CAIRO, August 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Britain must do more to create jobs for British Muslims and increase funding to tackle widespread poverty and poor health, the root causes for fueling extremism, the British Trades Union said, according to a press report Wednesday, August 24.

"Social deprivation and poverty is no excuse for criminality but it can be a breeding ground for poisonous beliefs of all kinds," Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"Building a tolerant liberal society where we are all free to express the different sides that make up anyone's identity will be that much harder when some groups suffer from such extreme levels of deprivation and poverty."

A study by the Trades Union Congress showed that 69% of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, who together make up 60% of the Muslim minority in Britain, live in poverty.

The study, 'Poverty, Exclusion and British people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Origin', also showed that the rate of employment among the Pakistani and Bangladeshis hit 43%, compared with 76% of white Britons.

The TUC General Secretary warned, according to the paper, that greater social inclusion was being jeopardized by high levels of poverty that risked potentially fuelling extremist beliefs.

"And even if there had been no bomb attacks, a civilized country should not tolerate such high levels of poverty and deprivation," Barber told The Guardian.

The study of the TUC, which represents 70 trade unions in Britain, was based on independent research and official data, including from the Office of National Statistics and 2001 Census.

The Muslim minority in Britain has been the focus of increased attention since the July 7 terrorist attacks, which were carried out by four British Muslims, three of Pakistani origin, leaving 56 people killed and more than 700 injured.

"Trade unions were quick to call for support for Muslim communities, who were as horrified by these attacks as anyone else, but have been subject to racist attacks and far-right abuse," Barber said.

Nearly half a million Muslims contemplated leaving Britain after the terrorist attacks, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published on July 26.

Wilf Sullivan, the TUC's race equality officer, also told the daily the British government needed to ensure that job creation programs focused more on areas of high unemployment, including those with high populations of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.

Since the London attacks, commentators and media have questioned how well parts of the Muslim minority have integrated into British society.

British Muslim leaders have also said unemployment and lack of education contributed to alienation.

The Muslim minority in Britain has vehemently condemned the terrorist attacks.

London attacks had also drawn condemnation from scholars, officials and individuals from across the Muslim as running counter to the teachings of Islam.