White fascists and Asian extremists are equally to blame for segregation in Keighley, alleges MP Ann Cryer.

She claims both the BNP and segregationists within Keighley's Asian community are desperate to generate division and conflict.

And she urges the "silent majority" in Keighley to take action to stop the town being over-run and torn apart by a small minority of extremists.

Mrs Cryer this week called for Keighley's Asian community to challenge "unacceptable and illegal behaviour" such as forced marriages, under-age sex, beating children in madrassas and arranged trans-continental marriages.

She said: "Instead of playing victim the Asian community must take ownership of and remedy the actions of the minority in its midst."

Mrs Cryer laid the charges this week in a special article for the Keighley News in response to Angela Clarke, a BNP Bradford councillor, winning a seat on Keighley Town Council.

Mrs Cryer branded the 180 people in Guardhouse who voted for Cllr Clarke as "either thick or racist", and blasted the rest who could not be bothered to vote. She said: "The extremists are sending out the message to potential investors that Keighley is a divided and racist town.

"This reputation must not be allowed to grow unchecked."

Mrs Cryer, MP for Keighley, called on local Asians to ask themselves why some people in Keighley voted for a racist organisation.

She said: "Not everyone who voted BNP in the district council elections in June is racist -- some are frustrated, angry people who wanted to register their concern.

"The Asian community has chosen to ignore a difficult issue, hoping it will simply go away and that others will deal with it.

"Segregationists within the Asian community rely on the poverty, underachievement and disenfranchisement of those people they claim to represent.

"Likewise, racists in the BNP need the ignorance and fear of those they purport to represent for their powerbase. They are the same thing -- as bad as each other."

Mohammed Saleem, chairman of Keighley's Ittehaad Community Association, which was founded in 1993 to promote integration, admitted there was segregation in many parts of Keighley.

He said: "There's room for improvement and we will do anything to bring people together. Integration is a two-way process.

"Most people from the Asian community are second or third generation -- they live here and consider themselves British. They feel they are part of this society and this is their homeland.

"Even being part of this society they are still categorised as Pakistani, Indian, or Asian -- will they ever become British? Politicians and media label these people and they feel resentful."

Bradford councillor Andrew Mallinson offered to use Keighley Area Committee, of which he is chairman, as a forum to bring communities together.

He said: "I've felt for a very long time that Asian and ethnic minority groups need to look at cultural change to address problems such as forced marriages. These groups don't want to lose their identities, and quite rightly so -- it needs a more open discussion. All sides need to take a long hard look at how we integrate."

Allan Rhodes, chairman of Keighley Town Council, pointed out that Keighley had a long history of integrating newcomers.

He said: "Keighley has always had the balance right regarding faith and culture. I don't think there's a serious problem and I like to think we handle it better than some other towns."

No BNP comment was available.