London:Britain s most senior Muslim policeman launched a stinging attack today on the controversial head of London s police, against whom he has launched a discrimination claim.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said it was with "deep regret" that he was taking Sir Ian Blair of the Metropolitan Police to an employment tribunal and denied the move was linked to unhappiness at not being promoted.

"My current case is essentially to do with my treatment at the highest levels of the Met, in particular the discrimination I have been subjected to over a long period by the present Commissioner Sir Ian Blair," Ghaffur said.

He added it also covered treatment he had faced in his current role as security coordinator for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Sitting alongside his client at a news conference in London, Ghaffur s lawyer Shahrokh Mireskandari suggested that his case might not be an isolated one.

Asked whether he thought Blair or the Metropolitan Police was racist, Mireskandari told reporters: "When there s so (many) discrimination cases coming out by ethnic minorities, that speaks for itself...

"I think that there are even further allegations against Sir Ian at the moment which are probably just as serious, I think it s an accumulation of many allegations against him."

Alfred John, the chairman of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, who was also at the press conference, added that Ghaffur s claims were "not an isolated incident."

He said racism on both an institutional and individual level continued in the Metropolitan Police, also known as the Met.
Source : PTI