UK govt withdraws support from Muslim org

London, Oct 12: The UK government has withdrawn its support from the country's largest Muslim organisation, charging it of failing to lead the fight against religious extremism.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Ruth Kelly attacked the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) yesterday for boycotting the Holocaust Memorial Day, criticising police anti-terrorist operations and ''sitting on the sideline'' in the campaign against extremists.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, the secretary-general of the MCB, had refused to attend Ms Kelly's speech delivered to a Muslim audience, where the minister called for ''a fundamental rebalancing'' in the government's relationship with Muslim organisations.

Ministers have so far considered the MCB, which represents 400 organisations and hundreds of mosques around the country, as the most important voice among the two million Muslims in Britain.

However, Ms Kelly would engage with and fund only those organisations that represented young Muslims and Muslim women and which were taking a ''proactive leadership role in tackling extremism and defending our shared values''.

The repeated refusal of MCB to participate in Holocaust Memorial Day is a serious failing which sets a poor example,''she said, adding that there were ''some people who don't feel it right to join in the commemorations of Holocaust Memorial Day even though it has helped raise awareness not just of the Jewish Holocaust, but also more contemporary atrocities like the Rwanda genocide.'' ''I can't help wondering why those in leadership positions who say they want to achieve religious tolerance and a cohesive society would choose to boycott an event which marks, above all, our common humanity and respect for each other.'' Ms Kelly also attacked groups which criticised British foreign policy as ''anti-Muslim'' and denigrated the police. ''The police and security services have disrupted a number of further attacks.

And we know that followers of al-Qaeda are planning others. The scale of the threat means great urgency. And this can produce mistakes.'' But these mistakes have sometimes been seized on by some to falsely suggest that the police are the enemy rather than the terrorists,'' she said, stressing that a ''serious and tough security response'' is inevitable for all of our safety.

Reacting angrily to the minister's comments, Dr Bari said she was making ''a veiled threat'' about who would qualify for funding in future. ''Every organisation has the right to apply for government funding but agreeing with government policy should not be a criteria for receiving that money,'' he said, complaining that for some time mainstream Muslim organisations had not been consulted. ''We have been talked to, we have not been talked with,'' he said.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant general of the MCB, said that they sensed the government'' only wants to speak to organisations that mirror its own views. It is untenable to continue to deny that Iraq and Afghanistan have not undermined our security.''

UNI