London: Muslim leaders in Britain have urged the government to support 'sharia' or Islamic family law in the country to deter youths from joining extremist groups.
Syed Aziz Pasha, Secretary General of Union of Muslim Organisation of the UK and Ireland, said he was not seeking 'sharia' for criminal offences but that the community should be able to operate Islamic courts of marriage and family life.
"We are asking for Islamic law which covers marriage and family life. We are willing to co-operate but there should be a partnership," Pasha was quoted as saying in The Independent after a three-hour meeting of Muslim groups with Secretary for Communities Ruth Kelly and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Monday in Whitehall.
"There is a battle of hands and minds to be won within the Muslim community, working with the Muslim community to take on the terrorist and extremist elements that have sometimes found within it, not just in the Muslim community, but elsewhere as well," the daily quoted Kelly as saying.
But Kelly and Prescott made it clear that the threat of terrorism could not be used to change the UK's foreign policy.
Kelly said she did not accept that British foreign policy should be dictated by a small group of people, adding, "What I do accept is that there is a lot of anger and frustration out there in the community that needs to be properly expressed and vented through the democratic process."
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