BASELESS SLUR ON ISLAMIC SCHOOLS SAY MUSLIMS
(27 August 2006)

Muslims claim that Education Secretary Ruth Kelly deflected blame from foreign policy with baseless slur against Islamic schools in an interview with BBC News 24 on 26 August 2006, in which she called for Islamic schools which promote extremism and isolationism to be shut down. In the interview she said "Different institutions are open to abuse and where we find abuse we have got to stamp it out and prevent that happening."

Commenting on Ruth Kelly's interview, Imran Waheed, a media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "As there is no evidence whatsoever that any Islamic school in the UK is fostering 'extremism' or 'isolationism' these comments are yet further evidence of the government shifting the blame from its foreign policy. In order to divert attention from the government's unjust and immoral foreign policy, our community is being told that her mosques, schools and organisations are 'radicalising' people. This scaremongering about Islamic schools is yet another tactic to silence Muslims from voicing their legitimate political grievances."

"Islamic schools develop students to have respect for parents, teachers and wider society and encourage students to speak the truth. Is this what Ruth Kelly finds so worrying? The irony of her comments on 'extremism' is not lost on us. She herself has been accused of belonging to Opus Dei, described by some as secretive and controversial. For the minister responsible for community cohesion to make cheap divisive comments that increase mistrust is a disgrace."

Top