By IRNA,
London : The British government was reported Tuesday to be considering plans that would lead to thousands more British Muslims being branded as extremists.
According to the Guardian, the proposals are in a counterterrorism strategy which ministers and security officials are drawing up that is due to be unveiled next month.
The draft strategy, known as Contest 2, would widen the definition of extremists to those who hold views that clash with what the government defines as shared British values, the daily said.
But fears are that the new anti-terrorism code would alienate Muslims by branding the vast majority of the country’s two-million community as extremists.
Inayat Bunglawala, who runs Engage the media awareness and political participation group from Muslims, warned that the extended definition would be ‘counterproductive and class most Muslims as extremists’.
The Guardian said that the draft strategy would be consider Muslims as extremists if they advocate a caliphate, promote Sharia law, believe in jihad, including armed resistance by Palestinians, argue homosexuality is a sin and even fail to condemn the killing of British soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Those considered extreme would not be targeted as such by the criminal law, but would be sidelined and denied public funds from the government, it said.
The original Contest strategy was put in place back in 2003 but assessments made by the security service suggest that it has failed as it shows no drop in those they consider dangerous while the UK’s terror threat level remains at severe general.