THE MUSLIM NEWS: Clegg backs engagement with Muslims
In an exclusive interview with the Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, on March 4 at his offices in the House of Commons, answers questions on a wide range issues related to Muslims in the run up to the general election. His central theme is his party’s support for engagement with the community to overcome any tensions and disagreements. “I’ve always felt that engagement is an absolute necessity in order to reach a common understanding,” he said.
Clegg admits that the Lib Dems are “too white” as well as “too male,” and goes as far as encouraging Muslims to join his party and become potential candidates to widen its diversity. “There’s no prejudice, no hostility. Quite the reverse,” he insists, even though the Lib Dems seems nowhere nearer having their first Muslim MP elected.
The Lib Dem Leader agrees the Government’s discredited Prevent extremism strategy needs changing. “If you really want to re-establish trust in communities you’ve got to start from the bottom up,” he suggests. He also accepts there are many excesses in the country’s anti-terrorism laws saying his party was the only one to vote against renewing control orders. “The Government has used anti-terror powers in a way which diminish all of our freedoms and has a disproportionately worrying effect on those Muslim communities who feel they are being the object of those measures,” he further added.
With regard to the incitement against religious hatred, the Lib Dem leader insists that his party’s amendment in 2005 improved it rather than watering it down to render prosecutions under the law as virtually impossible.
On the Middle East conflict, he believes the UK and the EU should be much tougher, but applied evenly on both the Israelis and the Palestinians. “Whilst the Israeli state is very effective at deciding its next military move it seems to me it’s not working towards a long term solution which will actually help safeguard Israeli’s own security,” he said. >>> Ahmed J Versi, Editor of The Muslim News | Friday, March 26, 2010
