UK Muslim police officers blame anti-terrorism measures for surge in Islamophobia

21 January 2010

Muslim police officers in Britain have blamed the government's anti-terrorism strategy for triggering an upsurge in Islamophobia and deepening divisions between communities. The National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) warned that the 'Prevent' program, which aims to combat violent extremism, was "stigmatizing" Muslims by focusing on "so-called Islamist extremism."

The group said the real threat came from the growing far-right movement. "The hatred towards Muslims has grown to a level that defies all logic and is an affront to British values," said the association in a written submission to a parliamentary commission examining the anti-terror initiative. "The climate is such that Muslims are subject to daily abuse in a manner that would be ridiculed by Britain, were this to occur anywhere else."

There may be a "connection in the rise of Islamophobia and our Prevent program as it feeds on the stereotypes that the media and some rightwing parties promote," the group said. These stereotypes were that "all Muslims are evil and non-trustworthy.”.

The group highlighted the growth of rightwing movements as a threat that needed greater attention. "The impact and growth of the far-right and its ability to carry out terror acts cannot and should not be underestimated," the NAMP said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the British newspaper ‘Daily Telegraph’ reports that the Hamas supporter Daud Abdullah has been appointed to teach a 22-week course entitled "Introduction to Islam" at Birkbeck College in London. Abdullah, who is also deputy secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, signed the controversial Istanbul Declaration which applauds Hamas, demands "jihad and resistance" against Israel, seeks a "complete victory for all of Palestine" and states that "everyone standing with the Zionist entity" should be treated the same way as the Israelis and that the sending of "foreign warships into Muslim waters" is a "declaration of war" that has to be "fought by all means."
 

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