The Telegraph has reported that stop and search powers by the police will be scaled back. This new policy would be received with confidence, if it was clearly stated that intelligence and analysis demonstrated the pitfalls of racial profiling, since Muslims from Pakistan by birth or descent, remain most likely to belong to jihadist groups. However, the reasons given are related to community policing, not to security. One reacts with alarm when Commander Richard Gargini of the Association of Chief Police Officers accuses his own forces of bias against Muslims, no doubt conjured up by that neologism Islamophobia.
He announced the plans in a speech to the Muslim Safety Forum at East London Mosque, in which he even accused British police forces of "bias" against Muslims.
At the same event in Whitechapel, Phil Woolas, the communities minister, accused the media of being skewed against Muslims.
Contrasting extensive coverage of Islamic extremism with the low prominence given to far-Right activities, he said: "I do think it is evidence of bias; and, more importantly, I understand why Muslim people- would think it is evidence of bias."
Mr Woolas cited a forthcoming court case involving an alleged bomb plot by British National Party supporters, which has received little coverage in the mainstream media but has been widely discussed on Muslim websites.
If intelligence strategy is to be modified, then the shibboleths of multiculturalism or community sensitivity must take a rear seat to the need for public protection. The Home Office already invites scepticism on this issue and, one again, the Government and those professions that sign up to the official ideology, send out confused signals.
No government can afford to allow bombings through incompetence. Confused signals to religious communities by downplaying their role will leas to further disaffection and even more distrust between the police, the security services and Islam. It should be made quite clear that mosques and Muslim groups that preach hate or support terrorism will be treated as seditious and shut down. By setting parameters for acceptable behaviour within our system of laws, Labour will promote assimilation.