LONDON: A UK government-commissioned report examining the rise of blasphemy extremism in Britain states the root cause is the influence of Pakistani anti-blasphemy political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) in UK through certain mosques, Islamic organisations and preachers.
The independent report “Understanding and Responding to Blasphemy Extremism in the UK” describes the emergence of a UK wing of TLP as “alarming”. It states govt should proscribe groups such as TLP, ban its non-British members entering the country, and investigate links between UK activists and bodies and anti-blasphemy extremists in Pakistan. It recommends that anti-blasphemy extremism be named as a category of extremism and naming and shaming of individuals accused of blasphemy be made a criminal offence.
Commissioned by UK Commission for Countering Extremism and published Monday, the report states that a number of influential UK anti-blasphemy activists have links to TLP-UK or have publicly praised TLP founder, Khadim Rizvi, who called for vigilante violence against accused blasphemers.
TLP, which evolved from a pro-Mumtaz Qadri protest, represents a form of Barelvi violent extremism centred on attacking and killing people deemed to have committed blasphemy against Islam.
The report, by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, warns that support in Britain for violent anti-blasphemy extremists in Pakistan has the potential to radicalise people and could lead to sectarian violence and terrorism in UK. “Anti-blasphemy activism in the UK is gaining momentum and showing signs of becoming increasingly radicalised. Responses to perceived acts of blasphemy in UK are more organised than ever,” the report states. “Anti-blasphemy activism now emanates mostly from Barelvi and Deobandi groups based in Pakistan which have gained a foothold in certain sections of British Islam over recent years,” it adds, cautioning that while growing in influence, they represent a small proportion of British Muslims.
The report was commissioned in response to three incidents: a Batley Grammar School teacher being forced into hiding after receiving death threats for showing students a caricature in 2021; protests being held outside a Cineworld branch in Birmingham objecting to its screening of “The Lady of Heaven” in 2022;and a group of Wakefield schoolboys receiving death threats after allegedly disrespecting a copy of the Quran in 2023.
The report found links with TLP supporters in all three cases.
The independent report “Understanding and Responding to Blasphemy Extremism in the UK” describes the emergence of a UK wing of TLP as “alarming”. It states govt should proscribe groups such as TLP, ban its non-British members entering the country, and investigate links between UK activists and bodies and anti-blasphemy extremists in Pakistan. It recommends that anti-blasphemy extremism be named as a category of extremism and naming and shaming of individuals accused of blasphemy be made a criminal offence.
Commissioned by UK Commission for Countering Extremism and published Monday, the report states that a number of influential UK anti-blasphemy activists have links to TLP-UK or have publicly praised TLP founder, Khadim Rizvi, who called for vigilante violence against accused blasphemers.
TLP, which evolved from a pro-Mumtaz Qadri protest, represents a form of Barelvi violent extremism centred on attacking and killing people deemed to have committed blasphemy against Islam.
The report, by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, warns that support in Britain for violent anti-blasphemy extremists in Pakistan has the potential to radicalise people and could lead to sectarian violence and terrorism in UK. “Anti-blasphemy activism in the UK is gaining momentum and showing signs of becoming increasingly radicalised. Responses to perceived acts of blasphemy in UK are more organised than ever,” the report states. “Anti-blasphemy activism now emanates mostly from Barelvi and Deobandi groups based in Pakistan which have gained a foothold in certain sections of British Islam over recent years,” it adds, cautioning that while growing in influence, they represent a small proportion of British Muslims.
The report was commissioned in response to three incidents: a Batley Grammar School teacher being forced into hiding after receiving death threats for showing students a caricature in 2021; protests being held outside a Cineworld branch in Birmingham objecting to its screening of “The Lady of Heaven” in 2022;and a group of Wakefield schoolboys receiving death threats after allegedly disrespecting a copy of the Quran in 2023.
The report found links with TLP supporters in all three cases.