Humanity First

Last week I was pleased to take a delegation from the charity Humanity First to Parliament to meet with international development minister, Gareth Thomas MP.

Humanity First is an international aid agency that provides aid and assistance to those in need irrespective of race, religion or politics from registered offices in 29 countries. HF has active projects in 35 countries across 6 continents, including a team working on disaster relief in Haiti.

I was approached by Humanity First because they wanted to raise the profile of their work and wished in particular to take their first hand experience of aid and development issues from across the globe to the Government. I was pleased to be able to help and, following his visit to Putney last year, was delighted when Gareth Thomas agreed to my request for a meeting. The meeting was very productive and looks likely to have opened a useful dialogue between the Government, DFID and a well regarded aid agency.

For more details about Humanity First, visit their website www.humanityfirst.org.uk

Pictured above, from left to right next to me are: Mansoor Shah, Chairman of Humanity First; development minister Gareth Thomas MP; Dr Rashid Shahnawaz, Medical Director; and Masood Lone, Director of Fundraising.

Yesterday's International Development meeting

The public meeting I held last night with International Development Minister Gareth Thomas MP was a big success. Despite the blustery weather dozens of Putney residents ventured out to listen and contribute on this issue which means a lot to me.

A cross section of the Putney community turned up to hear Gareth field a series of questions spanning the globe - from the piracy problems in Somalia; the Israel/Palestine conflict; Kosovo; resolving the Doha trade round in order to bring greater prosperity to developing nations - and, as Gareth freely admitted, the first ever question he has been asked about the Turks & Caicos islands!

In closing the meeting, I thanked Gareth for attending, Revd. Jim McKinney - the vicar of Holy Trinity church Roehampton for chairing and Mo Smith and Regenerate RISE for the kind use of their premises at The Platt Christian Centre in Felsham Road. It was also nice to see some of our Liberal Democrat friends in the audience - this was a public meeting open to all; they were most welcome, and they contributed to the discussion.

Here are some of the pictures from the meeting:

Petition in support of Ahmadi muslims

There is - and has been for many years - a large community of Ahmadi Muslims living in Southfields and West Hill. They have a Mosque in Gressenhall Road in Southfields, which boasts being London's first Mosque having been built in 1926.

The Ahmadiyya are a worldwide community with many members living in Pakistan. They are regularly the subject of persecution and, in an attempt to highlight this, members of their community have established a petition on the 10 Downing Street e-petition website. The terms of the petition are as follows:

"The Government of Pakistan is currently keen on moving towards becoming a truly democratic and secular state. It is keen on promoting religious tolerance and rights of minorities in order to remove religious extremism. Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have faced for decades hatred and persecution in Pakistan.

We call upon the Prime Minister and Foreign Office to actively and urgently engage in mediating an end to the persecution suffered by Ahmadi Muslims in order to save thousands of innocent people including many children and women."

I have added my signature to the e-petition and encourage others to do likewise. At the time of writing this over 1,400 people have signalled their support. You can sign the petition online at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Ahmadi/


More information about the Ahmadiyya community can be found at http://www.alislam.org/

Eid Mubarak!

Today is the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan. This is the major Eid festival of the Muslim calendar; there is another Eid celebration (Eid-al-Adha) on 8th December.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Eid Mubarak to all Putney's Muslim constituents!

For anyone wondering about the image I'm using opposite, it is an Arabesque carving on the Qul'at al-Hambra in Granada, Spain.

Peace for all, hatred for none

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a Peace symposium organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

The Ahmadiyya Muslims are a longstanding community in Southfields where they worship in Gressenhall Road at what was London's first mosque. The symposium was organised as a direct response to concerns that all muslims are being tarnished by the extremist activities of a small minority.

Entitled Peace for all, hatred for none, the event was held in the Baitul Futuh mosque in South Morden, which is Europe's largest mosque. Although I have been a guest at the mosque before, I took the opportunity to join one of the many tours being organised for guests and dignatories. Built on the site of an old Unigate milk dairy, this is a fabulous building, impressive in its design and detail.

The symposium was addressed by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya muslim community. The Khalifa, as he is titled, is a man of great distinction and learning, and it was a great honour for me to meet him afterwards.

Political figures from all parties attended, with addresses from Dominic Grieve MP for the Conservatives and Siobhain McDonagh, the popular local Labour MP for Mitcham & Morden (in whose constituency the mosque is located).

The message of the symposium - peace for all, hatred for none - is simple, and one surely we can all endorse.

Eid mubarak!

Today is the Muslim celebration of Eid ul-Adha, which commemorates Ibrahim's sacrifice of his son Ismael. The ceremony begins the day after pilgrims to Hajj return from their visit to Mount Arafat, and will last for four days.

There are two Eid festivals each year; the earlier one - Eid ul-Fitr - marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting in late September or October.

When I was a local councillor I represented one of the largest Muslim communities in London and built up strong links with local Muslim groups. Only a few days ago I had the pleasure of being invited to the Ahmaddiyya Muslim community mosque in South Morden. Putney - Southfields in particular - has a large community of Ahmadiyyas, centred on their mosque in Gressenhall Road, not far from West Hill.