FIRST PERSON: SAY "NO MORE" TO THOSE WHO TRY TO DIVIDE

Suleman Nagdi has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Say "no more" to those who try to divide

Suleman Nagdi ways separation by faith or ethnic background must stop - for the good of us all

The message is simple and must be emphasised loud and clear. NO MORE. No more messages that seek to divide our communities. No more actions that promote hatred, division, prejudice and violence. No more attempts to isolate and scapegoat individuals and organisations for being “different”. No more attacks like the heinous murder of Lee Rigby, committed in cold blood in full horrific view of the passing public.

We must not view this incident as the concern of one community but as a concern for all as we work collectively to safeguard our communities against the evil of violent extremism. No more incidents of hate crime committed against innocent members of a community or faith group for the crimes perpetrated by others. No more racially-motivated murders of innocent elderly people, like 75-year-old grandfather Mohammed Saleem, who was murdered in cold blood in Birmingham. No more senseless attacks on religious places of worship, like the burning down of the Al-Rahmah Islamic centre in Muswell Hill, North London.
No more hurtful and unfounded attacks on our teachers and scholars who have worked for decades to educate communities to become upstanding, law-abiding citizens of Great Britain. No more compartmentalisation of crime where a crime committed by an individual or group from one faith or community is seen as worse than the same crime committed by others from a different faith or community. A crime is a crime, regardless of the identity of the criminal. Any individual or organisation that breaches the law of the land we all share must be dealt with by the full force of the law.

No more being duped by the dastardly motives of individuals and organisations intent on fostering hatred and misunderstanding. 

It is important we all recognise each other’s differences, heritage and rights and respect each other accordingly. We must work collectively against those seeking to disrupt community cohesion and also against those who break the law. No more of all of the above at a time when we are all faced with an economic crisis that is affecting millions of people and seems to continue with no end in sight and where so many, from a diverse range of ethnic and religious backgrounds, are suffering from hardship and poverty.

To see people becoming reliant on food banks is a tragic sight in 21st century Britain. No more should now mean no more. Let us all work together collectively and in harmony to rid our society of all acts of lawlessness in this most challenging of economic climates. 

Suleman Nagdi is a spokesman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations