Terror hunt 'to take decades'
Senior police officers admit long-term failure to infiltrate Islamist extremists
Top-level inquiry looms into intelligence operations
Gaby Hinsliff, David Rose, Martin Bright and Ned Temko
Sunday July 17, 2005
The Observer
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said it was right for Muslims to be 'absolutely vigilant'. However, they could not play the role of the police or security agencies, he said. 'This is a major burden that cannot be passed on to the community - the capacity to police themselves in terms of finding out the criminality is not on.
'The Muslim community is no different to any other community in this country and they should not be treated as any different. Once you treat a Muslim community differently in the way it is being perceived, as though it is a criminal community, a troublesome community, then we will not get the support we would want from them.'
The talks are also expected to touch on broader issues, such as racism. Ted Cantle, the Home Office adviser on community cohesion, said the authorities 'just haven't moved fast enough' to heal segregated communities.
'In the 40 years we have had race relations legislation, we have never actually attempted to get people to interact with each other, to understand each other. We have focused on controlling people's behaviour,' he said. 'The consequence was people just saw that as being politically correct: they didn't change or challenge their underlying views.'
Top-level inquiry looms into intelligence operations
Gaby Hinsliff, David Rose, Martin Bright and Ned Temko
Sunday July 17, 2005
The Observer
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said it was right for Muslims to be 'absolutely vigilant'. However, they could not play the role of the police or security agencies, he said. 'This is a major burden that cannot be passed on to the community - the capacity to police themselves in terms of finding out the criminality is not on.
'The Muslim community is no different to any other community in this country and they should not be treated as any different. Once you treat a Muslim community differently in the way it is being perceived, as though it is a criminal community, a troublesome community, then we will not get the support we would want from them.'
The talks are also expected to touch on broader issues, such as racism. Ted Cantle, the Home Office adviser on community cohesion, said the authorities 'just haven't moved fast enough' to heal segregated communities.
'In the 40 years we have had race relations legislation, we have never actually attempted to get people to interact with each other, to understand each other. We have focused on controlling people's behaviour,' he said. 'The consequence was people just saw that as being politically correct: they didn't change or challenge their underlying views.'
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