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Record anti-terror petition will be brought to London
Amar Singh, Evening Standard11.09.08
British Muslims will be asked to sign a record-breaking petition to denounce terrorism.
Volunteers for the Yeh Hum Naheen (This Is Not Us) campaign have collected more than 60 million signatures in Pakistan - often branded the home of Islamist terrorism - in less than two months.
It will be named in the Guinness Book of Records as the most signed petition ever.
Now organisers have set their sights on Britain's Muslims and are planning a Live Aidstyle concert.
The campaign is funded by Muslim philanthropists worried about the re-emergence of the Taliban. It is the brainchild of British entrepreneur Waseem Mahmood, who was awarded an OBE for setting up radio networks in war zones including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq.
Mr Mahmood, 46, a former BBC journalist, is to approach Boris Johnson about bringing the campaign to London. He said: "Hopefully we will soon have volunteers with petitions on Brick Lane and other areas with lots of British Muslims. This is all vital in preventing another terror attack. If you start removing [terrorists'] support, you start to cut the supply line.
"I'm advocating a world anti-terrorism day in two to three years where we could hold concerts simultaneously - London could be a focal point. We are looking to approach City Hall. I think Boris would love the idea."
Reader views (2)
You either want to be an equal member of British society, or you don't.
- Mark P, London, UK
Muslim youths are angry, frustrated and extremist because they have been mis-educated and de-educated by the British schooling. Muslim children are confused because they are being educated in a wrong place at a wrong time in state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. They face lots of problems of growing up in two distinctive cultural traditions and value systems, which may come into conflict over issues such as the role of women in the society, and adherence to religious and cultural traditions. The conflicting demands made by home and schools on behaviour, loyalties and obligations can be a source of psychological conflict and tension in Muslim youngsters. There are also the issues of racial prejudice and discrimination to deal with, in education and employment. They have been victim of racism and bullying in all walks of life. According to DCSF, 56% of Pakistanis and 54% of Bangladeshi children has been victims of bullies. The first wave of Muslim migrants were happy to send their children to state schools, thinking their children would get a much better education. Than little by little, the overt and covert discrimination in the system turned them off. There are fifteen areas where Muslim parents find themselves offended by state schools.
The right to education in one’s own comfort zone is a fundamental and inalienable human right that should be available to all people irrespective of their ethnicity or religious background.
- Iftikhar Ahmad, LOndon United Kingdom
