Author: Vijay Dutt
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: December 6, 2002
One in five British Muslims feels
little loyalty towards Britain. A minority of them are also not prepared
to condemn the terrorist attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden nor acknowledge
Al-Qaeda as the perpetrators.
These findings in a poll conducted
by The Daily Telegraph are hardly surprising but nevertheless deepen the
apprehension in the intelligence of terrorist attacks in the country through
sleepers.
The report concludes with remarks
from Anthony King, a professor at the University of Essex, that the portrait
of British Muslims' attitude towards international terrorism that emeges
from the poll is at once reassuring and somewhat chilling.
He says, "On the surface everything
seems placid but the survey also shows that within the community there
are deep and sinister undercurrents." The most disturbing finding is that
66 per cent feel that relations between Muslims and non-Muslims has deteriorated
since 9/11.
Nearly 86 per cent have also acknowledged
that further attack in Britain would worsen relations.
The poll showed that just under
half of those surveyed did not accept that attacks on the World Trade Centre
and the Pentagon were carried out by Muslims. This means that almost 50
per cent of nearly two million Muslims in this country still cling to the
theory floated after 9/11 that attacks in the US were planned to defame
Islam.
Almost 13 per cent of those questioned
were bold enough to say that they felt "not very loyal" towards Britain
and six per cent "not loyal at all", 31 per cent felt "very loyal" and
44 per cent "fairly loyal". An analyst told the Hindustan Times that even
among the very loyal and fairly loyal one should discount for those who
might have been "diplomatic".
The paper has said that the pollsters
found the survey difficult to conduct because some respondents were uncomfortable
with the exercise while others were deeply suspicious. One said, "I don't
care much for the wording of your survey and believe it to be cynical attempt
to spread more damaging propaganda about Muslims."
The one positive finding was that
the majority of the community said that they did not harbour ill-will against
the west and were concerned that the attitude of some were damaging Islam's
reputation in the eyes of the world.
In Bradford which has a very large
segment of Mirpuris most said that they felt they were all the time under
watch by the police. The young there maintain that the community is rather
incorrectly blamed for happenings round the world.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Tony Blair
issued a message of goodwill to Muslims to mark Id. He said he was proud
to be prime minister of a country of many faiths and cultures. But mosques
were placed under increased police protection as most of the two million
were to congregate to celebrate Id. The community leaders feared that right-
wingers and racists could step up their attacks at mass gatherings.
In East London and Manchester there
have been in the past clashes between the police and young Muslims who
race cars in town centres during festivals.
