‘Respect brings people together’

12:14am Wednesday 27th February 2008

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A Muslim leader has opposed comments by Tory leader David Cameron in a speech in which he said the introduction of Sharia law would undermine British society.

Speaking on the issue for the first time since the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made his controversial comments, Mr Cameron said adopting elements of Sharia law would lead to a "legal apartheid" and "state multiculturalism".

Ishtiaq Ahmed also criticised Mr Cameron's understanding of multiculturalism.

Mr Cameron told a debate in London yesterday organised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission: "I don't believe that by introducing Sharia law, we will make Muslims feel more British.

"In my view the opposite is the case. I think it would head in the wrong direction.

"The reality is the introduction of Sharia law for Muslims is actually the logical endpoint of the now discredited doctrine of state multiculturalism instituting, quite literally, a legal apartheid to entrench what is the cultural apartheid in too many parts of our country."

Mr Ahmed, of the Bradford Council of Mosques, said: "In a country where people feel free to be able to live according to their ways of life while sharing certain basic values, then I think that enables people to contribute to - and take ownership of - their community.

"If society respects people's cultural identities, values and heritage, it brings people together and creates an atmosphere of co-operation and support."

Councillor Martin Smith, Bradford Council's executive member for community safety, said: "Mr Cameron may feel like that if he is not in day-to-day contact with the situation, but those of us in Bradford who are in day-to-day contact with the Asian community feel there is a great understanding of where the situation needs to go.

"It's not possible to say multiculturalism is not working in Bradford."

Mr Cameron said during his visit to Bradford he heard of schoolgirls under the age of 16 who have "simply disappeared". He also referred to author Jasvinder Sanghera, a victim of forced marriage who he met during his visit to Bradford last Thursday.

Coun Smith agreed that forced marriages were unacceptable in Britain, but he did not believe Mr Cameron was right to bring the issue of forced marriages and perceived racism in Bradford to the fore.