Cable Text:
VZCZCLOI278
PP RUEHC RUEHZL
DE RUEHLO #4045/01 2981638
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 251638Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6030
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
Thursday, 25 October 2007, 16:38
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 LONDON 004045
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 10/17/2017
TAGS PGOV, PREL, KISL, PTER, SCUL, UK
SUBJECT: EUR SENIOR ADVISOR PANDITH AND S/P ADVISOR COHEN’S
VISIT TO THE UK, OCTOBER 9-14, 2007
REF: LONDON 4030
Classified By: DCM Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 b, d
1. (C) Summary. EUR Senior Advisor for Muslim Engagement Farah Pandith and S/P Member Jared Cohen met with a wide range
of UK government leaders, community activists, think tanks, artists, and Muslim youth during their October 9-14 visit to
the UK. Government officials stressed that the UK’s problem with extremists is a domestic as well as a foreign policy
issue, since all recent successful and thwarted terrorist attacks were perpetrated by individuals from Muslim
communities in the UK. Muslim youth from deprived areas expressed less concern with UK and U.S. foreign policy than with
the chance to have their voices heard in British society, while those with more education focused on disagreements with
UK foreign policy and the need to use the arts to address cultural tensions and reconciliation. Bollywood actors and
executives agreed to work with the USG to promote anti-extremist messages through third party actors and were excited
about the idea of possibly partnering with Hollywood as well. Community activists discussed how they are working to
empower their communities and help shape the debate against extremism in UK Muslim communities. One highlight of the
visit was a day trip to Leicester, which Pandith said was arguably home to the most conservative Islamic population she
had seen anywhere in Europe. End summary.
Radicalization Efforts
------------------------------------
2. (C) HMG is currently working on an updated strategy, yet to be blessed by ministers, to update and improve its
approach to stopping terrorists and extremists, FCO Engaging the Islamic World Group Head Barry Lowen and Arab Reform
Team Leader Alex Cole told Pandith and Cohen October 12. The new strategy includes the creation of the Research and
Intelligence Communications Unit (RICU), which falls under the joint auspices of the FCO, the Home Office, and the
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Although still in the “embryonic stage,” Lowen said, the RICU
would have three primary functions: 1) tracking and coordinating research and information on extremism in the UK Muslim
Community; 2) alerting HMG to important events, such as an impending Osama Bin Laden speech, and preparing a unified
government response; and 3) supporting non-government tools in battling extremists (For more on the RICU and HMG’s
counter-radicalization structure, see ref). One project currently underway is preparation of a paper on what language
works best in public outreach, Lowen said; for example, the advantage of using the word “mainstream” to define common
values, as opposed to “the West,” which can have negative connotations.
3. (C) Work on empowering moderate Muslim voices in the UK and overseas is divided into aid directly from HMG and
facilitation of contacts between non-governmental actors, Cole said. Programs which HMG sponsors directly include:
sponsoring Arabic language children’s television programming in Jordan to promote peace and tolerance; assisting
visiting religious leaders and journalists from UK-based Muslim communities to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury and
other church leaders; and providing English language training to tutors at Al-Azhar University in Cairo through the
British Council. On the non-governmental side, HMG is also currently working to facilitate linkages between third party
actors, Cole said. Pandith noted these efforts mirror current USG initiatives. She and Cohen described USG efforts at
“seeding” small initiatives overseas to see what works and what doesn’t. Both sides agreed they would exchange ideas for
promoting counter-radicalization efforts, both those directly and indirectly sponsored by governments.
4. (C) With the FCO’s Policy Planning Middle East analyst Richard Shaw, Cohen described current USG thinking on the
linkage between public diplomacy, counter terrorism, and counter radicalization. Shaw said the UK’s overall approach is
focused on how likely Muslims are to turn to violence. Unlike the U.S. September 11 attack, Shaw noted, all of the UK
terrorist attacks and would-be attacks have been perpetrated by “home grown” terrorists. What is considered foreign
policy for the USG is both domestic and foreign for the UK, he pointed out. Pandith, Cohen and Shaw discussed the
importance of trying to work with youth through web-based technology and communications, since these are some of Al
Qaida’s primary tools. They also discussed the limitations of traditional outreach methods, including
government-supported exchange programs, which pay off handsomely for those who participate but reach a mere handful of
people, many of whom are already inclined to anti-extremist sentiment. Foreign Secretary David Miliband is focused on
exactly these types of questions, Shaw said.
