(Hyphen) A new body that hopes to lobby the government on issues affecting Muslims across areas including education, healthcare and the criminal justice system is set to launch next month — and insists it won’t seek to rival the Muslim Council of Britain.
The British Muslim Network (BMN) will officially go live in London on 25 February with a series of roundtables inviting participants from across England to share their expertise on the challenges facing Muslims across a variety of sectors.
The network, which will initially cover England only, has been set up by a core group of about 20 people, according to co-founder Akeela Ahmed — who previously chaired the government’s Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group. Other members include Imam Asim Hafiz, an adviser at the Ministry of Defence; Syima Aslam, the CEO of Bradford Literature Festival; and Julie Siddiqi, founder of Together We Thrive, a Muslim women’s network.
