Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic sect, which was behind the proposals to build Europe’s biggest mosque close to the London 2012 Olympics site, is to be evicted this week from the location, where it has been operating illegally a temporary mosque.
Newham Council in London is now considering compulsory purchase of the land after Tablighi Jamaat, whose strict interpretation of Islam has caused concern, failed to lodge a master-plan of its vision. There was strong opposition when the sect unveiled its plans for the site, south of the London 2012 Olympic Park, in 2007. More than 50,000 people petitioned the Government to prevent the development, dubbed the ‘mega-mosque’.
Local residents and Councillors for the Christian Peoples Alliance in Newham have welcomed news that the Government has finally conceded their demands for enforcement action against the extreme, separatist Islamic sect. Tablighi Jamaat has been unlawfully using the site close to the Olympics park, where they intend to build a mega-mosque for 12,000 worshippers.
(See a CCFON report for the background of the story)
But the Leader of the Opposition on Newham, CPA Leader Alan Craig, is warning that belated enforcement action is unlikely to deter the group from pressing ahead with their plans for the site, which they hope to become the biggest mosque in Europe:
‘Under electoral pressure, Labour are facing up to their responsibilities and doing the right thing. However, publicly, Labour politicians have bent over backwards to support plans for the mosque, knowing full well that the local community have long opposed it. For three long years Newham Council have allowed Tablighi Jamaat to use the site without any planning permission at all. Yet just weeks before local elections, Labour concede that the illegal development has to stop.
‘But it's unlikely that Tablighi Jamaat will walk off the site. I expect them to contest this at appeal and will go all the way to a public enquiry. This is not a victory for locals, including the Muslim community locally and nationally who don't want this project. This is just a set-back for this group, not the end of the story,’ said Mr Craig.
Councillor Craig added:
‘As local representatives in Canning Town, our campaign has always been reasoned, based on facts and evidence. We are not against the democratic rights of Muslims to mosques. We are just against this mosque and the separatist sect behind it.
‘Tablighi Jamaat is a global and ambitious organisation with a secretive, separatist nature. Its narrow medieval form of Deobandi Islam is deliberately hostile to the modern and open democratic societies of the West. Its frequent claims to be non-political and non-violent are at best a superficial cloak that hides a deeper agenda.’