The Personal Journey of the UK’s, First Muslim MP
--------------------------------------------- --------------
5. (C) On October 12, Pandith and Cohen met with newly-appointed Department for International Development (DFID)
Minister Shahid Malik. A Labour MP since 2005, when he and fellow Labourite Saddiq Khan were the first Muslim MPs ever
elected to the British Parliament, Malik is an active participant in the British Muslim dialogue. He told Pandith and
Cohen his own personal story of alienation, saying that even though he grew up in the UK he was so anti-British as a
young man that he rooted for the other side in any sporting match in which an England team played. At the age of 27,
however, he was appointed to the Commission for Race and Equality, and began to travel around the UK and listen to the
stories of other Muslims. This was a turning point in his life, he said, because he realized that many Muslims were
finding ways to celebrate both their Muslim and their British heritages simultaneously. In his public appearances, Malik
said, he emphasizes that anger over UK or U.S. foreign policy is not a valid reason for extremism. By the same token, he
said, it is important to separate out extremists from the vast majority of law-abiding Muslims. He praised Gordon
Brown’s handling of the thwarted July car bombings in London, noting the Brown had referred to the perpetrators as
“criminals,” without mentioning their religion.
6. (C) HMG needs to organize itself better on Muslim engagement, Malik admitted, and work to empower young people and
make sure their voices are heard. A lot of important work is being done on education, where the Mosques and Imams Board
(MINAB) has been set up to evaluate the credentials of imams to ensure that Muslim youth are being taught by qualified
teachers. Pandith suggested that the two governments work more closely together, wondering if Malik would be interested
in working with other elected Muslim officials around Europe who were keen to engage youth, act as role models, and
learn from each other. Malik was very keen to help make this happen; Pandith will follow up with him.
7. (C) Pandith also raised the critical need for a place in Europe where religiously curious youth could go to learn
more about Islam and specificially learn about it as a Muslim in Europe. Finding a “campus” where students could go to
learn about theology as well as religion, history, culture, and science was a necessary missing piece in Europe. Malik
agreed and said he would follow up with further thinking about this issue.
Female Muslim Role Models
-------------------------
8. (SBU) Pandith met Lady Sheikh, wife of Conservative Peer Lord Sheikh and herself a party activist, at her offices
adjacent to Westminster Abbey on October 11. Sheikh said Muslim communities are economically the most deprived in
Britain, and stressed the importance of educating and encouraging British Muslims to participate in democracy. She
expressed an interest in receiving American female Muslim visitors whom she could introduce to young Muslim women to
serve as role models. Pandith said the USG engages in outreach of this kind and told Sheikh the Embassy would keep her
request in mind when programming such exchanges.
Visit to Leicester
------------------
9. (SBU) On October 11, Pandith and Cohen traveled to Leicester, a large urban center about 70 minutes north of London
with a substantial ethic minority population. Leicester’s Muslim population is 11 percent, well above the overall UK
percentage of three percent. The visit was organized by Parvin Ali, founder and Chief of Executive of FATIMA Women’s
Network, which aims to address Muslim women’s issues both locally and nationally. Pandith and Cohen toured a number of
Leicester’s commingled but distinct ethnic neighborhoods, including Highfields (lower income, predominantly ethnic
Indian Gujarati, influenced religiously by the Wahhabi sect), Medway (Bangladeshi), Evington (mainly Muslim, middle
class), Stonygate (progressive Jewish neighborhood with recent influx of more affluent Muslims), and Oadby (more
prosperous and outside the city center). With over 200 mosques and madrasses in Leicester, Ali noted, the city has for
the first time put up Eid decorations on the streets in Muslim neighborhoods. Diwali decorations have been a tradition
for some time, Ali said, and the Diwali celebrations in Leicester are said to be the largest in Europe, and possibly the
largest outside of India.
