Ekip
03 June 2018•Update: 04 June 2018
By Muhammad Mussa
LONDON
Britain’s home secretary on Sunday denied the Conservative Party has an Islamophobia problem, also attempting to question whether a Muslim group which raised the issue has standing to do so.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, the secretary referred to his family’s Pakistani Muslim background, saying: “Let’s just look at who the home secretary is in this country, as you’ve just described me, my name is Sajid Javid, I’m the home secretary in this country”.
Responding to remarks by Baroness Sayida Warsi, a member of the House of Lords, saying “there is a simmering, anti-Muslim underbelly of Islamophobia within the party,” Javid said: “I’m afraid I do not agree with that.”
Javid acknowledged that there are issues with anti-Muslim hatred within the country. However, when asked if an investigation is needed into some Tories accused of Islamophobia, Javid denied there was.
On last week's open letter by a Muslim group calling for an investigation of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, Javid said: “Who said this? It’s the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).”
“The Muslim Council of Britain does not represent Muslims in this country,” he claimed, adding: “You find me a group of Muslims that thinks they’re represented by the MCB.”
The MCB’s statement has been supported by senior Tory MPs and peers such as Warsi and Lord Mohamed Sheikh, who have themselves urged that an independent investigation be launched into members accused of Islamophobia.
Responding to Javid’s comments, Harun Khan, secretary-general of the MCB, said: “Rather than address the serious concerns raised by our message, Mr Javid has chosen to shoot the messenger. We have identified real weekly cases of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, which the Party has even acknowledged by suspending members."
Regarding the claims that the MCB is unrepresentative of British Muslims, Khan said: “Recent polling data suggests that actually a majority of Muslims appear to believe the MCB does a good job in representing their views...even though the MCB does not claim to be a representative body for all Muslims, to ignore its representative status would once again be ignoring the evidence."
“The reality of Islamophobia is that Muslims and the Muslim Council of Britain have to deal with the smear of extremism even though they have clearly and consistently condemned violence perpetrated by people who claim to do this in the name of our religion,” Khan added.
The MCB is an umbrella group that represents over 500 Islamic organizations in the U.K.
