By IRNA,
London : The British government was urged Wednesday to reconnect with the country’s two million Muslim community and forge a ‘fairness’ agenda.
“An effective agenda to provide opportunity and tackle extremism across all communities must go beyond a narrow approach to security, by forging a progressive response on inequality,” said Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Khan.
Khan, who is a junior member of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government as an assistant whip, warned that the ruling Labour Party can “no longer take Muslim votes for granted” as it has in the past and that “rebuilding bridges will be difficult after Iraq.” In a pamphlet for the Fabian Society, the UK’s oldest think-tank where he is vice chair, he argued that the government “must learn lessons” from Muslim disillusionment.
His ‘fairness not favours’ approach was to help “forge a new agenda on inequality and life chances, public engagement in foreign policy, an inclusive Britishness, and rethinking the role of faith in public life.”
“The argument which must underpin an effective agenda for citizenship and integration is this: we can only get it right for British Muslims if we get it right for everybody,” said Khan, who is also a human rights lawyer.
The 95-page pamphlet draws on a year-long research project, in which he challenges the government’s “revolving door” consultations policy with Muslim groups which he said lack credibility and was doomed to fail.
“Its now time for Labour to start making real and meaningful alliances, which are not predicated on towing the party line but are based on a real, open and honest relationship with a wide spectrum of Muslim individuals and groups,” the assistant whip said.
His criticism comes after the government ended its regular consultations with the umbrella Muslim Council of Britain and other leading organizations and instead started to promote groups that it helped to create that supported its policies.
“We have been often completely bypassing, and even needlessly aggravating, some national groups and their spokespersons, because of disagreements with the policies and views they are perceived to hold,” Khan said.
“We have ended up trying to re-invent the wheel, causing huge offence to those neglected Muslim organisations and at the same time failing to effectively connect with individuals or organisations properly,” he warned.
Fabian’s vice chair said the government “cannot let how we win votes, or how we tackle terrorism or extremism become the primary factors when we consider how best to reconnect to constituencies that are often disillusioned, disengaged and disadvantaged.
“Instead our priority must be to address the major obstacles that prevent many Muslims becoming fully active participants in mainstream civic society, while helping individuals to climb the social ladder and take up new opportunities,” he said.
In his call for social justice, the MP also urged Muslim communities to play a part, saying that while the government should act against religious discrimination, domestically Muslims need to recognize “childcare is as important as Kashmir.”
Khan, who is of Pakistani parentage but was born in the UK, also stressed the advantages of learning good English, saying it was a “passport to participation in mainstream society – jobs, education and even being able to use health services.”
“A failure to deal with the inequalities of British Muslim women flies in the face of any attempts to build a socially just and fair society,” he said, while also urging all mosques to take gender equality seriously.
As well as calling for measures to tackle Islamophobia in the workplace, the Labour MP suggested that there should be a programme to improve the achievement by Muslim boys in schools and for more ambassadors and diplomats to come from more diverse backgrounds.