10. (SBU) Leicester’s progressive Muslims may be politically “quieter” because of the comparatively huge orthodox
presence, Ali said. The large numbers of Gujarati immigrants who came to the UK had originally settled in East Africa,
and so brought with them a unique cultural memory of immigration strategies that had worked there. These immigrants knew
and recognized the importance of immediately building up community institutions, leading to the proliferation of mosques
and other community institutions. In addition, Leicester’s ethnic climate is unique academically - the University of
Leicester attracts numerous students from outside the area, even internationally, due to its academic prestige.
DeMontFord University, by contrast, can then absorb more local populations, leading to a high level of ethnic diversity
there.
11. (SBU) Members of the Leicestershire Constabulary’s Community Safety Bureau described to Pandith and Cohen how their
main focus is neighborhood policing and anti-terrorism, including racially and religiously-related crime. These programs
rely on non-police community actors, who advise, inform, and assist with police operations. The police force will inform
key community members prior to a raid, so that once police action is taken, comprehensive information on the situation
is made available immediately to the community, thus preventing rumors and a possible escalation of conflict. As a
result, there has been a significant level of community engagement with law enforcement. Constabulary officials
acknowledged that their success might be a useful information tool for others in the United States or UK. Pandith
expressed interest in passing information on their work to the Department of Homeland Security.
12. (SBU) Despite the many positive programs in Leicester, the isolation of some parts of the Muslim community was
striking. During a discussion with religious and community leaders at an Ahmadiyya mosque, Yaqub Khan, General Secretary
of a local organization called the Pakistan Association, insisted that he had to teach young people in Urdu. When
Pandith challenged him as to why he would use Urdu with children who were growing up with English as their first
language, Khan insisted that there were no good books on the Koran in English. At a local book store, texts in English
seemed designed to segregate Muslims from their wider community, urging women to cover themselves and remain in their
homes, playing up the differences between Islam and other religions, seeking to isolate Muslims from community, and
feeding hate of Jews to the young. Some Leicester Muslims seemed to have haphazardly thrown together different elements
of Islam, pairing an Arabian Gulf-style hijab with a Pakistani shalwar kameez, for example. Girls as young as four years
old were completely covered. Pandith commented afterward that this was the most conservative Islamic community she had
seen anywhere in Europe.
Muslim Youth
------------
13. (SBU) Pandith and Cohen attended three events specifically aimed at hearing the concerns of Muslim youth in London.
On October 9 they traveled to the East London neighborhood of Waltham Forest, a largely Muslim area that is plagued by
urban problems including drugs, youth gangs, violence (three young people were shot close to the meeting site that same
evening), and a significant radical Muslim presence. There they met with young Muslims, journalists, and community
leaders, including the Mayor of Waltham Forest and two Borough Councillors, under the auspices of the Active Change
Foundation (ACF), a recently-launched leadership training program targeted at Muslim youth in deprived areas of East
London. The ACF had just finished recruiting its first class of young men and women to participate in the ACF’s
inaugural leadership training course. During the meeting, the young people present repeated several times to Pandith and
Cohen that they want the skills and the opportunities to be able to represent their views to the media and to decision
makers. Although the journalists kept interjecting foreign policy issues such as Iraq and Israel/Palestine, the young
people stressed that while those issues might be of some concern, the real issues in their lives are jobs, education,
and empowerment. After a lively exchange, the ACF students presented a grant application for Embassy consideration, and
both sides pledged that the link forged that evening would be maintained.
14. (SBU) In contrast, Cohen met October 9 with a small group of more privileged Muslim youth in Kensington, a wealthy
London district. This meeting was held under the auspices of Kensington Borough Councillor Mushtaq Lasharie, himself a
British Muslim of Pakistani origin who is the first Muslim councillor for this predominantly non-Muslim area. The young
people at this meeting, all with higher education, said they wanted to see reconciliation themes conveyed through the
arts, especially music. Cohen urged them to turn their ideas into action.
