MCB Demands Urgent Recall of Parliament to Discuss Lebanon

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has written to several senior ministers urging them to request from the Speaker an urgent recall of Parliament to discuss the grave crisis in Lebanon and the Middle East generally.

Secretary General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said, ‘With the situation in the Middle East deteriorating daily, the vast majority of people in Britain and many British Muslims find it unacceptable that our elected representatives are not meeting as a matter of urgency to debate how the Government should be contributing to stopping the bloodshed and carnage. The ramifications of current events in the Middle East are global and can have potential fall-out in terms of community relations in Britain. At times such as these it should not be left to the executive to determine Britain’s approach without scrutiny or debate.’

The MCB notes that Parliament has been recalled on a number of occasions in recent times to debate serious international crises that have direct implications for the UK, including the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the situation in Bosnia in 1995, and Iraq in 2002. ‘This is clearly just such a crisis and it would be incomprehensible to British Muslims if the Government did not judge it serious enough to justify Parliament resitting’, said Abdul Bari

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