Residents opposing plans for a Muslim cemetery in their village hope a deal between Glasgow City Council and a farmer could resolve the row. People in Carmunnock are against the council's plan to allow Glasgow Central Mosque to create the 31-acre cemetery on the edge of their community.
Now the council is considering ending a long-standing tenancy on a 120-acre farm it owns and offering that site for the cemetery. The farmer would get the farmhouse, sheds and nine acres of land. Villagers and the Muslim community have indicated they will accept the compromise.
Protesters insist race is not a factor and they are concerned only about the loss of green belt land between Carmunnock and the rest of Glasgow.
Although the Muslim community will accept the new proposal, its members are still unhappy at the way they have been treated by villagers. Bashir Mann, convener of the Muslim Council of Scotland, said: "We are at the mercy of the council because it has the land and we will accept it. But if the council selects this plot then it is a victory for racism and a defeat for tolerance. When we said at a public meeting we would soon have nowhere to put our dead bodies someone said: why not Pakistan?'"
Tracey Crawford, spokeswoman for Carmunnock Community Council, said: "It does not impinge on the land around the village, which would preserve its green belt status, so it is an acceptable compromise." |