UK govt review: UKIM shocked over extremism links claims

Report claims charity group has deep ties with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan’s charitable wing UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) has expressed dismay over a UK government report claiming that UKIM, amongst a host of other Muslim charities, was a promoter of extremist views and had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UK government review into the Muslim Brotherhood found that the group had operated through a number of front charities and organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Bangladesh and their affiliated organisations in the UK.

The UKIM, established here in 1962, has routinely raised funds in the UK and has done a number of development projects in Pakistan.

The British government review into Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood concluded that membership of or links to the political group should be considered a possible indicator of extremism but stopped short of recommending that it should be banned.

The review into the organisation was first commissioned in 2014 by PM David Cameron with a remit to examine whether the group put British national security at risk.

“Parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. It has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism,” Cameron said in a statement.

The UKIM said it considered the government review to be a “totally unfair representation of the work of the UKIM and other community organisations. “We reject entirely the review’s suggestion under point 35 that we promote extremist views.”


Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2015.