Prime Minister John Howard called yesterday for the help of Muslim leaders in uncovering extremists cells promoting hatred in Australia while assuring the Islamic community they were not under attack. Howard said that he would be asking Muslim leaders to help "bust open" radical cells as part of their assistance in the fight against terror at a summit to be held in the next few weeks.
But the conservative Australian leader said that making Muslims feel like they were under attack would not only be counterproductive, "it would be quite unjust because the overwhelming majority of them share the abhorrence that we do about violence and terrorism."
"[But] they do have responsibilities and we have to guard against this country going down the path of other societies where you have closed cells, where you have people who are the product of being able to operate with a degree of immunity within their own communities, and that really is something that we have to bust open," he said.
Howard said that he felt some members of Britain's Muslim community were aware of the planning of the terror attacks which took place in London's transport system on July 7 and killed more than 50 people.
"What happened in Britain was that you had British-born people [involved in the attacks]," he said.
"Their communities must have known something of it. I find it hard to accept that they didn't, and the reality is that there was no human intelligence suggesting otherwise."
The meeting with Muslim leaders will take place ahead of next month's emergency anti-terror summit between state and federal leaders which will discuss tightening Australia's laws on inciting terrorism and deporting extremists. Howard, who has said he will consider the tougher laws introduced in Britain following the July 7 attacks, said he would not "make up a new criminal code on the run."
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said that it was very difficult to deport Australian passport-holders unless they had lied on their citizenship applications. But Howard said there was a mutual obligation on people once they became Australian residents to accept the country's values.
"You receive the benefits of living in Australia and in return you have an obligation to embrace and imbibe the values and attitudes unconditionally... of this society," Howard said."I think that's a fair balance and most Australians would see it in those terms."
Howard, who was meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London when the July 7 attacks occurred, is reportedly not committed to imitating Britain's new anti-terror laws.
But Australia's security agencies are working with the British officials to produce a list of suspected extremists who would face deportation, the Sunday Telegraph said.
"The list would include overseas-born extremist Islamic clerics, people inciting terrorism on websites, and those known to have trained in Pakistan or Iraq," the paper said without naming sources.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese