Don't blame Islam for terrorism, says Blair

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT. 29. Clearly embarrassed by the anti-Muslim backlash at a time when Britain is trying to get Muslim countries on board the U.S.-led coalition against Osama bin Laden and his hosts, the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair has spoken out strongly against attempts to turn the campaign against terrorism into a fight between the Christian West and Islamic East.

His views were echoed by senior European leaders who repudiated the idea of a ``civilisational clash'' and warned against ``hate and confrontation'', as the European Commission president, Mr. Romano Prodi put it. Mr. Blair, who has started reading the Quran lately, hailed Islam as a ``peaceful'' religion and said the events of September 11 were contrary to its tenets. Denouncing as ``despicable'' the attacks on Muslims following the terrorist atrocities in the U.S., he said on Thursday that there was no place for ``such acts and attitudes'' in a multiracial society like Britain.

``What happened in America was not the work of Islamic terrorists, it was not the work of Muslim terrorists. It was the work of terrorists, pure and simple,'' he declared at press conference flanked by a group of high-profile Muslim representatives whom he met at Downing Street in the wake of a wave of attacks on ethnic groups, particularly Muslims and Sikhs.

Mr. Blair's statement came amid a blazing controversy over the Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi's remarks asserting the ``superiority'' of Western civilisation and values. While he avoided a direct comment on Mr. Berlusconi's widely-condemned remarks saying he had not seen the full text, he stressed that there was a common heritage in many of the faiths. He repeatedly distinguished Islam and Muslims from the terrorists behind the American nightmare, and reminded his audience that among those killed by terrorists around the world were many Muslims.

At the same time, he sounded impatient with those who tried to link anti-U.S. terrorism to Washington's policies in West Asia. He made clear that there could be no justification whatever for the attacks in America. Let there be ``no measure of ambiguity'' on that, he said with a touch of irritation but agreed that it was important to ``re-invigorate'' the peace process in West Asia. He faced a volley of questions echoing the view that the U.S. foreign policy towards the Muslim world has a great deal to answer for the widespread anti-U.S. sentiment.

Mr. Blair's meeting with the Muslim group, mostly Labour supporters, was seen as an elaborate public relations exercise. In an unusual move, he led his guests to the press conference where the group leader, Mr. Yousuf Bhailok of the Muslim Council of Britain praised the Prime Minister saying he had been ``most reassuring in quite clearly distinguishing between Islam and the terrorists''. Later, TV cameras were allowed to linger on as Mr. Blair chatted with the group on the doorsteps of No. 10 - an unusually long chat telecast ``live'' on major channels.

In another public gesture to mollify Muslim opinion, Prince Charles visited a mosque in east London. He told worshipers at the Suleymaniye mosque - the largest in Western Europe - that he wanted to show how much he ``minded about and cared about the Islamic community.''

Meanwhile, Mr. Berlusconi's remarks for which he has since apologised provoked an outrage across Europe with Mr. Prodi saying that ``we will not fall in any way or under any circumstances into a war of civilisations''. ``We are building a Europe that is humane and open to all traditions and religions. We cannot give into hate and confrontation,'' he said. The Belgian Prime Minister, Mr. Guy Verhofstadt said: ``I can hardly believe that Mr. Berlusconi made such remarks because the E.U. is based on values such as multiculturalism and the meeting of different civilisations.'' In Britain, the Foreign Office Minister, Mr. Peter Hain debunked the talk of the superiority of Western ``supremacy'' saying Europe had produced Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, while the Home Secretary, Mr. David Blunkett called them ``offensive''.

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Section  : International
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