Responding to the letter sent to all mosques in Britain today by the
Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the Muslim Association of Britain
(MAB) urged all of Britain to unite to eliminate the threat of
terrorism.

The organisation pointed out that the Muslim community had the same
rights and responsibilities as the rest of the country, while
everyone had to unite to address the root causes of terrorism, namely
Britain's foreign policy.

Commenting, MAB President Ahmad Sheikh said:

"Today's news follows from the Madrid outrage and yesterday's arrests
in Britain. We have of course condemned what happened in Spain and
sent our sympathies to all tragically affected.

"We hope that the men arrested yesterday see justice quickly, if they
are guilty they should be tried and sentenced, if they are innocent
they should be freed. All too often this latter part has not happened
and Muslims have been locked up, detained, or searched with little or
no evidence.

"This has led to a hysteria surrounding the Muslim community which is
palpably unfair. Muslims have the same rights and responsibilities as
any other citizens of Britain - no more and no less.

"The emphasis we believe should be on eliminating the root causes of
terrorism. These stem from the foreign policies of Britain over the
last few decades, including unflinching support for Israel at the
expense of the Palestinians, supporting puppet dictators across the
Muslim world and suppressing freedom, and most recently waging the
illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

"Ones these wrongs are righted, we will drain the swamp from which
terrorism emanates."

Muslim Association of Britain
31st March 2004