UK Muslims radicalisation, Khalistan movement are emerging terror threats

Among the new terrorist dangers to Britain are pro-Khalistan extremism and the radicalization of British Muslims due to rhetoric coming from extremist clerics in Pakistan over blasphemy and Kashmir.
These were included among the current and foreseeable terror threats facing the UK, along with ecoterrorism, disruptive activities by the extreme Left, and open support for Hamas in the UK, according to an independent review of “Prevent,” the UK government-led programme to prevent British people from becoming involved in terrorism, conducted by Commissioner for Public Appointments William Shawcross and published on Wednesday.
“Prevent” is one of the four pillars of the UK government’s counterterrorism strategy.

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The report warns that pro-Khalistan extremism is “developing among the UK’s Sikh communities” and that “Prevent” should be cautious of this.

“A false narrative is disseminated by the tiny number of pro-Khalistan groups operating in the UK that the government is colluding with its counterpart in India to persecute Sikhs. Such groups’ narratives glorify violence carried out by the pro-Khalistan movement in India. While the current threat is low, praise for violence overseas and a simultaneous belief in a state-led campaign of repression domestically is a potentially toxic combination for the future,” the report claims.

The counter-terrorism report further notes that “it is common for narratives around blasphemy in the UK to have a connection back to hardline Pakistani clerics and the Khatme Nubuwwat movement, which has a well-established presence in Pakistan.”

The report also said that “similar concerns over how rhetoric from Pakistan is impacting UK Muslim communities when it comes to inflaming anti-India sentiment, particularly around the subject of Kashmir.”
There is an element of crossover between those who seek to impose limits around blasphemy with those who voice incendiary rhetoric on Kashmir,” Shawcross writes. “I have seen evidence of UK extremist groups, as well as a Pakistani cleric with a UK following, calling for the use of violence in Kashmir. I have also seen evidence demonstrating that flashpoints related to Kashmir leads to a significant surge in interest from UK Islamists.”

He highlighted his worry about the harm that “disrespecting Islam” charges pose to free expression. He explained how, on one such occasion, a teacher at a grammar school in Batley was had to go into hiding.
This could be relevant to “Prevent” because there have been cases of people convicted in the UK of terrorism offences who had previously fought in Kashmir. This includes those who later joined al-Qa’ida, the report cautions.

According to the research, Islamist terrorism continues to pose the biggest threat to the UK, but “Prevent” has a “culture of hesitancy attacking Islamism.”

Source: timesnownews