After watching last week's Dispatches documentary on Channel 4 and reading articles in the Independent newspaper, I concluded that Muslims are oppressed and vulnerable in our British society.
Anti-semitism is recognised as evil and noxious. Why is Islamophobia not regarded as an evil ideology? It seems to me that Muslims should be given the same protection as other minorities. They should not be insulted or abused.

I was shocked to read the statement and the views of Britain's first Muslim minister, Mr Shahid Malik, MP for Dewsbury, Mirfield and Heckmondwike in the Independent on July 4. He had been the target of a string of racist incidents, including the fire bombing of his family car and an attempt to run him down in his home town of Burnley in 2002.

I think when he says that Muslims feel like the Jews of Europe in the past or that Muslims feel like aliens in their own country, it shows that Islamophobia is on the rise in this country.

The government, mainstream society and Muslims should work together to address this issue.

According to Peter Oborne on Dispatches, Muslims are mainly poor, they are alienated and isolated from mainstream society. They are relatively powerless. There are few Muslim MPs, ministers and peers in the House of Lords. Surveys show that Muslims have the highest rate of unemployment, the poorest health and fewest educational qualifications of any faith group in the kingdom. This means they are vulnerable and oppressed.

Since 9/11, and particularly 7/7, the BNP has started malicious, anti-Muslim propaganda. Before, they made anti-semitic statements, now they focus on terrorism and Islam and scare-stories of Britain becoming an Islamic state.

People who hate others harm themselves more than the people they hate. Let us all work together for anti-Islamophobia and a just society.

DR K H KHAMAS
Former president of the
Muslim Association of Batley, Dewsbury and Heckmondwike