The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has said that from next year it will offer an alternative to the highly controversial Prevent counter-extremism programme.
The MCB says an ongoing national consultation with Muslim leaders and community organisations has unearthed the need for a sincere response to the threat of terrorism.
The MCB represents 500 charities, schools and mosques. Over the past year they have held meetings with activists, academics and various other counter-terror stakeholders to discern the best way to tackle violent extremism.
The findings so far point to the corrosive impact of Prevent on innocent citizens and the need for an authentic alternative directed by the Muslim community. The details of the programme have yet to be finalized. They will be published in a future report, although the MCB says demonstrating “Muslims are part and parcel of British life” will play a foundational role. It is unclear what is meant by this
In a statement the MCB said: “At forums across the country there has been a widespread concern that Muslims are singled out as potential extremists. Having Muslims pass subjective and discriminatory counter-extremism litmus tests, as a condition of engagement, only re-enforces the terrorists’ narrative.
“The Prevent strategy exacerbates this problem and it is quite clear that it does not currently have the support of many within British Muslim communities across the UK and has been widely criticised by academics and practitioners, yet the threat of terrorism is real and severe.
“Many ideas have been put forward on what communities and government should do together to confront and preempt terrorism. These we hope to detail in our final report. But there seems to be a consensus in Muslim communities that our security services and police must always bear ultimate responsibility to keep our nation safe and secure. We are grateful to the security services and police for their tireless efforts in keeping us all safe. Their work should be evidence-based, and focussed on the real threats such as support for terrorism, or travel to aid terrorists abroad.”
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