Commissioner lends his support to anti-hate conference

Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright gave a personal message of support to an annual peace conference organised by Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK calling for an end to violent extremism.

The Commissioner met the local representative of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community earlier this month, prior to the 11^th National Peace Symposium held in London on November 8.

Although he was unable to attend the peace conference personally, Sir Graham provided a message of support welcoming efforts to promote peace and harmony among all communities.

The message read: “As Police and Crime Commissioner I am often faced with dealing with the consequences of intolerance and hatred. I warmly welcome the Peace Conference as an opportunity to bring people together to create greater understanding and build community cohesion.”

The peace conference was led by a worldwide leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, The Caliph His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. During the event he urged leaders to exert their influence to stop Islamic militant groups from spreading their message of hate, stating that they do not reflect the true ‘peaceful values of Islam”. He also spoke about the increasing number of Muslim youths who were being globally recruited for an ‘horrific and barbaric” cause.

Commenting on the conference, Sir Graham said: “I wholeheartedly support the peace conference’s mission to promote an anti-hate message. We all have a responsibility to challenge hatred and an important way of achieving this is to increase confidence among our communities so they feel confident to speak out against hatred.”