By IRNA
London : Home Secretary Jacqui Smith confirmed Tuesday that there had been a shift in the government’s counter-terrorism policy from the rhetoric of a ‘war’ used by former Prime Minister Tony Blair towards an effort to win “hearts and minds”.
Smith said that a fundamental part of the way in which the government was going to counter terrorism “will be by bringing together those who share the view about our British way of life.” “It’s only by us working together that we’re actually going to defeat that, regardless of your faith background, regardless of the community that you’re in,” she said.
Muslims last month largely welcomed the change in tone by Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s new government in reacting to the attempted car bombs in London and at Glasgow airport as “refreshing and reassuring.”
“The more balanced tone can only be welcomed by all communities,” Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi said. The response, he said, was “strikingly different to blame game adopted by the previous government.”
In an interview with ePolitix.com, Smith refused to admit it was a mistake in previously giving terrorists an “enemy” status rather then being called criminals, but admitted that lessons had been learnt.
“We’ve learnt as we’ve gone along about firstly, what the nature of the threat is, and secondly what the most effective way to counter it is, and that will need a whole spectrum of activity across what we call our counter-terrorism strategy,” she said.
“I certainly think that element that is about intervening earlier in some ways in preventing people getting to the point where they want to engage in that sort of murderous activity is an important element of the work,” the Home Secretary said.