CAIRO, March 4 (IslamOnline.net) – British Muslims angrily reacted after the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has backed a minister’s controversial comments that Muslims should accept that they would be targeted by police under anti-terrorism laws.

“The comments are astounding and not helpful in the least, as they could increase anti-Muslim sentiments in the country,” Inayat Bunglawala, the spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, told IslamOnline.net on Friday, March 4. The council is the largest group representing the country's 1.6 million-strong Muslim community.

Bunglawala was speaking after Sir Ian Blair said he supported Home Office Minister Hazel Blears’ statements this week that the Muslim community will be targeted by police because the new laws were geared to deal with “Islamic extremists”.

Asked if he agreed with Blears' comments, Sir Ian was quoted by The Independent in the Friday edition as saying:

“I do actually: I think Hazel's right to say it. The terrorism regulations around stop and search do not require individual suspicion, they are much more akin to searches around an airport.”

Bunglawala dismissed the position if Sir Ian, noting the statements could be meant as pressures and maneuvering for the Parliament to adopt a fiercely-contested anti-terrorism bill that allows house arrest and other control measures of suspects.

The House of the Lords is holding a debate on the controversial bill, which was met with massive opposition from MPs and Muslim groups, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted on pushing it through.

Sir Ian expressed support for the assessment of British Prime Minister Tony Blair that there were “hundreds” of people in Britain plotting to commit terrorist acts.

He was speaking one day after British police arrested three people, including a 41-year-old Muslim, in connection with investigations into international terrorism.

And a few days after British government began extradition hearings on Wednesday for a man wanted in the United States for using Web sites to raise money for militant attacks.

Bunglawala admitted that some members of the Muslim community want to attack the country, but he said the threat is exaggerated.

Asked on Blears’ claims the terrorist threat is most likely to come from “those people associated with an extreme form of Islam, or who are falsely hiding behind Islam”, Bunglawala said:

“We do not deny the threat comes from some members of the community who want to attack Britain, but the threat is exaggerated.”

In the aftermath of 9/11, British police detained 700 people under anti-terrorism laws, only 17 of whom were convicted.

“Only three of the 17 convicts were Muslims accused of credit card fraud, while seven others of them are blamed for plotting attacks in Northern Ireland,” said Bunglawala.

British Muslim activists have made remarkable efforts to distance themselves form acts of terrorist, let alone combating extremism in the community.

The MCB issued a statement last year calling on mosque imams and community members to be vigilant against “any mischievous or criminal” elements and report them to police.

It also appealed to community members “to liaise with the local police and give them the fullest cooperation in dealing with any criminal activity including terrorist threat”.