Top south Asian cop warns of growth of online radicalisation during Covid
By Barnie Choudhury
Britain’s top south Asian police officer has warned that the pandemic could be creating more home-grown terrorists.
Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu was speaking at the Ramniklal Solanki Pioneers event, organised by the Asian Media Group and the University of Southampton’s India Centre.
“I call it a perfect storm,” said Basu, the national police lead for counter terrorism.
“You've effectively got the potential for mass unemployment, austerity and financial hardship for the foreseeable future, potentially. So, there is that potential creating that poverty, and that’s one of the causal factors.”
He also made clear his concern about the growth of right wing and Islamist propaganda online.
“[We have] lots of extremist material, lots of radical material, lots of content that we're trying to remove that's illegal,” he revealed.
“There's more of that online than ever before, particularly in the right-wing space, where they've become very adept at using social media. They've learned from Islamic State and were the first people to really industrialise it.
“That combination when people have been locked in their houses, with nothing to do but stare at their screens, that's the perfect storm, and I don't think we will see the consequences of that for years to come. But we will see it.”
Foiled terror attacks
Since March 2017, the police and security services have foiled 28 terror plots, eight of which were attempted by right-wing extremists.
“The growth of extremism, the growth of nationalism, the potential is still a high threat, because there's still a high tempo of investigations in the Islamist sphere with al-Qaeda and Islamic State (Daesh) potentially reforming and becoming more powerful in other parts of the world, and therefore more able to project their threat,” said Basu.
“In the old days [my job] would have been countering cells of people who were well financed, well directed, well trained overseas, and projecting back in towards western Europe and other countries.
“Now we're dealing with people who live here, born here, raised here, who have been radicalised online. The biggest conversation we're having is how do we stop that happening?”
Policing norm
While the police have been dealing with terror threats, forces have told Eastern Eye that they have been tackling other criminal offences.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors, the Met’s lead for tackling violence said, “Londoners can be assured that our focus remains firmly on reducing violent crime in all its forms, protecting the public and safeguarding all of our communities.
“I am proud of the achievements of our officers and staff in bearing down on violent crime despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“Even when faced with the risk of catching the virus themselves, our officers continued to be out there on the streets.”
In February, the Met demonstrated their determination to police violent crime.
Eastern Eye was given access to officers from the violent crime taskforce who used vehicle number plate recognition technology to disrupt the gangs.
The Met say since lockdown so called county line gangs are not using public transport as much to traffick drugs or modern-day slaves.
Over five days they arrested 154 suspects with links to county line gangs and violent crime in an initiative called Operation Pandilla.
Covid effect?
But the pandemic may have affected policing other criminal activities.
In Leicestershire figures, obtained under freedom of information, show that police arrested fewer white, Asian and black suspects for drug related offences in 2020 compared to the previous 12 months.
Our analysis shows that during 2018-19, arrests of white, Asian and black people went up by 48 per cent, while they dropped by almost three per cent during 2020.
For south Asians, arrests went down by 13 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019.
“There have been changes during Covid, but I can assure you that our business as usual has continued,” said Kerry Smith, the assistant chief constable leading Leicestershire Police’s response to the pandemic.
“It is a credit to officers and staff that they have continued to perform throughout this whole period.
“It has at times been relentless, officers dealing with normal crime but also putting in extra hours to support the Covid policing effort.”
Four Es
All forces have operated the “four Es” strategy - engage, explain, encourage and enforce – to tackle Covid breaches.
“This means that it has been our first priority to engage with the public and to explain to them what the rules are,” said Smith.
“We then would actively encourage the public to comply or disperse, and only as a last resort would we enforce, which would mean giving out Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs).
“During this last lockdown we have given out more FPNs than before. It is our priority to help keep people safe and in doing so support the NHS.”
The maximum fine is £10,000, and police issued 320 of these for offences including “unlicensed music events, protests and private parties”.
The chair of the police chiefs, Martin Hewitt said, “The number of fines processed have gone down again in the past four weeks, which is to be expected as restrictions are lifted.
“As the weather has improved and restrictions have eased, we have seen several large gatherings in outdoor spaces, most commonly in parks.
“I understand that people are excited to see their friends and family again after such a long time, but it really is vital people continue to follow the rules at each stage of the government’s roadmap or we risk undermining our efforts up to now.”
Police attacked
Eastern Eye can reveal that some people have threatened and assaulted the police using Covid as their weapon of choice.
“There have been 97 occasions where somebody has mentioned or threatened COVID then coughed, and 48 where they've spat at an officer,” said DAC Jane Connors.
While Leicestershire Police said they were not aware of any officer “testing positive for covid from an assault at work”, ACC Smith said, “We have certainly seen the number of assaults on officers rising this year which is unacceptable.”
