Birmingham "has become a byword for Islamic extremist terror"
4 May 2013 07:30
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-has-become-byword-islamic-3408471
Special report by Amardeep Bassey
Birmingham now has the dubious honour of being labelled the western world's
" Terror Central" for Islamic extremists.
It's a reputation founded on being home to an alleged Saudi financier of the
9/11 attacks, the birthplace of Britain's first suicide bomber and the
centre of the country's first Al Qaida terror plot.
And it's not just a numbers game, despite the fact that Birmingham is home
to Britain's largest Muslim community, estimated to be more than
300,000-strong.
Last week saw the culmination of several inter-connected terror trials and
convictions of nearly 20 young Muslim men from the city , who had planned to
carry out a bombing campaign in the country of their birth.
It led a prosecution barrister in their trial to make a throw-away remark
that "Brummie" is the most common accent in Belmarsh Prison, where most
terror suspects are held.
But why is it that Britain's second city is seen as such fertile ground for
Islamic extremism, enticing young men like Rashid Rauf from the backstreets
of Alum Rock to the upper echelons of Al Qaida in the badlands of Pakistan?
There are no official figures but experts suggest that there have been more
than 30 terrorist-related convictions in the city since 1998, from Moinul
Abedin, described as the planner of the country's first Al Qaida inspired
bombing plot in 2000, to the seven Birmingham men who conspired to kidnap
and publicly behead British squaddies.
Most of the players involved have been second-generation Kashmiris, a
reflection of the fact that Birmingham is home to the world's largest ex-pat
Kashmiri community.
The disputed and divided northern Indian territory is no stranger to
violence and political upheaval, which has claimed thousands of lives in the
picturesque Himalayan region since the late 1980s.
After the Russians left Afghanistan in 1989, Afghan and Pakistani
mujahideen, together with global groups like Al Qaida, trained their guns on
India in an effort to turn Kashmir into an Islamic state.
Rafaello Pantucci, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
thinktank, says familial and clan connections between some Birmingham
Kashmiris and the motherland facilitated easy access to jihadi ideology and
practical terror training.
He said: "The ongoing troubles in Kashmir made it easier for a young Muslim
from Birmingham to travel out there and join a training camp and then become
indoctrinated into the worldwide Islamic state anti-West ideology espoused
by groups like Al Qaida.
"So in a way some of the Kashmiri separatist groups have acted as a stepping
stone to more sinister and dangerous groups like Al Qaida."
He added: "Firebrand Kashmiri militant leaders made trips to Birmingham in
the 1990s and made incendiary speeches urging Birmingham's Kashmiri
community to help in the fight against India.
"These charismatic people would have left a mark on the city's young
Muslims."
Other experts and commentators suggest the catalyst to jihadi activity is
much closer to home.
Local historian and community activist Jahan Mahmood said: "Birmingham's
Muslim communities have been hijacked a by a select few, and as we saw from
the recent cases these men took advantage of their own community by
defrauding them.''
Birmingham's first Muslim MP Khalid Mahmood, of Perry Barr , blames a lack
of leadership and direction within the city's Muslim community itself.
He said: "The city's mosques have not done enough to educate the younger
generations about the true peaceful nature of Islam and instead have let
them be misdirected by terrorist recruiters and their like.
"The entire Muslim community in the city must shoulder some blame for almost
turning a blind eye to the activities of a small minority of its youth who
have chosen to go down the path of blind hatred based on a skewed version of
Islam."
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