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Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Hina Bokhari wrote a letter to London Mayor Sadiq Khan demanding urgent mandatory Islamophobia training across all Greater London Authority (GLA) institutions to combat anti-Muslim hatred within the institutions and the country.
The letter stated that no Islamophobia training was provided or scheduled yet for those working in the GLA despite the alarming increase in anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in London since last summer.
She opined that if the police officers and frontline workers cannot recognise Islamophobic abuse and anti-Muslim hatred, they cannot protect the people under threat and would fail to maintain the community’s trust.
“The Muslims in Britain live in legitimate fear. Whether walking down the street, engaging online, or simply existing as Muslims, we find ourselves bracing for abuse, harassment, or worse. This fear is not paranoia, it is rooted in an ugly reality,” the letter reads.
She also stated that the mob violence “targeting the asylum seeker, Muslims and anyone perceived to be an ‘other’” has worsened compared to the past and Britain continues to remain a “tinderbox” for these communities.
Hina Bokhari, a renowned educator in London and the first woman from an ethnic minority to lead a group on the Assembly, first raised the issue about the lack of Islamophobia training for officials working in GLA institutions in the Assembly last month.
While speaking to BBC, she highlighted that the institution has offered antisemitism training in the past, which she willingly took, but similar training has not been given on Islamophobia.
“I’m really pleased I did antisemitism training; learning what it’s like to have that lived experience of being Jewish was so helpful. We need that for Muslims, too,” she told BBC.
The letter also slightly criticised the Mayor for his failure to abide by his promise of combating Islamophobia and demanded more effective checks.
“I also want to acknowledge the immense pressure you face as Britain’s most prominent Muslim in public office. The Islamophobic attacks directed at you are not vile in themselves but symptomatic of the dangerous climate we are all navigating… but I also want to stress why this needs a sense of urgency and importance. As you know, the threat we face as Muslim Londoners is not abstract or hypothetical; it is immediate, real and growing,” the letter stated.
Ever since being elected to the office of London for the third time last year, Mayor Sadiq Khan has also been the subject of vicious Islamophobic abuse. Last month, The National News reported that the online racial abuse directed at the Mayor showed a massive increase, with the majority coming from the UK, India and the US respectively.
The report also highlighted that anti-Muslim hate crime in the UK hit a record high last year and Tell MAMA, the country’s most widely used reporting service, was forced to shut down due to the abrupt stoppage of its government funding.