Black and Asian communities have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, according to data, creating concern among some officers.
The National Black Police Association said police chiefs moved quickly to address his members’ fears, but the approach had been mixed.
“We did have some members say that they had line managers complete the risk assessment for them,” said Andy George, president of the NBPA.
“It moved away from what we were trying to achieve, by having an officer centred approach, and it was concerning.
“We raised these issues in January, and thankfully there was another memo sent out, but again it’s quite sporadic. Some are not understanding the issue or impact on our members during the pandemic.”
Expect “explosion” of domestic abuse
Police have also had to tackle a growth in domestic violence during lockdown.
Refuge, a national charity which helps survivors of domestic violence, said that during April 2020 and February 2021, almost 13,200 people called its helpline, an average rise of 61 per cent month-on-month.
It is the same for south Asian charities.
The Freedom Charity, which fights against child abuse, said the pandemic has “tough”. It is only surviving because of the goodwill of its volunteers and trustees, who have taken no money for the past year, Aneeta Prem told Eastern Eye.
She warned of “an explosion of cases” once restrictions were completely lifted and children could return to school unhindered.
“The pandemic has shown that young people are far more vulnerable,” she said. “Girls being held at home, having no release from their families.
“When the restrictions are lifted, they will be taken abroad and forced to marry. These are real fears.
“There isn’t a specialist refuse these girls can go, there needs to be specialist help, and there’s nothing like that in this country right now. There are going to be an explosion of cases when people can go out and find help.”
Prem warned that girls are “internet poor” because they are not allowed to use computers. She said that children as young as 12 were contacting the charity using its app.
“I’ve had a 14-year-old who was restricted by the amount of food she could have because she was a girl. Why are we having to give her food, her brother said? She’s a girl. Let’s get her married, let’s get her out of here, she’s a burden.
“This is what’s happening, in the UK, today, and we can’t ignore it.”
Huge desperation
Karma Nirvana, which supports those forced into marriage and honour-based violence, has shared its figures for calls to its national helpline exclusively with Eastern Eye.
They show the number of calls has gone up dramatically during lockdown, up 76 per cent.
“There’s huge desperation out there, and that’s shown in the emotional support we’re providing has increased massively,” said Natasha Rattu, Karma Nirvana’s chief executive.
“People are requiting that support just to get through lockdown, just to feel they have that network because it doesn’t exist in places it did pre-lockdown.
“We’ve got to remember that schools and services have been closed, and so they’re been relying on helplines like ours.”
But worryingly, when we analysed the number of cases the charity could handle compared to the calls made to the helpline, we found a steep fall during lockdown.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, Karma Nirvana was able to deal with 82 per cent of calls. Despite increasing its case load, the charity could only take on 30 per cent of calls to its helpline.
“We’re going to dealing with the consequences of lockdown for the next decade,” said Rattu.
“We know there’s this wall of silence and difficulty to get help. It taken victims of honour-based violence to seek help, so I imagine we won’t hear about what’s been happening this year potentially for years to come.”
New law
But post-pandemic, could there be a solution?
Parliament has just passed (29 April) a new act to help protect those suffering domestic abuse.
The Home Office said the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 would give police new powers to protect victims.
“Supporting victims of this cruel crime and bringing offenders to justice remains a priority for the police and we have improved our response to domestic abuse across the country,” said the national police lead, Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe.
“Police attend more than one million incidents of domestic abuse each year, yet we know many victims will still not come forward.”
Farah Nazeer, chief executive of the grass roots federation Women’s Aid, said she thought the new law “could not be more needed, following the impact of the pandemic on survivors and our national network of domestic abuse services”.
She continued, “We urge the law to address the significant gaps it leaves and protect every survivor, ensuring that all women and children are able to access support regardless of immigration status, and for us to see guaranteed long-term funding for specialist women’s domestic abuse services, including refuge services around the country that are saving lives every day.”
THE London mayor, Sadiq Khan (right), was knighted by King Charles at Buckingham Palace in the capital on Tuesday (10).
Sir Sadiq, who was re-elected for a historic third term in May 2024, went down on one knee during the traditional ceremony, as the King dubbed him with a sword. The mayor was recognised in the monarch’s New Year honours list for his political and public service.
He has become the first person to receive this honour while serving in the role.
Speaking after the ceremony, Sir Sadiq said: “I am immensely proud to receive a knighthood from His Majesty the King.
“Growing up on a council estate in Tooting, I never could have imagined that I would one day receive this great honour while serving as the mayor of London. It is a truly humbling moment for myself and my family, and one that I hope inspires others to believe in the incredible opportunities that our great capital offers. I will forever be honoured to serve the city that I love and will continue to do all I can to build a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone.”
