Cameron defends controversial letter urging British Imams to help counter extremism in U.K.

Prime Minister David Cameron

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Prime Minister David CameronU.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has defended a government’s controversial letter on Monday, sent to British Imams urging the leaders of England’s Mosques to help counter Islamist extremism in Britain.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has been highly criticised after asking Muslim leaders for additional cooperation to root out extremism and prevent young people becoming radicalised in 1,000 letters sent amid the incident of Paris terror attacks.

In the controversial letter, Mr Pickles had primarily praised British Muslims for condemning the terror attacks advising imams to insert extra efforts to prevent radicalisation in their own communities. 

The letter reads: “You have a precious opportunity, and an important responsibility: in explaining and demonstrating how faith in Islam can be part of British identity.”

The above suggestion has invited the anger of the Muslim community and organisations as Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which said Muslims do not have any need to change their way prove to loyalty to Britain and rejected suggestions that they were somehow “inherently apart from British society”.  MCB have also criticised an implication made in the letter, saying that “extremism takes place at mosques”. While the Ramadhan Foundation has said the comments made in the letter were “patronising and factually incorrect”.

However, the PM has strongly defended Mr Pickles’ remarks in the letter were “reasonable, sensible and moderate” and that anyone who took issue with them had a problem.

Mr Cameron has told: “Anyone who reads this letter – and I’ve read the letter – will see that what he is saying is that British Muslims make a great contribution to our country, that what is happening in terms of extremist terror has nothing to do with the true religion of Islam.

“It’s being perverted by a minority who have been radicalised.”

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