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One would have though that 32 years after the passage of the Race Relations Act, some of the most basic – and repulsive – forms of racial discrimination in Britain would have been things of the past. Not quite so. This week, the ugly issue of race reared its head once again with the news that the UK's most senior Muslim police officer is in the final stages of preparing a racial discrimination case against Scotland Yard. It was reported that Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who is of Pakistani origin although he migrated to this country from Uganda, East 
Africa, has had legal documents drawn up accusing colleagues in the Metropolitan Police of a catalogue of victimisation, bullying and harassment. Some of the allegations are said to refer directly to the actions of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair – no relative of Tony – and Police Authority chairman Len Duvall. One senior colleague said relations between Mr Ghaffur and Sir Ian were so bad that the two men will not speak to each other. Mr Ghaffur, who is responsible for security at the 2012 Olympics, has employed a senior barrister to draw up legal papers. He is now in the final stages of considering whether to formally submit them to the force and commence an employment tribunal. Mr Ghaffur also claimed he was discriminated against when his contract was extended for only one year, unlike other senior colleagues. The senior officer believes this undermined his role in preparations for the Olympic sporting extravaganza.
If it does come to the point that Britain’s senior most police officer, and one who has an unblemished record, has to go to an employment tribunal for his grievances to be heard, it will be a severe blow to race relations, particularly relations between the mainstream community and Muslims,
which, Heaven knows, could do
without such setbacks. |
Ali Dizaei, president of the National Black Police Association, said he was aware of Mr Ghaffur's concerns. He said: “It will be a sad day for the police service if one of the UK's most respected senior ethnic minority police officers is forced to challenge his treatment in court. The negative effect of such an action on recruitment and on trust and confidence in policing, in particular with minority ethnic communities, will be significant and cannot be under-estimated.''
The news came as Sir Ian was accused of excluding black and Asian detectives in favour of a “golden circle'' of white officers. A couple of days earlier, Commander Shabir Hussain, 45, also of Pakistani origin, claimed he was passed over for promotion by Sir Ian, who used his influence to earmark others. Speaking at a London employment tribunal, Commander Hussain said: “My face did not fit because I am not white.'' The senior officer claimed he was rejected an unprecedented four times for promotion to Deputy Assistant Commissioner while others succeeded.
Earlier this month, Sergeant Gurpal Virdi, a Sikh detective, was awarded £70,400 in damages. A tribunal ruled that he had been passed over for promotion because he had brought race discrimination claims against the force.
The claims threaten to engulf the Metropolitan Police in its biggest race row since the Stephen Lawrence murder. Lawrence, a black teenager was stabbed to death near his home in Eltham, south east London, by a gang of racist thugs in 1993. No-one has ever been convicted of his murder. The McPherson inquiry into the investigation of the death labelled the force “institutionally racist'' in 1999, but this, it turned out, is an airy fairy charge and a means of avoiding pinning the blame on anyone specific. The Crown Prosecution Service and other governmental institutions have been labelled as “institutionally racist” which has been taken to mean that it is the institution, not any individuals, who are to blame. The concept that institutions are not made in heaven and are what the individuals who lead them make of them, seems to have been conveniently ignored.
Mr Ghaffur is the most high-profile Muslim officer in the UK. He is greatly respected and those who have had the privilege of knowing him, are in no doubt as to what qualities that respect is based on. He began his career with Greater Manchester Police and has served with the National Crime Squad and the Leicestershire, Lancashire and Metropolitan PoliceÊ forces. In London he has worked as Westminster borough commander, as the head of the force's performance and standards department and, most recently, specialist crime. Mr Ghaffur once told a story about how on his first day in uniform a Manchester desk sergeant refused to let him inside a police station because he could not believe he was an officer. The irony of this uncomfortable memory from 34 years ago will not escape the thoughtful, reserved and academically-minded officer. He and many others may be entitled to feel that over this long period of time, basic attitudes have not changed all that much. All that has happened is that people have become more clever at camouflaging these attitudes and the means of expressing them have become infinitely more subtle to escape the wording of the law.
It is not the first time Mr Ghaffur has spoken out against the police. Two years ago he warned that British Muslims were being discriminated against by anti-terror legislation. He said many police stop-and-searches were based more on physical appearance than on specific intelligence. There are not many British Muslims who do not have a friend or relative in their circle who has not been stopped and searched just because he happened to have a beard, wore a prayer cap and was driving out late at night. The stifling of Mr Ghaffur’s reservations to 42-day detention for terror suspects was believed to be one of the issues at the heart of his claim. When Mr Ghaffur joined the force in 1974, aged 16, as a constable with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the tough district of Salford, he was one of only two officers from an ethnic minority community in a force of some 6,000 officers. There is much greater representation of Asians in the force today and post 9/11, attempts have been made by all the police forces in the UK to increase Muslim recruitment if only as the most effective means of combating religious extremism.
In 2006 Mr Ghaffur had called for an independent judicial inquiry into the radicalisation of young Muslims in the wake of the July 7 London bombings the previous year. He said Islamophobia in Western society had created a “generation of angry young people'' who were vulnerable to extremism. Mr Ghaffur later revealed he had received racist hate mail after voicing his concerns.
If it does come to the point that Britain’s senior most police officer, and one who has an unblemished record, has to go to an employment tribunal for his grievances to be heard, it will be a severe blow to race relations, particularly relations between the mainstream community and Muslims, which, Heaven knows, could do without such setbacks. It would also mean that Muslims who had any ideas of joining the police will be re-examing such ideas very seriously and that would be another gaping hole in the much tattered
fabric of British race relations.
