London, March 6, IRNA – Several MPs have backed calls for the setting up of a parliamentary committee to hold an inquiry into the rise of Islamophobia in the UK.
Support for an All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Islamophobia was endorsed at a closed meeting hosted this week by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and sponsored by Britain’s first Muslim MP Mohammed Sarwar, IRNA has learnt.
Sarwar warned that the growing spate of Islamophobic attacks in all its forms was a “big challenge” at the meeting in the House of Commons, attended by parliamentarians, academics, journalists, police, public servants, and community representatives.
Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Phyllis Starkey also fully endorsed the initiative and emphasised the importance of focusing on ‘respect’ as opposed to ‘tolerance.’
The Conservative’s Shadow Minister for Justice David Burrows urged people to contact their local MPs to motivate them to become more involved, saying: “The community must show the extent of the problem and make politicians act”.
The initiative comes after MCB wrote to Home Secretary Alan Johnson in January expressing serious concerns over growing anti-Muslim violence.
“Amongst many British Muslim communities, there is a growing disenchantment at the lacklustre response from our political leaders to speak out against anti-Muslim hatred,” MCB secretary general Abdul Bari warned Johnson.
Britain’s tolerance of Islamophobia has led to right-wing groups such as the English Defence League to stage provocative marches around Britain against the building of mosques.
This is in addition to the virtual daily verbal and physical abuse suffered by the country’s two million Muslim community and reported in the pages of the Muslim News.
Those attending the parliamentary meeting on March 3 included Robin Richardson, the former director of the Runnymede Trust who was the Editor of the groundbreaking report ‘Islamophobia: a challenge for us all’ back in 1997.
Support for a parliamentary inquiry was also expressed by the Liberal Domocrats’ shadow communities minister Dan Rogerson, who said that it would be “a means of defending UK values of tolerance and respect for human rights”.
Others included Lord Ahmed, who warned that the “demonisation of Muslims and Islam has become fashionable,” and Baron Sheikh, who called on the media and politicians to “refrain from inflammatory reporting.”
Among academics adding their voices were Jonathan Githens-Mazer from the European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC), who in January published the report ‘Islamophobia and Anti Muslim Hate Crimes: a London case study.’
EMRC co-director Dr Robert Lambert warned that “the Far Right’s position of making Muslims the enemy is being rationalized by what is portrayed by the media.”
Chair of the Muslim Safety Forum Abdurahman Jafar expressed alarm about the “lack of institutional recognition and understanding” regarding the issues.
President of the National Association of Muslim Police Zaheer Ahmed warned that “Islamophobia and Anti Muslim Hate Crime have been affecting the Muslim community for years.”
In a keynote speech, MCB secretary general Abdul Bari said the “need for fair and equal treatment for British Muslims is even more pressing because many Muslims do not have sufficient confidence to report attacks against them to the police.”
“Time has come for politicians to finally take this issue as seriously as racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia,” Bari told the meeting.