Counter-terrorism

I think that the support from our communities has actually been very positive. Whoever was involved in these attacks—of course, we do not know who that was—I acknowledge that those in our Muslims communities may feel that they are under the spotlight. In fact I was encouraged by the reaction from the Muslim community over the weekend. For example, Khurshid Ahmed, the chair of the British Muslim Forum, expressed"““support to the Government in raising the threat level””," and"““pledged full support and co-operation…in tackling this menace””." Haras Rafiq, the chair of the Sufi Muslim Council called for communities to"““make a concerted effort to root out the dregs of society who commit such horrific actions, whose aim is nothing but to terrorise innocent human beings””," and asserted that"““such actions have nothing to do with Islam.””" Those are strong positive messages and we need to work with members of the Muslim community who express views like that to isolate the very small minorities in any community who want to propagate hate and terror.