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The Muslim
Safety Forum was dismayed by the recent comments made by Assistant Commissioner
Tarique Ghaffur.
Articles published recently in both the Financial Times and Evening Standard newspapers revolved around remarks made by, "the most senior Muslim police officer", Tarique Ghaffur. The Assistant Commissioner stated that he, "wanted powers to close down mosques known to be promoting militancy". He also claimed that the Muslim community "had not responded to police appeals for intelligence", that the Muslim communities were unable to identify, "the tipping point between right and wrong, where hate becomes a criminal offence". Further, singling out a particular Muslim community - like the Somali Muslims only further fuels the hatred and Islamophobia which is already rising.
What is clear from the statements that
have been made, is that Mr Ghaffur should exercise better judgment with regard
to commenting on the situation within Muslim communities. His opinions are
clearly at odds with the other senior officers who at a recent Muslim Safety
Forum meeting found the idea of closing down mosques unhelpful and unproductive.
With the current procession of Islamophobic media
reporting and the huge rise in Islamophobic hate crime Mr Ghaffur has done a
disservice to his role as providing reassurance to the Muslim community.
Please pass on the above
information to your members and circulate as widely as possible. Please contact
the following MSF members if you have any further queries: Tahir Butt 07792 507856 Muhammad Abul Kalam 07939 059819 Naeem Darr 07887 553419 Notes: The MSF is an umbrella organisation made up of national and regional Islamic organisations including: Muslim Directory, MAB, IHRC, IFE, MCB London Affairs Committee, YMO UK, Muslim College, FAIR, Amal Trust, The London Central Mosque, London Muslim Centre, Muslim Parliament, FOSIS, ISB, Muslimaat UK, Avenues School, Somali Muslim Community, UKIM, MPAC, Stop Political Terror, Ershad Centre, BanglaMedia, Iqra Trust, Association of Muslim Police, Al-Khoei Foundation, UMO, Muslim Welfare House, Women's Relief. The MSF is the key advisory body for the Police Service and has signed a working protocol with the Metropolitan Police to build better police / community relations. It has been advising the police on matters of safety and security from the Muslim perspective for over four years now. It meets on a monthly basis with senior representatives of ACPO and the MPS, the MPA, Home Office and the IPCC amongst others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
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