LONDON, March 9: Compelled perhaps by what is seen among Muslims here as indiscriminate use of terrorism related legislation against them, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which claims to be the largest representative body of Muslims in Britain, has called for the review of the law “so that arrests are only made for good reason”.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the council said the latest figures released by the British home office regarding arrests, charges and convictions under terrorism legislation raised serious issues of concern and substantiated fears that the legislation was being used indiscriminately and disproportionately. “We are appalled that some Muslims are involved in terror plots. In this context the MCB has acknowledged that within the Muslim community in the United Kingdom there is a problem. The MCB reiterates that a Muslim cannot and must not engage in an act of violence that kills or has the potential to kill innocent people. Just as the Muslim community has the duty to articulate its revulsion for acts of terror, and against the perpetrators of such acts, the government has a responsibility to address the causes for such acts. The government can only discharge that responsibility if it holds a public inquiry to find the true reasons for such acts, as the MCB has repeatedly stated. We repeat that call,” said MCB Secretary-General Dr Mohammad Abdul Bari in the statement.

He said that while the MCB fully supported law-enforcement agencies in their difficult task to ensure public safety, the home office figures suggested that far too many arrests were carried out without due regard for the need for evidence to sustain the validity of arrests or the laying of formal charges.

Such behaviour, he said, was bound to cause substantial cracks in public confidence which was critical to the work of the police and other related agencies.

The statement asked for a review of the legislation if the law itself was the cause of so many unnecessary arrests.

”It is a shocking revelation that evidence to justify the laying of charges was found satisfactory in a very small proportion of those arrested and only three per cent of those were found guilty,” the statement observed.

It said that given the ‘media circus’ that attracted arrests carried out under terrorism legislation, it was now manifestly obvious that this legislation had blighted the lives of more than a thousand innocent individuals and their families.

Meanwhile, responding perhaps to a sudden increase in recent weeks in media stories alleging forced conversion of Hindu and Sikh girls to Islam, the MCB through another statement called upon all concerned to publicise their evidence of forced conversions and hand it to the police authorities immediately.

“These allegations are not new. What is deeply worrying, however, is the continuing absence of any actual substantive evidence to corroborate them. We believe it is high time that the plaintiffs supply their evidence to the police and relevant authorities,” said Dr Bari.

He said the MCB was prepared to cooperate with its Hindu and Sikh counterparts and the police to get to the root of the allegations and to ensure that the religious rights, freedom and dignity of all were respected. But in the absence of any hard evidence of forced conversions, he added, many British Muslims would suspect that it was an underhand attempt to smear them.