(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Britain's largest mainstream Muslim organization, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), will today call for "robust action" to combat Islamophobic attacks in the wake of fears of growing violence and underreporting of hate crimes against the Muslims.
The organization would also challenge the "ethnic profiling" of members, claiming that minorities are 42 times more likely to be targeted under the Terrorism Act.
The MCB secretary-general, Farooq Murad would inform the council's AGM in Birmingham that there must be more monitoring of anti-Muslim crimes and that sufficient efforts not being made to encourage communities to report crimes to the police.
"Islamophobic attacks, on persons and properties, are committed by a tiny minority, but the number of incidents is increasing. Robust action is necessary and this means we must have a systematic manner of recording, monitoring and analysing such attacks. Only a small number of police forces record anti-Muslim hate crimes" the Independent quoted Murad, as saying.
Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of the European Muslim Research Centre and research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in Exeter University, said a decade of research would report before the 10th anniversary of 9/11 attacks.
His report would provide comprehensive figures on attacks on mosques, Islamic organizations and Muslim institutions, while avoiding confusion over race-related or random attacks.
About 40 to 60 per cent of the mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organizations in the UK have been targeted since 9/11 attacks on the US.
End item/ 149
