INDIVIDUALS from Ealing and Southall’s Muslim and Sikh communities met for the very first time last Friday to discuss ways to bring the two groups closer together.

The representatives formed the Muslim and Sikh Media Monitoring and Response Project, the first group of its kind in Britain.

The group has been created in the wake of reports of poor relations in some parts of the UK between Sikh and Muslim communities.

The Project will now meet every eight-weeks to have discussions around issues in the media that have been reported and which are not conducive to positive relations between the two communities.

This may include discussions on web and newspaper reports and blogs which are increasingly being used to corrode relations.

At the first meeting, residents talked about their religious identities and shared their experiences of life in the borough.

They discussed examples of cooperation and conflict, as well as sharing ideas for local events to promote inter-religious harmony.

The group aims to develop joint projects and events between the two communities.

The project’s organiser and director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal, said: “Relations between Muslims and Sikhs are portrayed very negatively in the media and in blogs on the internet.

“We hope that this project will encourage cooperation between the two communities in Ealing and Southall, and help people speak out against messages of hate and division.

“By sharing information, we can act quickly to resolve tensions, and hopefully we can use Ealing as an example to the rest of the country.”