‘The witch hunt of Asghar Bukhari’

Islamophobia Watch reports on a press release circulated by the anti Muslim think tank, the Centre for Social Cohesion, which accuses Asghar Bukhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) of ‘glorifying terror’. The CfSC has urged mainstream media outlets to desist from using MPACUK as a spokesperson on Muslim affairs.

The CfSC quotes from a Facebook entry by Bukhari in which he writes:

“Muslims who fight against the occupation of their lands are mujahadeen and are blessed by Allah. And any Muslim who fights against Israel and dies is a martyr and will be granted paradise.”

“The concept of jihad is a beautiful thing, and logical to those with a sincere heart. It tells the human being to stand up and fight against those who bring evil and oppression on this earth, and by standing up – roll back that oppression until the people are free from it.”

Bukhari’s comments relate the protestations that were made by Muslim organisations when the ‘glorifying terrorism’ clause was being debated in Parliament. Namely, that extending anti terrorism legislation to include the glorification clause would involve the ‘circumscription of dissenting opinion through the banning of non-violent groups and … expressing legitimate criticism and condemnation of oppressive regimes and those who violate international legality.’

MPAC have responded to the CfSC criticizing it for “wasting police time by reporting Asghar Bukhari for supposedly contravening the new law banning ‘glorification of terrorism’. MPACUK – who actually care about stopping terrorism – expect our taxes to be spent trying to prevent anyone from blowing us up on tube trains (not dealing with politically-motivated malicious reports against media spokespeople from Muslim groups!)”

A cursory look at the content of the CfSC website will show you that producing politically motivated malicious reports on Muslims is precisely the CfSC’s idea of promoting social cohesion.