 million Muslims is key to defeating the threat from Islamist militants at home and abroad.
The head of the Muslim Parliament of Britain, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, urged Muslims to support the government and security services, saying "all the evidence suggests" the three failed attacks were carried out by Islamists.
He assured the "government of his support against the forces of anarchy and extremism and called upon the Muslim community to help uproot extremism" in its midst.
The British Muslim Initiative (BMI), a lobby group which promotes Muslim participation in public life, echoed the remarks.
'We urge Muslims to co-operate fully'
"Whoever was responsible for planting the devices clearly intended to cause maximum damage and loss of innocent lives.... We urge all British Muslims to fully cooperate with the authorities to apprehend and bring to justice the perpetrators," the BMI said.
Siddiqui said he hoped it would be easier to co-operate with the Brown government than with that of his predecessor Tony Blair.
"I think there is a distinct difference between the two governments in reacting to extremist threats," he said.
The responses so far from "Gordon Brown and his home secretary (Jaqui Smith) are more measured that we would have expected from Tony Blair," he said without elaborating.
Brown's spokesperson said that the government had been keeping in touch with Muslim organisations, though not the prime minister himself.
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