UK Muslims want to fight for Laden, not Blair
RASHMEE Z AHMED
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LONDON: Britain is considering "treason or murder" charges for British Muslims caught fighting alongside the Taliban even as a radical Muslim organisation boasted that the number of British jehadis was rising and a new opinion poll revealed that more British Pakistanis would fight for Osama Bin Laden than for Tony Blair.
"Tuesday’s updated figures show at least seven UK Muslims have died while fighting the West and hundreds are going abroad," claims Anjem Chaudhury, head of al-Muhajiroun UK, which openly supports jehad but says it has no role in recruiting or training fighters.
Chaudhary’s remarks to this paper come on the day an opinion poll, conducted by the Asian radio station, Sunrise, found that 91 per cent of the Pakistani respondents believed the war was between the Christian West and Islam and 98 per cent refused to fight for Britain.
The British authorities have said there is no way of independently verifying Al-Muhajiroun’s claims.
But Mohammed Abdullah, British-born-and-bred but of Pakistani origin, claims to know some of the men reported to have travelled to Afghanistan and their deaths. "Luton is a small town," he told this paper, referring to the unremarkable city close to London where at least three of the dead British jehadis apparently belonged.
Abdullah says Luton’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim dominant population of 20,000 is angry and feels the pain of "our brothers in Afghanistan". He says the threat of being tried for treason will not frighten young Muslims like him.
"British is a man-made term, I only recognise the name my creator gave me, that is Muslim", he says.
British politicians admit that Abdullah and others like him are set to become one of the biggest problems for Tony Blair’s government as it seeks to persuade the world the war on Afghanistan is not a war on Islam.
"The general public wants these young British Muslims to be tried for treason, but how can you identify exactly what it was they did when they were abroad if they return," said one Labour MP with a large Muslim population in her constituency, most of whom have dual nationality.
There is also the issue of victimisation. Moderate Muslims such as Ghiasuddin Siddiqui of Britain’s Muslim Parliament condemn Abdullah’s views, but acknowledge that the radical words and claims of hot-headed young Muslims will be a huge public relations disaster for an already-marginalised community. "Young Muslims will be further excluded and pushed into ever more insane activities," says Siddiqui.
British politicians say there is no easy way out, even as white Britons are beginning to accuse them of "appeasement". Even as the British defence secretary on Monday warned young Muslims of "legal action" if they were lucky enough to survive fighting in Afghanistan, ordinary citizens expressed shock at sharing their country and nationality with "fifth columnists".
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