There’s just been an extremely interesting interview with Nazir Afzal, the former CPS prosecutor. He raised the point that when something like this happens the government and police then engage with the Muslim community through organisations like the Muslim Council of Britain.
He then went on to point out that these ‘community leaders’ are self-appointed, elderly, very socially conservative and basically totally unrepresentative of a Muslim population which is predominantly young, and female. He pointed out that dealing exclusively with these people, has not, and will not do anything to combat Islamist terrorism. The whole of the community needs to feel involved, and not just a tiny, unrepresentative and largely self-serving minority, who’s claim to represent the community is just accepted unquestionably by the authorities