U.K.: BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS NOT KISSING MOSLEM BUTT WELL ENOUGH, THE REPORT SAYS

Ministers 'failing to reach Muslims' Report says

Whitehall pays more attention to police powers than winning hearts and minds Jamie Doward, home affairs editorSunday December 3, 2006

Official attempts by Whitehall departments to engage with the Muslim community following the 7/7 bombings are slated in a government-backed report published tomorrow, which says that conflicting messages are being sent out.

Bringing it Home, a report by the think tank Demos, which has been part funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, claims: 'In the meeting rooms of Whitehall, ministers were assuring Muslim leaders of the need for partnership, but in press briefings they were talking of the need for Muslims to "get serious" about terrorism, spy on their children and put up with inconveniences in the greater good of national security.'

The criticism is a body blow to the government as it struggles to convince the public that it is capable of winning hearts and minds in the Muslim community. One damning accusation is likely to reignite the debate over the government's foreign policy. The report argues that the government has been reluctant to engage with the 'many reasonable grievances of the community - from Iraq to social justice - for fear that this could suggest the terrorists have just cause or the government is somehow complicit'. The criticism is likely to irk ministers who have long tried to play down the links between the invasion of Iraq and rising levels of discontent within the Muslim community in Britain. 'The government response has been largely security-led with a capital S,' said Rachel Briggs, one of the report's authors. 'They've gone down the legislative route looking at police powers. When you look at how they've tried to engage with the Muslim community, you can tell they've not really taken it seriously.'

Significantly, it finds that signs of an emerging radicalisation of elements of the Muslim community can be traced back to the time of the war in the former Yugoslavia, which saw attacks on Bosnian Muslims. 'We started getting concerned as far back as the early 1990s, when some individuals started to talk about jihad and the global struggle,' one imam tells the report's authors, who conclude that 'at the time, intelligence agencies failed to see the significance of these events'.

The government is also attacked for rushing its response to 7/7. The launch of its Preventing Extremism Together initiative, an attempt to galvanise Muslim communities, was completed in just three months. 'Home-grown terrorism is a complex problem that requires considerable time and space to tackle effectively; a series of roundtables with a handful of people thrown together largely because of their proximity to the Home Office was always unlikely to produce lasting solutions,' the report claims.

The report's authors question the composition of those Muslim groups invited to the meetings, pointing out that there were no women present. They add: 'The government has also been cautious about being seen to be close to those groups that might have some understanding of al-Qaeda, fearful of attacks mounted by commentators.'

Last night the Communities Minister, Phil Woolas, reacted strongly to the report's criticisms. 'This analysis is a contribution to the debate, but it is out of date and therefore flawed,' he said. 'It is based on evidence that pre-dates the establishment of the new Department for Communities and Local Government, specifically set up in May to give greater focus to issues of promoting community cohesion. Good community relations is already at the heart of our approach to tackling extremism and we are building strong, positive partnerships to isolate and defeat those who are seeking to harm us.'

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1) Ministers 'failing to reach Muslims'