Australian Muslims agree to challenge extremists
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-23 16:01

Australia's key Muslim leaders promised on Tuesday to directly challenge extremists who encourage violence and terrorism in the name of Islam after a summit with Prime Minister John Howard, reported Reuters.

The 13 Islamic leaders also agreed to examine the training of Australia's imams, who mostly come from overseas, to ensure they better reflect Australian values.

"There is no place for hatred, there is no place for terrorism, there is no place for violence in this country," Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali told reporters.

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard (L) speaks next to President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils Ameer Ali after a meeting with Muslim leaders to discuss anti-terror measures and curbing extremist views in Australia in Canberra's Parliament House August 23, 2005. The meeting agreed on a set of principals which will guide ongoing talks between the government and Australia's Islamic community. [Reuters]

Howard called the summit with the nation's Islamic leaders after four young British Muslims in London killed 52 people on July 7 in suicide bomb attacks on subway trains and a bus.

The prime minister said the government wanted the Islamic community to do more to stamp out extremism and crack down on those in Australia who promoted violence in the name of their religion.

"There are a number of people in our community who are a danger to all of us, not many but some, and we have an obligation to try and identify them, to neutralise them, to prevent them from influencing others, particularly the young," Howard said.

Australia, a close ally of the United States, is reviewing its anti-terror laws following the London bombings and is considering laws to deport radical Muslim clerics who support or encourage suicide bombings against western targets.

Howard said the meeting had discussed ways to make sure Islamic schools teach "appropriate denunciations and repudiation of terrorism", and the training and vetting of imams to make sure they reflect Australian values.

"Obviously we are not getting into the business of telling any religion how it should conduct itself. But there is a concern, and it is shared in the Islamic community, that there is not a sufficient Australian perspective felt and conveyed by some of the imams," he said.

Australia, a nation of 20 million people, has about 280,000 Muslims who live mainly in Sydney and Melbourne.

The country has never suffered a major terror attack on home soil, but authorities said earlier this month that 60 suspected Islamic extremists were under surveillance.

In 2004, British-born Australian Jack Roche was jailed for nine years for conspiring to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra. Two other Australians, a former Qantas baggage handler and a Pakistan-born architect, are awaiting trial on terror-related charges.

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