We the Independent Members of the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred, condemn in the strongest possible terms the stabbing of leading Muslim consultant orthopedic surgeon, Dr Nasser Kurdy, outside a mosque in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. Dr Kurdy works tirelessly for the NHS, every day to save and improve lives.
We welcome Greater Manchester Police’s swift apprehension of the suspects behind the attack, and their treating of the attack as a ‘hate crime.’
We express our concern that the latest attack appears in the context of an upsurge in hate crimes targeted specifically at members of the British Muslim communities, which appears to be inspired by an emboldened far right. These attacks of course appear to be accelerating in the context of the series of successive ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks which have taken place across the UK since the beginning of this year.
Members of different British ethnic and religious communities have in this last year come under sustained attack from extremists on both sides. We therefore call on all communities to forge closer bonds of solidarity within and between themselves to deter continued extremist violence and hatred.
All extremists, whether of far-right or ISIS inspired, seek to use and justify violence to turn our different communities against each other. We urge all communities to become alert to this nefarious strategy and to work together to counter and delegitimize those individuals and groups who justify such abhorrent violence.
We will continue to work with government to ensure that it continues to monitor the rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes as a key priority, and to review existing security measures in place with respect to mosques around the country.
Signed by
Akeela Ahmed
Iman Abou Atta OBE
Iftikhar Awan
Imran Awan
Qari Muhammad Asim MBE
Hayyan Bhabha
Iqbal Bhana OBE DL
Shermeen Butt
Nick Lowles MBE
Riaz Ravat
Karim Sacoor