The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said that it had written to Home Secretary Alan Johnson expressing serious concerns over growing anti-Muslim violence.
"Amongst many British Muslim communities, there is a growing disenchantment at the lacklustre response from our political leaders to speak out against anti-Muslim hatred,” MCB secretary general Abdul Bari warned in the letter.
“Whether this exists in explicit form through the actions of far-right groups, or implicitly with hysterical headlines in our media, the policy response to any of these has been far from satisfactory,” Bari said in extracts of the letter obtained by IRNA news agency.
“We ask you to take leadership in this matter, especially in a year where divisive elements may well flourish in the run-up to the next general election," he urged.
The latest violence occurred last Saturday when some 1,500 supporters of the English Defence League clashed with police at an anti-Muslim protest in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, leading to 17 arrests and three being charged with racially or religiously aggravated disorder offences.
The fighting came on the day when a coalition of hundreds of British Muslim civic, social and religious leaders met in Birmingham at the invitation of the MCB to consider the growing trend of anti-Muslim hatred and violence.
The meeting called on government and other political parties to openly and effectively challenge the scourge of Islamophobia with a clear policy direction.
In 2009 alone, scores of Muslim institutions, centres and persons have been targeted in violent attacks. The government has so far refused to intervene and ban any provocative marches that have targeted mosques.
The Birmingham meeting accused ministers of remaining silent and said that their inaction “facilitated by the insatiable appetite of a hysterical media, keen to paint a picture of a British Muslim community that is somehow foreign, suspect and disloyal.”
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