The British government announced Thursday that it was shelving controversial proposals to give police new powers to close mosques after widespread opposition from Muslims, other religions and groups. ”The Government has decided not to introduce a new power in the legislation currently going before Parliament,” Home Secretary Charles Clarke said. ”However, we will keep the situation under close review,” he added in a statement obtained by IRNA. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) issued a strong rebuttal against the proposals put forward in October to include the new powers in the government`s latest terrorism bill. ”We do not in the circumstances accept the logic or basis of the suggestion that places of worship are sources of extremism because to do so we would need to accept that worship or faith in itself is a form of extremism,” the MCB said. The Muslim News warned that the proposal to allow powers for a mosque closure, irrespective of whether a person was successfully prosecuted for failure to comply with an order, was a ”kind of collective punishment.” ”Provoking an issue with mosques is totally unwarranted and would send out further signals that the war against terrorism is against Islam,” the monthly said in its October editorial. The Church of England described the plans as ”disproportionate” and challenged the government over why it was trying to single out places of worship in its campaign to root out extremism following July`s bombings in London. Clarke`s announcement of dropping the proposal was seen as only one concession among a whole raft of measures the government is adopting following July`s London bombings, in which 56 people were killed and hundreds injured. Muslim leaders, including those selected by ministers to chair working groups to advise the government, have criticized many of the extreme measures being adopted. In their report, the working groups blamed British foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, as being a ”key contributory factor” for the bombing.”