Do I hear the phrase "fifth column"?

The Mail reports that:

"A senior Muslim civil servant has launched an astonishing verbal onslaught against the Government over its response to Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified.

Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, now faces the sack over the remarks.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell – who is the patron of the society – acted immediately after being alerted to the comments by The Mail on Sunday.

Shortly after this newspaper contacted the Cabinet Office, a senior official disclosed that Mr Ali had been suspended for the remarks made on his personal internet blog.

In it he:

* Quotes an Islamic extremist who says it is his ‘obligation’ to kill British and American soldiers in Iraq;

* Accuses the Government of failing to condemn the ‘Zionist terrorist state of Israel’; and

* Attacks moderate British Muslims as ‘self-serving vultures, feeding on the dead flesh of the Palestinians’.

The Treasury lists Mr Ali’s title as ‘Business Partner’. He is understood to work as an IT administrator."

Here's a few extracts from his blog as reported by The Mail: "‘If I found the same soldier over the border in Jordan I wouldn’t touch him. In Iraq he is a fighter and an occupier, here he is not. This is my religion and I respect this as the main instruction in my religion for jihad.’

Last week Mr Ali wrote on the ‘Between the Lines’ site: ‘We are the Resistance. The Zionist terrorist state of Israel had only one aim, to destroy all semblance of resistance. We have yet to hear any condemnation from our government.’"


The Mail also reports the unsurprising news that:

"Until his internet outburst, Mr Ali was regarded as a moderate Muslim who could help tackle Islamic fanaticism in Britain.

As a former chairman of the influential Muslim Safety Forum and the current head of its counter-terrorism work-team, he works with the Home Office, senior police officers and the Security Services trying to combat extremism.

...

The proceeds of a recent Civil Service Islamic Society annual dinner were passed to Interpal, a Palestinian charity that is banned by the US government – although not in the United Kingdom – due to allegations of links to terrorism.

The dinner was attended by Labour MP Sadiq Khan and Peter Lewis, head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

As well as being a career civil servant, Mr Ali has been a community activist for more than 20 years.

He is also on the board of London CrimeStoppers and sits on the Metropolitan Police’s Strategic Stop & Search Committee and Police Use of Firearms Group.

Mr Ali is a member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel.

There are few people with a higher profile within the ‘moderate’ Muslim community. He is a trustee of the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. He chairs the Muslim Council of Britain’s membership committee and is a member of its central working committee.

He is also the vice-chairman of Canon Barnet School board of governors and chairman of the Saturday Islamic School board of governors.

He has a wide network of friends, making him an influential figure as the Government tries to ‘engage’ with radical Islamic groups to prevent them turning to terrorism.

Mr Ali’s friends on the Facebook website include former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg, Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain, and journalist and Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley."

A few queries come to mind, first what is the Civil Service Islamic Society and why does it exist? Is there a Catholic Civil Service Society, a Jewish Civil Service Society, a Hindu Civil Service Society? The Civil Service Society has the following: "Aims and Objectives"

* The Society will respect the non-political/non-partisan traditions of impartiality of the Civil Service
* The Society aims to foster and cultivate closer links with all faiths and build on common shared interfaith values
* Empowering people in their professional, personal and social fields
* To inform and influence policy to be more inclusive of Muslim needs
* To facilitate, encourage and engage with stakeholders and interested parties; and
* To provide guidance / advice to Senior Civil Service Management on religious issues that impact on the Muslim workforce."

and a Mission Statement of:

To raise awareness of Islam, influence areas of interests and empower its Muslim staff by acting as a representative body of mainstream Islamic affairs."

A second thought is if such a leading 'moderate' Muslim as Azad Ali has been freely expressing such thoughts on the internet, what are the thoughts of other (maybe less moderate) Muslims in the organisations that Azad Ali played such a leading role in?


Is the expression "fifth column" a tad tough? Maybe, but whilst such organisations as the Civil Service Islamic Society, the Muslim Safety Forum, the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel exist and employ people with views such as those expressed by Azad Ali then one does start to wonder.