DAR AL HARB - U.K.: BRITISH POLITICIANS PLAN ON BLOCKING THE 'SUPER' MOSQUE

Supermosque plan to be 'blocked'
The Telegraph Group

London: Controversial plans to build a "supermosque" on the doorstep of the London Olympics will be blocked by the government.

Ruth Kelly's Whitehall department is expected to refuse planning permission for the London Markaz, which would be the biggest religious building in Britain with room for 70,000 worshippers.

Backers want the £300 million (Dh2.1 billion) mosque, in east London, to serve as a reception centre for athletes and fans from Islamic countries during the 2012 games.

The group behind the plans is Tablighi Jamaat, whose charitable trust, Anjuman-e-Islahul Muslimeen has owned the 18-acre site since 1996. Tablighi Jamaat was called "an ante-chamber for fundamentalism" by French security services. Two of the July 7 London suicide bombers are believed to have attended one of its mosques.

The organisation denies any link to terrorism, and has never been banned.

A senior security source said he was concerned about the proposed mosque, and expected ministers to use their powers to call in, and turn down, the planning application.

Fears
The move was confirmed by a senior government source, who said there were fears that the giant mosque could damage community relations in the area, and added: "We are going to stop it."

There are clear planning grounds on which the development could be turned down. It is so close to the main Olympic venues that it may interfere with preparations for the Games."

The government source said that the planning application needed to be rejected "to give the Olympics a clear run".

Until now, it was thought that planners would rubber-stamp the proposed mosque, which was agreed in principle in a 2001 deal between Newham Council and Anjuman-e-Islahul Muslimeen.

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1) Supermosque plan to be 'blocked'