London: British Home Office chiefs had to face a furious backlash after it emerged that they doled out a whopping 15 times more funding to a Muslim police support group in comparison to its Christian counterpart.
The Christian Police Association (CPA) received just GBP 15,000 over the past five years while the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) was paid GBP 90,000 in the past two years alone, the Daily Express reports.
According to figures released by British Home Secretary Alan Johnson, the CPA received an average of 3,000 a year, while the NAMP received GBP 45,000 a year, despite both organisations having around 2,000 members.
Don Axcell, executive director of the CPA, said: “The only money we received was GBP 10,000 in 2009. We have applied for more funding but have either been turned down or ignored.”
Christian groups slammed the move as “yet another sign of discrimination” against Christians in the UK.
“Christians are constantly marginalised and discriminated against by the Government, who are ignoring one of this country’s principal faiths,” Alan Craig, leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, said.
The money was awarded as general funding or for specific projects.
“We do not get it in a lump sum. It comes every quarter and we do not get the next instalment unless the Home Office is satisfied our accounts are in order,” NAMP president Zaheer Ahmed said.
The NAMP hit the headlines in January this year after it said the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy “stigmatised” Muslims.
ANI
