Muslim group hits back at ‘extremist’ claims

A MUSLIM organisation which claims to combat anti-Muslim bigotry has hit back at allegations of extremism.

Sunday Telegraph journalist Andrew Gilligan, described groups such as Muslim Engagement and Development - known as MEND - as “clever fronts to win political access and influence for Islamists holding extreme and anti-democratic views”.

MEND says it addresses the challenges facing British Muslims, with a focus on active political participation.

At an event in the OBA Millennium Cultural Centre in Chadderton on Tuesday, MEND’s regional manager for the North-West, Yusuf Tai, dismissed Mr Gilligan’s allegations.

Mr Tai said: “There’s a demand in the community to have education around politics. Muslims feel the media doesn’t best represents their views.”

The group launched a “Muslim Manifesto” at a Parliamentary meeting chaired by Conservative peer Baroness Warsi. The document covers issues MEND believes parties must consider when engaging with British Muslims in upcoming elections.

MEND is a rebranding of the group iEngage, which was removed as secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia in 2011, following a Sunday Telegraph story revealing its links with extremism.

In a statement, MEND attacked Mr Gilligan’s “McCarthyite obsession” and described the latest story as “mudslinging” and “lacking substance”.

The statement went on to say: “British Muslims are proudly British, as many surveys will attest. They are slowly finding a voice and visibility in the public and political space. We passionately believe in British Muslims being actively engaged in politics and media.”

The group is hosting an event in Manchester in April, featuring Baroness Warsi and Manchester-based preacher Abu Eesa Niamatullah, who has made controversial remarks about women and Jewish people in the past.

In his story, Mr Gilligan quoted one of Mr Niamatullah’s speeches in which he said Muslims should act as an “underground movement... to affect and influence people.”

Mr Niamatullah wrote later: “When you and your cronies are hell-bent in dehumanising them and not giving them the breathing space to live freely ‘above ground’, then don’t be surprised when you force them all underground.”