In today’s Daily Mail, Labour MP Shahid Malik expresses his concerns about “those Muslim leaders, many of whom, I am sorry to say, have lost the stomach for the fight. I am fed up with their constant sniping about the Government’s failure to follow up on all the recommendations of the Task Force, set up in the aftermath of the bombing .. it is easier for organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain to criticise the Government, the police or the media, rather than take a long hard look at our own communities. It is easier for them to encourage a victim culture that sees Islamophobia around every corner, rather than challenge within. But that is not leadership. It is abdication. That is why I almost wept when I saw the results of a poll showing that 13 per cent of British Muslims think that the July 7 terrorists should be regarded as ‘martyrs’. How sick and deluded can you get?”

Yes, thanks Shahid. That’s really helpful.

Update:  See Osama Saeed’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 8 July 2006