London, UK, April 5 2007 – The speech today by the Communities Secretary, Ruth Kelly confirms that her ministerial brief is to continuously deflect the sense of injustice in the Muslim community towards foreign policy. She said "the Prime Minister has continually stressed that our foreign policy has not caused terrorism. He is right."

Commenting on her speech, Imran Waheed, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "‘Radical Islam' has not only become an excuse for a foreign policy that is really based on material interest, but it has become the government's favoured means of distracting the British public's backlash against its disastrous foreign policy. The cynical timing of Kelly's latest PR stunt – just a month before the local elections – highlights this all too clearly."

"The government attempts to deflect from its foreign policy by continuously blaming the Muslim community and today's announcement is the government's plan C after the ‘extremism taskforce' and the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Body (MINAB) were effectively sidelined."

"Whilst playing lip service to ‘improving community cohesion', today's speech, the government's raft of anti-terror laws, statements about the Muslim woman's dress, campaigns against Muslim groups and a hostile tone towards the Muslim community are evidence that the government's policies are actually damaging community relations, a point Ruth Kelly denied on this morning's Today programme."

"We remind the Muslim community that improving community relations stem from remembering the Prophet's (pbuh) saying that ‘Angel Gabriel has continued to ask me to be good to my neighbour'. The Quranic verse urging Muslims to ‘… stand up firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both' is also a reminder that we should not accept to be bullied and silenced about our views over this government's brutal foreign policy – which is the cause of much insecurity and violence around the world."

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