British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been forced to shelve plans to ban radical Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir after opposition from senior police officers and the Home Office, reports The Observer newspaper. Plans to ban the group have been dropped in the past few days following intense discussions between Number 10 and legal advisers.
Counter-terrorism sources said Blair had been warned that banning the group would serve only as a recruiting agent if the group appealed against the move. The decision is a significant personal blow to Blair, who announced his intention to outlaw it shortly after the London bombings on 7 July, 2005, as part of a 12-point strategy to counter Islamic extremism, says The Observer. On a trip to Pakistan last month, he is understood to have given personal assurances to President Gen Pervez Musharraf that the ban would go ahead. Musharraf made clear to him that outlawing the group - banned in Pakistan since 2003 - must be a priority for Britain. |