Scots MP welcomes terror spread study
NATIONALIST MP Tasmina Ahmed- Sheikh, a practising Muslim, last night welcomed funding for looking at how extremism spreads.
She said it is vital that the UK Government ‘works hand in hand with the mainstream Muslim community to tackle terrorism at its root cause’.
She added: ‘There needs to be an inclusive approach to tackling extremism. Empowering moderate Muslims is vital to that end.
‘It’s particularly important that the Government has announced funding towards a study looking at how extremism spreads in our communities. Our work must be guided by facts and not narrow political ideology.
‘It is also important that the UK remains a beacon of human rights for other countries to follow. We are all united in our opposition to Daesh-inspired extremism, rolling back on our civil liberties will only give further ammunition to those who try to divide communities.’
In November 2013, former private school pupil, Aqsa Mahmood, left Glasgow to go to Syria and wed an ISIS fighter. The 21-year-old uses the name Umm Layth and writes a blog, with recent postings including one on how to be a good Muslim and another hailing a spate of terror attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait in June as ‘change, freedom and revenge’.
In June last year, 26-year- old Abdul Rakib Amin, who grew up in Aberdeen, appeared in an ISIS recruitment video, ranting about joining the terrorists and declaring ‘the cure for the depression is jihad’. Although born in Bangladesh, he grew up in Aberdeen and was a pupil first at Sunnybank Primary School and then St Machar Academy in the city.
One of Scotland’s youngest Imams, Glasgow-based Rehan Ahmed Raza, President of the Muslim Youth League UK, said David Cameron made ‘some very valid points’.
But he added: ‘One of the things that is not clear is what is the definition of extremism according to the Government.’