Move to ‘Improve’ UK Muslims’ Image
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
LONDON
THE British government funded a £350,000 globetrotting tour aimed at improving the “image of British Muslims” around the world.
Under the project, called Projecting British Muslims, the Foreign Office sent more than 60 Muslim delegates to 18 countries, including 12 Muslim states, so they can “share their experience” with other people and “engage in constructive dialogue and debate” in order to increase mutual understanding across communities, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.
Since the first visit in late 2005, the delegates have gone to Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Morocco, Algeria, Bosnia, Spain, Germany, France and Holland.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, led a six-member delegation to Pakistan in June.
Sadiq Khan, the Labor MP, led another group that visited Malaysia and Singapore in July.
Each group included between four and eight British Muslims, including women and young people.
The delegates stayed in exclusive hotels and were flown business class on some visits, with all accommodation and travel expenses funded by the government.
Their next trip will be to the United States.
The project is funded under a Foreign Office program called “Engaging with the Islamic World Group,” which has an £8.5 million annual budget and a staff of 26.
The initiative was recommended by a Muslim panel set up following the July 2005 London bombings.
UK officials say the visits have helped promote a positive image of what life is like for Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims.
“The idea is to promote British Muslims overseas, to try to get rid of the myth that British Muslims are oppressed, and to give Muslims in the UK the experience of how Muslims in other parts of the world live,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“We have had good feedback from both those who went on the visits, and from those countries they visited. A clearer picture of each other’s environment and opinion emerges, breaking often misleading stereotypes,” the spokesman added.