He revealed that he joked with the King about which of them was a bigger workaholic, adding that the monarch “was very chuffed that he managed to personally give me this honour”.
Sir Sadiq described the ceremony as “a great day for the family”, with his mother in attendance and emotional since the honour was announced.
“Obviously, from my background, being the son of immigrants, my parents coming here from Pakistan, it’s a big deal for us,” he said.
Before becoming mayor, Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer and served as Labour MP for Tooting from 2005.
He held various ministerial positions, including minister of state for transport, becoming the first Muslim to attend cabinet.
Dame Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, also received her damehood during the ceremony for political and public service.
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COMMUNITY leaders and MPs have called for a review into what they said were “unduly lenient” sentences given to two teenagers convicted of killing 80-year-old Bhim Kohli.
The attorney-general has been asked to review the sentences handed down to a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl – convicted of the manslaughter of Kohli in Franklin Park last September – given the racially aggravated nature of the crime.
Questions have been raised about how youth sentencing guidelines were applied in practice, despite the guidelines themselves being considered appropriate.
The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody for manslaughter at Leicester crown court last Thursday (5), while the girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order and made subject to a sixmonth curfew.
Mid Leicestershire MP Peter Bedford and Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, have written to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) calling for the sentences to be looked at.
Kohli’s daughter, Susan, criticised the sentence outside the court last week. She said, “The two teenagers made a choice. The boy chose to attack my dad and the girl chose to film him being attacked. They knew what they were doing.
“I feel angry and disappointed that the sentences they both received do not reflect the severity of the crime they committed. I understand the judge has guidelines, but they have taken a life and as a result, our lives have been changed forever.”
Costa said he was “surprised” the judge “did not apply a statutory uplift for the racially aggravated factors in this case”.
“While it is right that youth sentencing guidelines evolve with our moral and social understanding, the troubling case of Kohli is not necessarily with the guidelines themselves, but with how they have been applied in practice,” he told Eastern Eye.
He said sentencing must serve justice for victims’ families and should offer young offenders a genuine path to rehabilitation, adding that the two were not mutually exclusive.
The court heard Kohli endured seven and-a-half minutes of sustained violence in the park. Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said the boy subjected Kohli to racial abuse before attacking him and striking him across the face with a flip-flop. The female defendant filmed the assault on her mobile phone while laughing and encouraging the violence.
Kohli suffered three broken ribs and multiple other fractures during the attack. However, the prosecution said the cause of death was a spinal cord injury resulting from a fractured spine.
Peter Bedford
Bedford said he will continue to fight for justice for the Kohli family. He added, “Kohli was a well-known and respected man in the local community, and was brutally attacked while walking his dog near his home.
“The announcement of the sentences that have been handed down to the murderers of Kholi is absolutely shocking. They are unduly lenient and I am utterly shocked and appalled by this news.
“The two young people who carried out these attacks will, in a few years, be able to continue with their lives, while the family of Mr Kholi serve a life sentence of pain and grief.”
He pledged to use all available powers to prevent the perpetrators from committing similar crimes.
“I will continue to explore all the options that are available to my office as the local MP, to ensure that these perpetrators who took a life, are never in a position to commit such brutal crimes again.”
Costa warned that if sentences appear lenient, public confidence in the justice system was undermined, which was why transparency in sentencing was crucial.
“To serve as a deterrent, sentences need to be timely, certain, and be perceived as serious by those at risk of offending. Deterrence alone will not reverse the rise of youth violence and antisocial behaviour. The wider system must also respond. For example, filming or encouraging violent acts, which occurred in Kohli’s case, amplify trauma, glorify cruelty, and desensitise those viewing the recording to the violence. Stronger penalties for this behaviour should be considered,” he added.
Justice Mark Turner, who handed down the sentences in a televised hearing from Leicester crown court, described the attack on Kohli as “wicked”.
Alberto Costa
In April, a jury convicted the boy, referred to as D1, for punching and kicking Kohli, and the girl, dubbed D2, for filming and encouraging the attack. The jury heard the boy was the principal offender as his actions resulted in Kohli’s death.
The evidence of the girl’s involvement showed she was part of the attack, in encouraging it and filming it, but there was not enough evidence to show she could have foreseen the terrible outcome of the boy’s violent conduct.
Experts and community leaders said that prevention begins long before sentencing, through support for youth services, early intervention, mentoring, and coordinated work to steer young people away from harm and towards opportunity.
Jaffer Kapasi OBE, community leader and consul general of Uganda, described the attack as shocking to both the victim’s family and society. “The violent attack and murder of an 80-year-old pensioner is shocking not only to the members of his family but also to our society as a whole,” