EXTREMIST WARNING: MOHAMMAD SARWAR

Look what happens when you associate with extremists like Mohammad Sarwar. I mean this guy has backed every terror law Blair has asked for but he did vote against the Iraq war, so maybe its a case of the chickens coming home to roost for him personally.

Concerns raised as innocent Muslims detained

http://www.sundayherald.com/55439

By Liam McDougall

SENIOR members of Scotland’s Pakistani community last night revealed that they had approached the chief constable of Strathclyde Police to complain about the number of innocent Muslims being detained at Glasgow Airport.

Ashraf Anjum, president of the Glasgow Central Mosque, the largest in Scotland, said he had personally raised the issue with Sir Willie Rae last month in response to a growing number of incidents being reported to him.

Anjum, left, said in one case Glasgow-based Muslims who sit on the mosque’s executive committee were stopped after returning from a charity event in Pakistan involving the city’s Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar.

The group, which included an imam from another Glasgow mosque and a businessman, were singled out from other passengers and questioned about where they had been and who they had associated with.

They were detained for around an hour and then released without charge.

In another example, Anjum’s son was detained at an airport and asked about why he had previously visited Egypt. He explained to the officers that he had gone there on honeymoon.

The latest examples come in the wake of a major anti-terrorism operation in Scotland, which led to the arrest of a man under the Terrorism Act 2000. He was stopped at Glasgow Airport after returning to Scotland from Pakistan.

It also follows a Sunday Herald investigation which revealed last year that Special Branch officers were targeting Scots-based Muslims from Afghanistan at Glasgow Airport.

Mohammad Asif, president of the Scottish Afghan Society, revealed how he was stopped and asked by Special Branch if he knew the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. He also had the numbers on his mobile phone recorded by officers.

Last night, Anjum said: “The extent of the concern is quite bad. People’s concerns were so great that I have raised the matter with the chief constable. It’s hurtful to think that just because you are a Muslim or flying in from Pakistan you are [seen as] a member of al-Qaeda.

“It is really hurtful that although you have been a citizen of Scotland for a long time and you have tried to build relations with everyone, that you can still be treated like this.”

Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “Muslims feel that they are under a huge cloud of suspicion when they are at airports. It’s not a coincidence that it is people of Muslim-like appearance who are being stopped.”

Strathclyde Police were unavailable for comment.

30 April 2006