LONDON, May 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A U.K. minister said that Muslim immigration to Britain and the backlash against it poses a greater danger than tensions arising from racial differences, reported a U.K. daily newspaper Sunday, May 12.

In remarks published by the Sunday Times, Peter Hain, the U.K. minister for Europe, criticized sections of the Muslim community for being "very isolationist" and warned that their behavior allowed extremists to exploit cultural divisions.

Hain said he was concerned by the rapid growth in asylum seekers arriving in Britain, many from Islamic countries, and the refusal of some to adopt British culture, reported the paper, adding that the problem, unless addressed, was "in the end going to create real difficulties".

“Speaking in the aftermath of the murder of Pim Fortuyn, the populist Dutch politician who defended his anti-immigration policies by claiming Muslims were regressive and illiberal, Hain said problems arising from religious differences were more dangerous than problems of racial differences,” the Times said.

Hain said that it is essential not to target Muslims as Fortuyn did, but to send a “clear message” to British Muslims that they are welcome to the U.K. and that they needed to integrate into the culture.

"Muslim immigrants can be very isolationist in their own behavior and their own customs. That in the end is going to create real difficulties and is likely to be ripe for exploitation by extremists, whether it is followers of Bin Laden on one hand or racists on the other. It takes two to integrate, and we need to work with the Muslim community."

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim parliament in Britain, asked the minister to withdraw his remarks, the paper said. “As a political activist, Peter Hain should know better. It shows how cut-off Labor ministers have become from the reality of life in Britain," the paper quoted him saying.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Britain's first Muslim peer, said he was sorry Hain had used the words he did.