In an Oldham mosque Mohammed Shafiq, a worker for an educational foundation, recently stood before the devotees and made a heartfelt plea. Young Muslims, he said, should confront violent extremism in the heart of their community.

This battle, according to Shafiq, starts with an acknowledgment. “We have to recognise that within the Muslim community there is a small number of people who are hellbent on committing mass murder,” he said. “9/11 was not a Jewish conspiracy and Tony Blair was not behind the July 7 attacks. There are people in our community who want to kill innocent people.”

It is a stark message and Shafiq, who works for the Ramadhan Foundation, which aims to improve the education of young Muslims, admits that genuine change in the Muslim community could take a long time.

The government has tried to encourage this reform. After September 11 and the Madrid bombings, ministers developed a “hearts and minds” strategy to reach out to disaffected Muslim youths who might be potential recruits for Al-Qaeda. The project, Operation Contest, was given added impetus after July 7.

A taskforce involving more than 1,000 Muslims was created to draw up proposals for tackling extremism. It was intended that senior figures in the Muslim community would combat some of the more radical elements of Islam and their conspiracy theories.

To date the results have been less than encouraging. A survey published last week showed that nearly a quarter of British Muslims felt that the July 7 attacks could be justified because of the government’s support for the war on terror.

The most hardline views were held by Muslims under the age of 24, who have been educated in Britain. A third of those surveyed said they would rather live under sharia (Islamic law) because they so disapproved of British culture.

Last week’s arrests will also raise new concerns about the radicalisation of Muslim youth in this country.

What has gone wrong? Members of the taskforce say that the government has lacked the political will to bring about real reform. They warned last month that of 64 recommendations made by the taskforce, only three had been implemented. The government denies this and claims that 27 recommendations have been acted on.

“They walked us up to the top of the hill and now they are walking us down again,” said Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, when he spoke last month of his disillusionment with the government’s work to tackle extremism. “What tangible progress has been made after all these months?” Lord Ahmed, who heads one of the taskforce’s working groups, said: “The Muslim communities are crying out for help. The government shouldn’t start the blame game because we know that the blame also lies with them for not pursuing some of the regeneration policies that we were asking for.

“Muslims are told by politicians that they need to integrate, but the government has to make it possible by giving communities the resources they need.”

The government says it has worked to improve conditions in Muslim communities and to forge links with young people. It cites as an example the “roadshow” of moderate Muslim scholars which toured the country and was seen by 30,000 young people.

However, Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, the self-styled British group, said the roadshow and other initiatives were on the “periphery” of the Muslim community and failed to change many entrenched attitudes. He claims the government’s work since July 7 has been undermined by its own foreign policy.

“Many in the British Muslim community are convinced that the war on terror is a war against Islam and Muslims,” Siddiqui said. Such attitudes, he added, meant a “field day” for the fundamentalists.

He also said more should have been done to tackle high unemployment among Muslim youth, but criticised Muslim leaders as well: “There are still many in the Muslim community who are in a state of denial that there is a problem. We have to say we have made mistakes and we have to change from within.”

According to many senior Muslims, it is often the elders who run the mosques who have resisted change. Ahmed said his proposals for a radical reform of the mosques were blocked by Muslim leaders.

Ruth Kelly, secretary of state for communities and local government, is to meet Muslim leaders tomorrow to discuss such issues.

Rob Beckley, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers on communities and counter-terrorism, said officers were trying to encourage people within the Muslim community to raise concerns about young people who were being radicalised.

Beckley is optimistic in the long term. “Of course there is anxiety and I don’t underestimate the seriousness of the threat, but there are signs of change,” he said.

“There is a new generation of leaders in the Muslim community who are taking their places and they are starting to make a difference.”

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