#  Council of Faiths is criticised 

##  He says that as a Muslim, he has spoken to young Muslim teenagers, living in Loughborough, who are becoming “disenchanted” with the Western world. 

Loughborough town centre

A FORMER chair of the Loughborough Council of Faiths, whose girlfriend died in the July 7 bombings, has criticised the group saying staging another annual pantomime is not enough in light of possible issues of young Muslims feeling disenchanted.

Loughborough Council of Faiths (LCoF) was formed in 1995 to create a forum in which different faith communities could meet and work in the interests of the whole community.

But former chairman Gous Ali, who is now a number of local people classed as a ‘Friend’ of the group, says he thinks it is “living in a time bubble”, and has criticised the group’s decision to stage another pantomime early next year.

Mr Ali, who lost his girlfriend, 37-year-old Neetu Jain, on the bus hit by a suicide bomber in Tavistock Square, London, in 2005, says the group should be focusing on more “hard-hitting” issues than its own version of Dick Whittington.

He says that as a Muslim, he has spoken to young Muslim teenagers, living in Loughborough, who are becoming “disenchanted” with the Western world, and has accused the group of having “run out of ideas” and wasting time and money.

In a letter to the Echo this week, he said: “Whilst the world is in deep crisis with catastrophic human destruction in Palestine, Syria and Iraq, the C of F are sending a signal that the faith members can come together to have another song and dance whilst human life is being taken...That stage needs to be the C of F putting on a show that reflects the key concerns that this community is facing such as workshops for the young on how to avoid becoming another Britain joining ISIS and yet another statistic.

“A dramatic hard hitting production of what terrorism is really all about would shock the community in understanding that it is ON our doorstep right now.”

Speaking to the Echo, he added: “I’m not opposed to doing the pantomime because I did the first one, but we can’t support our community by just saying let’s get together and do a little play and the problem will go away.

“Young Muslims are quite disenchanted with the society we live in and nobody’s reaching out to them saying we’re on your side. I’m concerned about young kids who are vulnerable who have nowhere to go because to them that looks like a glory mission.

“The first generation that came here back in the 60s, it’s their grandsons and granddaughters. They need a voice.”

In response to Mr Ali’s comments, Denise Hardy, chair of Loughborough Council of Faiths, said: “As current chair of Loughborough Council of Faiths I would like to thank Gous for his comments and say that we do understand his concerns.

“We hold regular discussion meetings on topical and potentially controversial themes which are open to the public: recently we discussed the conflict in Syria, and resolved that leaders of faiths locally would do all they could to dissuade young people from travelling there.

“Gous, as a Friend of the Council of Faiths, is of course entitled, and always welcome, to attend all our meetings to put his point of view and help us to be more active in addressing these issues.

“The purpose of the pantomimes is to involve as many as possible of our community, of all faiths and none, and of all ages, to work together in a fun way, and to spread the message that we are all one.”