BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair has welcomed a letter from the Muslim Council of Britain reminding people of their "Islamic duty" to help preserve Britain's peace and urging them to maintain the "utmost vigilance" against terrorism, writes Frank Millar London Editor
The Prime Minister was speaking in the House of Commons where opposition leaders joined him in congratulating the security services on Tuesday's anti-terrorist operation, which resulted in the arrest of eight British citizens of Pakistani descent and the apparent foiling of a bomb plot.
As police continued questioning the men at the high-security Paddington Green station in London yesterday, relatives of three of those being held under the Terrorism Act denied they were al-Qaeda terrorists and accused police who conducted their arrest of themselves acting "like terrorists".
In his letter to more than 1,000 mosques and Islamic organisations across Britain, Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council, urged people to "observe the utmost vigilance against any mischievous or criminal elements from infiltrating the community and provoking any unlawful activity", and "to liaise with police and give them the fullest co-operation in dealing with criminal activity, including terrorist threat".
Mr Blair said the council's unprecedented letter made clear that terrorism had "nothing to do with the true message of Islam". He continued: "The threat from terrorism affects every family in this country - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - and it's right that we all work together to defeat this threat and don't allow the extremists to divide us."
That comment was echoed by the Muslim Council's spokesman, Mr Inayat Bunglawala, who told the BBC: "A terrorist attack will not discriminate between Muslims and Christians. As British citizens, we have a right to help the safeguarding of this country by co-operating with police." At the same time the council's letter contained sharp criticism of some British newspaper coverage of Tuesday's anti-terrorist operation and warned against "any hasty pronouncements of guilt".
He continued: "You will no doubt recall that in November 2002 the police made high-profile arrests of six Muslims accused of plotting to release cyanide gas into London's Underground system." Yet nearly 18 months later, none of the men had been charged with any crime.
The father of two of the young men arrested on Tuesday, and uncle of a third, yesterday insisted there was "absolutely no truth" in the allegations made against his sons and nephew. And Mr Ansar Khan (48) made the startling allegation that MI5 had recently approached his nephew and the nephew's brother and advised them to leave Britain.
Mr Khan also said his nephew had travelled to Pakistan in 2000, having told his mother he was going to France, and had been to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. However, he said he was brought back to his home in Crawley after about six weeks.
The proprietor of an Internet café in Crawley said yesterday that police had taken five computers and eight or nine laptops from his premises following Tuesday's arrests. Mr Jafar Nazir said officers told him two suspects had used the computers and they needed to check the records.
Speculation about the international dimension to Tuesday's operation further increased last night as Canadian police confirmed the arrest of a man on terrorist charges related to alleged offences in London.