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By: Nabil Raza
LONDON: The British Ministry of Defence and Army chiefs have
apologized Thursday after Muslims voiced anger at the use of
model buildings that resemble mosques on a military firing range
and thus demanded an apology.
The army said it will take down mosque-like structures from the
firing range used to train soldiers for Afghanistan.
The army has been accused by a local Muslim group of reinforcing
negative perceptions by erecting the seven wooden structures at
the firing range in Catterick, North Yorkshire. Initially the
military defended them as generic structures used as valuable
training tools, but have now conceded to take them down.
BBC quoted an army spokesperson as saying, "It was never our
intention for these generic structures to look like or replicate
mosques, only to provide a setting similar to operational
environments in which our personnel could train.”
"We apologize for any offense that we may have caused. We are
working with representatives from the Muslim community and are
in the process of removing the offending structures."
The military also emphasized that the replica-buildings were not
used directly as targets.
Chief executive of the Bradford Council of Mosques Ishtiaq Ahmed
told the press that the structures were undoubtedly meant to
resemble mosques.
"The shape of the structures, the color of the dome—the green
dome—symbolizes an Islamic place of worship," he said. "Anyone
looking at it will think about mosques and Muslims and think
about them negatively."
"What angers me very much is that we are conditioning the young
British to say that mosques are a place where you are going to
find danger and a place to target," Ahmed said. "That is really
disturbing."
Source:
http://www.jafariyanews.com
Date: 2010/04/20
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