More questions over Muslims in Britain

Since last Thursday's foiling of a planned terrorist attack which would have surpassed even 9/11 in terms of casualties, Britain has again been forced to ask itself a lot of questions about the role of Muslims within our society.

As with last year's July bombings on the London transport system, the majority of those involved in this latest plot appear to be young, British-born Muslims (the oldest was just 35 years old and the youngest only 17). Many of the suspects are also known to have visited religious schools and training camps in Pakistan over the last couple of years, another factor in common with those responsible for last year's attacks. In fact, the Pakistani secret services yesterday revealed that many of those implicated had travelled under false premises to Pakistan funded by charitable donations made by the British public to help the victims of last year's earthquake, and that money had been siphoned off from the charity fund to help finance the planned attack.

These facts have once again raised questions about why so many young, British Muslims become attracted by and involved in terrorist activity and what, if anything, can be done about it. The chief explanation given has been Britain's, and hence Tony Blair's, foreign policy over the last few years. The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, support of America on the world stage and the recent failure to condemn Israeli actions against Lebanon have all undoubtedly stirred up a Muslim minority in Britain who already often face economic and cultural difficulties. However, this explanation on its own is far too simple. First of all, millions of Britons are vehemently opposed to Blair's foreign policy but restrict their complaints to non-violent protest and not terrorist activity. Secondly, one must question why is it apparently mainly Muslim youths who feel driven to such extreme action while, by and large, the elder members of the community act in a more restrained way. Of course it can be argued that it is always the young who are most likely to be driven to radical action, but one feels there is something more behind this. Perhaps having been born and raised in Britain rather than their ancestral homelands, these young Muslims have some idealised vision of life in Muslim countries and strive to create this in Britain, whereas their parents, who originally chose to emigrate to Britain, appreciate more what is on offer on these shores.

It is, of course, extremely important not to tar all Muslims with the same brush. The vast majority of Muslims in Britain condemn terrorist action and many senior figures in the community have spoken out against it. However, there is undoubtedly a large proportion who feel they do not quite fit into modern British society and, especially in the wake of recent botched police actions, do not trust the authorities. They feel that they are being deliberately and often unreasonably targeted by the police, and there are in fact many who claim that this latest round of arrests is simply a distraction away from criticism of Blair's Middle East policy and that this whole alleged terrorist plot is a sham.

There is no obvious answer to the questions currently being raised. Many have preached a liberal policy of more dialogue with and understanding of British Muslims, but so far this approach has not seemed to bear fruit. Meanwhile, some right-wing commentators brashly proclaim that if the Muslims don't like it here then they should go back home again. This argument is pathetic and facile, and ignores the fact that for most of these Muslims Britain is home. The only way to stem this rising tide of extremism is to make Britain's Muslims minority feel part of the country, rather than opposed to it. How exactly to achieve this though remains open to debate.