By Chaminda Jayanetti

Professional nutjob Anjem Choudary got what he really wanted this morning – not a demonstration in Wootton Bassett or fewer Afghan civilian casualties, but 20 minutes of primetime radio real estate on BBC 5 Live.

Choudary is ringleader of Islam4UK, a ragtag rabble of wannabe mullahs which is the latest front for the Muslim fundamentalist group al-Muhajiroun, formerly led by hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Their latest wheeze is to hold a demonstration - ostensibly highlighting the Afghan casualties of the US-led occupation – in Wootton Bassett, the quiet Wiltshire town through which the hearses of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan pass on their way from RAF Lyneham with mourners lining the streets.

Now here’s what should happen, if only the ‘debate’ over British Islam were so much as touched by sanity. Choudary’s march wouldn’t be banned by police – that would be political correctness gone mad – and he’d be allowed to go ahead with his utterly unwanted protest. The march almost certainly wouldn’t happen – terrified at the humiliation of his demo drawing no more than his usual motley crew of 20-odd loudmouths, Choudary would cancel at the last moment on some spurious ground or other.

Even if the protest did happen, the people of Wootton Bassett would ignore it and the media would stay away. Islam4UK would do us all a favour and check themselves into the Priory Clinic or better still, the Luqman Institute. And in future, the British media would give proper coverage to the dire consequences for civilians that the Afghan war is having instead of the current criminal underreporting, for no other reason than that their viewers, listeners and readers deserve to be informed.

If only.

But in true Choudary style, his protest has drawn maximum publicity. The mass media is already salivating at yet another chance to put mad bearded blokes on the front page, part of a cosy little arrangement where Anjem gets publicity and the papers get sales. The far-right English Defence League is planning a counter-protest, and a Facebook group opposing the march has already got almost 200,000 members (as of 13:30 GMT on 4th January) whose views – let’s be honest – are of no interest or influence whatsoever for our Anjem.

The fact is that Anjem has missed the boat. Anyone looking to protest the civilian cost of the Afghan war can find a happy home in the Stop the War movement, which held a bona fide demonstration in the appropriate place – London, the seat of government – comprising members of every community and none last October. Joe Glenton, the British soldier who is refusing to serve in Afghanistan, spoke at the rally, which called for the withdrawal of troops. The 5-10,000-strong attendance was modest by anti-war standards, but utterly dwarfs anything Choudary can dream of, let alone muster.

Some groups need to be exposed. They need to have the glare of publicity shone upon their true nature to counter their faux-moderate styling and the membership it draws. The British National Party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the thinly-veiled Islamophobes of Stop Islamisation of Europe all hide their true agenda in order to grow. Islam4UK are different. Far from hiding his agenda, Anjem Choudary quite possibly raves about sharia law in his sleep. Their membership is minute. They have no real influence; their only role is to provoke offence and damage the reputation of British Muslims (who want nothing to do with their antics).

None of this would happen if people just ignored them. The Muslim Council of Britain’s Inayat Bunglawala doesn’t get everything right, but he was spot on with his comments on the absurd levels of media coverage given to Islam4UK’s miniscule protest against British soldiers in Luton last year.

As Bungle said at the time: “The success the protestors have had in attracting news coverage in the past and now only further encourages them to carry on and seek out additional new opportunities to inflame passions and stir up mischief. Would it not be a better strategy for our media not to give al-Muhajiroun airtime in order to frustrate their ignoble aims?”

Unfortunately, the impact of the Luton protest was far worse than Inayat predicted. A local mosque was firebombed two months later, in what was seen as a revenge attack. More followed over the course of last summer. Responsibility of course rests with the perpetrators – but it is hard to escape the suspicion that Anjem Choudary, like David Copeland before him, was quite happy to see ethno-religious violence on our streets.

Self-publicists wither and die without publicity. If Islam4UK break the law, prosecute them. If they are really building a membership, counter them. But as things stand, they are just a fringe freak show, manic street preachers with a message of hate. How did we end up holding the front page?