“They need to find out what is going on in the mosques and a lot of the clerics that are coming to the United Kingdom are being allowed to come here.”
Source/Credit: Express News
By Tom Batchelor | Aug 21, 2015
There could be 25,000 or 30,000 radicalised: Naseer Dean, London head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community
GOVERNMENT proposals aimed at cracking down on extremism in the UK are “knee-jerk” and have allowed hate preachers to radicalise thousands of young British Muslims, a senior faith leader has claimed.
Speaking ahead of the country’s biggest annual gathering of Muslims this weekend, Naseer Dean, the London head of the influential Ahmadiyya Muslim group, launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May.
He argued that Tory ministers had allowed for the radicalisation of 4,000 young British Muslims by failing to grasp the scale of the problem of religious extremism.
He accused the media regulator Ofcom of being “reactive” rather than proactive and attacked the Home Office for cutting off funding to vital services aimed at monitoring extremist preachers.
And he called on the Government to “educate itself” about Islam so that "they have a better handle of what is going on in the mosques".
Shortly after the General Election, the Prime Minister announced plans for tough new rules to tackle extremism, claiming Britain had become a “passively tolerant” society.
They included “closure orders” brought in to shut buildings used by extremist preachers and a ban on radical clerics mixing with vulnerable young Muslims.
But, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Dean rubbished the proposals as “a knee-jerk reaction”.
“They are expecting the local authority and everybody to be monitors and to snoop, which is not the way to go,” he said.
“They need to find out what is going on in the mosques and a lot of the clerics that are coming to the United Kingdom are being allowed to come here.”
In May, Mr Cameron also revealed plans to give more power to Ofcom to take action against channels that broadcast extremist content.
But Mr Dean said the regulator had "very little resources available to them to monitor what is going on".
He added: "They are more reactive, it is only when they get a complaint from a viewer [that they act].
“On satellite channels we have had to go to Ofcom to tell them that they are broadcasting from Britain and that they are creating a sectarian divide. They need to look into that."
At least 4,000 young Muslims living in the UK have been radicalised, Mr Dean estimated, although he added that the figure was likely to be even higher.
“If you assume that there are two-and-a-half million Muslims in the UK, and you say that there are even one per cent of them that are radicalised, that is 25,000,” he said.
“There could be 25,000 or 30,000 radicalised."
He also called on ministers to implement stronger policies to tackle extremism in schools, saying not enough was being done to prevent the indoctrination of youngsters.
"A lot of lip service is given when people are worried about a few people going off to Syria, and then it goes very quiet," he added.
"The Government needs to look at visiting schools and getting people in who can give the right message.
"Rather than telling the school 'you need to tell us when someone is going to go off and become radicalised', let's be proactive, lets make sure that the right message is given."
The senior Muslim leader said he was aware of only a handful of fanatics who wanted to see a so-called Islamic State - as ISIS jihadists boast of having created in Syria and Iraq - in the UK.
“The majority of the Muslims in the UK are not being radicalised, a majority of Muslims in the UK are law-abiding citizens” he said.
He also branded ISIS militants “evil” and said they had “dishonoured” the religion of Islam.
Responding to accusations Ofcom is 'reactive' in its monitoring of TV programming, a spokesman for the watchdog said: “Ofcom’s strict rules forbid the broadcast of hate speech and material that incites crime or leads to disorder.
"As well as acting on complaints we receive from viewers and listeners, Ofcom also operates a monitoring programme. We examine the channels we regulate to detect breaches of our rules, using experienced translators for content not in English.”
In 2011 and 2012, Ofcom imposed fines totalling £174,000 on three broadcasters for the transmission of material that was likely to encourage or incite crime, including hate speech.
Mr Dean’s comments come ahead of a mass convention of British Muslims in Hampshire.
Around 30,000 people are expected to attend the gathering, including Government ministers and delegates from 90 countries, organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
The group claims to be the “antithesis of extremism” and last month called for all children to have to pledge their loyalty to the UK in school assemblies.
Rafiq Hayat, president of the organisation, said: “The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is putting into practice the Islamic principles that gives peace, inclusivity, tolerance and progressive intellectual thinking pride of place.”
The intervention by Mr Dean risks upsetting the Government’s plans to crackdown on hate preachers.
Among the new powers unveiled in the spring were new ASBO-style 'Extremism Disruption Orders' that will keep hate preachers away from young people.
Extra powers will also free up the Charity Commission to root out charities that funnel cash towards extremism and terrorism.
Mr Cameron said at the time: “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.
"It's often meant we have stood neutral between different values. And that's helped foster a narrative of extremism and grievance.
"This Government will conclusively turn the page on this failed approach. As the party of one nation, we will govern as one nation, and bring our country together."
Read original post here: UK: Cameron's 'knee-jerk' policies will fail to root out hate preachers, blasts Muslim leader
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