Blears says Muslims should not fear racial profiling
(Filed: 02/08/2005)

Muslims in the UK should not be discriminated against by the police or subjected to racial profiling, Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, has said at a meeting with Muslim leaders.

	Ms Blears said she was pleased with the progress made

She was meeting the Muslim community in Oldham to discuss improving relations post the July bombings.

But Zahid Maqbool, editor of Revival, a magazine for Asian youths, criticised Ms Blears for failing to address key questions.

"The concerns that we have with regards to policies such as stop-and-search, the non-acknowledgement of international foreign policy and the new labelling of Muslims as moderate and extreme, she did not really answer those questions in a way that I consider to be an appropriate fashion." he said.

On the agenda were security, the controversial stop-and-search policy, engaging with young people and women, and tackling extremism and radicalisation.

Speaking after the meetings, Ms Blear said progress had made.

"The counter-terrorism powers are not targeting any community in particular, but are targeting terrorists," she said.

"That is why they have got to be intelligence-led and used proportionally, fairly, and in a non-discriminatory way."

But shortly after the meetings Mr Maqbool said that Ms Blears had "skipped over" some of the key issues.

"The minister did not want to talk about Iraq," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

"She simply said 'I have already made my position clear'.

"Well, quite clearly there are a lot of people, particularly younger Muslims, who feel the war on terror is actually a war on Islam."

Ms Blears rejected the criticism as "a little unfair".

"We did have quite a good discussion, certainly around stop-and-search and making sure that powers are used properly, that they are intelligence led that they are not targeted at any particular part of the community," she said.

Riaz Ahmed, an Oldham councillor who met with Ms Blears this morning, said the meeting was very positive.

"Ms Blears accepts that there is a lot more good than bad elements of the Muslim community," he said.

"She wants to work with the Muslim community and we want to work with the Government and law enforcement agencies in a positive way.

"There is no intention to demonise the Muslim community."

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