Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has allocated millions of pounds to win the hearts and minds of British Muslims and help them fight extremism, a plan cautiously welcomed by community leaders, The Guardian reported on Thursday, July 26.
"Over the next three years we will provide an additional £70 million to support local authorities and community groups in improving the capacity of local communities to resist violent extremism," Brown told parliament on Wednesday, July 25.

He said the money would fund a set of programs that promotes British identity and cross-community values among Muslims.

"This will include developing leadership programmes for young people, strengthening the capacity of women's groups and local projects."

The plan will focus on Britain's 1000 madrasahs (religious schools), educating between 50,000 and 100,000 young people.

Brown said his government will work with the schools to include citizenship education in their curriculum.

"We will also support a new skills qualification in citizenship and community cohesion for faith leaders, sponsor English speaking imams, propose interfaith bodies in every community in the country to build greater understanding, and update guidance to universities."

The outgoing government of Tony Blair announced in April a 6-million-pound project to groom home-gown imams to become role models for younger Muslims.

Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2 million.

Crucial

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears insisted that countering extremism through such a strategy is crucial.

"A tough security response is vital," she said. "But to be safe in the longer term we need to reach people before they are drawn into violent extremism."

Brown had announced in the same speech, his first on security since assuming office, a series of tougher anti-terror measures.

He proposed electronic screening of overseas visitors, obliging all visa applicants to obtain biometric visas and mandating foreign nationals staying in Britain for more than six months to have biometric ID cards.

Domestically, he proposed extending the detention of terror suspects for up to 56 days without charges, new powers for MI5 to obtain information from other government agencies, tighter bail conditions of terror suspects, a terrorist offender register and new powers to enter the properties of those under control orders.

Brown also suggested giving authorities power to quiz terror suspects after being charged and allowing phone tap evidence to be used in court.

A British court on Thursday jailed five Muslim students, including an 18-year-old schoolboy, for a total of 13 years over terrorism offences.

They were charged with possessing al-Qaeda-related material and intending to travel for terror training abroad.

Cautious Welcomed


"It is vital that the Department of Communities does not play politics," Bunglawala said.

Muslim leaders welcomed the additional allocations as a step on the right track, though they had some reservations.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the umbrella Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said the key question was whether or not the money would be dispersed fairly.

"There have been accusations that the government's community department favors organizations which have been uncritical of government policy," he told The Guardian.

"It is vital that the Department of Communities does not play politics and that it disperses funding to all groups involved in tackling extremism."

Faiz Siddiqi, convenor of the Muslim Action Committee, praised Brown's approach in handling extremism.

However, the leader of the faith-based coalition of more than 700 mosques and imams had his worries that the allocations might not be enough.

"The problem is that radicalism in the community is being caused by excessive sums of money coming into the country," Siddiqi said.

"So, I'm not convinced that £70m over three years is going to resolve the issues that are facing our community."

Siddiqi, a well-known scholar, also questioned whether teaching citizenship and English language should be outlined as a priority.

"Has the teaching of citizenship addressed social disorder in the mainstream community?" he asked.

He said extremism has nothing to do with the language people talk, citing the example of radical Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri.

"Look at Abu Hamza, or look at the people who were inciting people to murder - they spoke English.

"It just doesn't stack up."