UK Muslims say Blair's integration call divisive

BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct 18 (Reuters) At a time when Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is seeking Muslim support to tackle militant Islamism, British Muslims say remarks by him and his ministers about veils and integration risk alienating them.

Yesterday, Blair called a full veil worn by some Muslim women ''a mark of separation'', intensifying a heated debate about how to better integrate Britain's 1.8 million Muslims and win their support in rooting out radicals.

Blair said the government had to reconsider its strategy on multiculturalism -- where different communities live side by side -- after four young British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people in London last year.

''People want to know that the Muslim community in particular but actually all minority communities have got the balance right between integration and multiculturalism,'' he said.

However some British Muslims say repeated statements from the government on the issue amount to vilification.

''There is a progressive attack by the government on British Muslims,'' said Mohammed Naseem, 82, chairman of the Central Mosque in Birmingham, England's second city.

''Every day one thing or another crops up, whether it's the veil, faith schools or national holidays. There is a campaign of vilification, I don't know what will be next,'' he added.

At the forefront of the debate has been the issue of the niqab -- the full veil worn by a small minority of Muslim women -- which was thrust into the spotlight when former foreign secretary Jack Straw said it hindered community relations.

Shortly afterwards a Muslim teaching assistant was suspended from her job for refusing to take off her veil when teaching.

''NIQAB FOR GOD'' ''I wear the niqab for God not for a man, whether it's Jack Straw or my ex-husband,'' Khadija Kamram said after praying in the Birmingham mosque, founded in the late 1960s when migrant workers made the city one of Britain's most ethnically diverse.

''In fact I only put it on after my divorce papers came through. People stare at me for wearing the veil, but I don't let it bother me,'' she told Reuters.

Across the street, Salim Choudry, 36, slicing meat behind the counter of the Mecca Halal Meat Centre, pointed out a group of giggling teenagers wearing headscarves.

''Two of them are wearing hijab, and one is not,'' he said.

They're all Muslim, but they decided for themselves whether or not they should wear it in public. The government doesn't need to decide that.'' Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, the minister heading the government's fight against militants, has drawn the greatest ire from Muslim groups, most recently over suggestions that university staff should monitor students.

But Kelly also told Muslim organisations in London last week: ''(In) tackling extremists ... without you fully on side we will fail. Your voice is more powerful than mine.'' ''I understand people fear what is behind the veil, but I think the government exacerbates things in the media. You never see the other side of the debate,'' said law student Sim Hussain.

Irfan Moughal, 20, vice-president of Birmingham University's Islamic society, said Muslim women might now suffer.

''Scarves and face veils are being torn off; people are being spat on and abused. Muslims feel there is a racial tension here,'' he said inside the university's campus.

Student Sahdia Ali, 16, who wears a headscarf, said she felt people would stare at her when she went for job interviews.

''I just tell myself I am British and deserve to be here as much as everyone else,'' she said.

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