15. (U) An Iftar sponsored by the Next Century Foundation and held in Pandith and Cohen’s honor October 10 drew such a
large number of participants that the group was split in two. Participants included representatives of the Muslim Public
Affairs Committee UK (MPAC), and the Leeds and Bradford Diasporas, the UK Turkish community, and Muslim community
leaders. Discussion centered on foreign policy issues including Kashmir, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, Armenia/Turkey,
and the spread of fundamentalist Islam. The wide variety of opinions expressed provided U.S. participants with a broad
cross-section of the positions of the different Muslim communities in Britain. Cohen noted a distinct difference between
the focus of these young people -- all in their mid-20s with graduate degrees -- as opposed to the group of more
impoverished youth in East London, where discussions focused on integration and opportunity issues inside of Britain.
This group focused entirely on foreign policy, and more specifically on U.S. foreign policy. Many of them had radical
views, including that “America had 9/11 coming to it.”
Bollywood
---------
16. (SBU) On October 10, Pandith and Cohen met with a cross section of the South Asian community working in film to
discuss the potential of working with the Indian film industry - “Bollywood” - on delivering an anti-terrorism message.
Participants included Director of Arts Versa Mohsin Abbas, Channel 4 TV Head of Multicultural Programming Farouk Dhondi,
Producer Director Mahmood Jamal, Locations Manager Amjad Khan, and singer/actress Humeira Akhter, who has strong links
with top Bollywood actors/actresses. A lively discussion produced a number of possible ideas, including developing ways
to promote existing anti-terrorist films, and to develop funds for similar productions. Once such an anti-extremist
genre is established, participants believed that major Bollywood figures would be willing to speak out on the issue.
Humaira Akhtar has already gotten back to Pandith on possible stars in Bollywood interested in such a project.
Community Groups
----------------
17. (U) The National Muslim Communities Development Network (MCDM) arose from a series of meetings held by various UK
Muslim communities, following the July 5, 2007 bombings in London. MCDM is now an independent structure intended to
bring attention to the continuing work of existing organizations focused on countering extremism. It works to help
develop and broaden emerging leadership within Muslim communities, bringing communities together through positive action
and raising the standard of debate on Islam in Britain today. In a meeting October 10, MCDM members including Director
Nadeem Kazmi, Muslim Media Network’s Munir Zamir, Waltham Forest Community Cohesion Office Munir Zamir, Citibank’s
Nazish Zaid, Khayall Theater’s Luqman Ali, Jang’s Ali Murtaza Shah, and Art Versa Mohsin Abbas, exchanged views with
Pandith and Cohen about the challenge of promoting a more sophisticated and nuanced approach to the debate on Islam in
British society. All parties committed to continue to explore ways to support MCDM programs, while the MCDM leaders
agreed to facilitate U.S. mission efforts to reach out to the British Muslim community. These leaders agreed to stay in
touch with Cohen and Pandith about their progress in creating a network of activists.
Media
-----
18. (SBU) Taking advantage of the wide range of Diaspora media available in London, Pandith spoke to a cross section of
the UK-based Muslim media during her visit, including Jang Daily News, the oldest Pakistani-community newspaper in the
UK with a European circulation of about 23,000 readers; Emel Magazine, a high-end weekly glossy with a print run of
20,000: the Muslim Weekly, whose website receives 34,000 hits a day; and Al Hayat, an influential Pan Arab daily with a
world-wide circulation of 160,000. Pandith stressed that the USG is interested in building a dialogue with European
Muslims from which both sides benefit: this gives the United States a chance to dispel myths that its policies are
anti-Islam, and Muslims gain a better understanding of how U.S. foreign policy is shaped. It also empowers Muslims to
discuss their own religion directly, rather than allowing the media to interpret for them through soundbites and other
filters. As this dialogue has improved, so has understanding, leading to cooperative efforts to develop and support
grass roots movements that combat the destructive impulses of extremists. Drawing on her own experience as a Muslim
American, Pandith sought to dispel some myths about Muslims in America, noting that they are free to honor their
religion as well as their ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The tension between allegiance to one’s country and to one’s
faith is mostly absent for American Muslims, she said, because America is a country of immigrants, many of whom
emigrated seeking religious freedom. She was careful to point out that the history of immigration and integration in the
United States has at times been painful, but stressed that as a country the United States has benefited greatly from the
experiences of the Civil Rights Movement.
19. (U) EUR Senior Advisor Pandith and S/P Member Cohen have cleared this message.
Visit London’s Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle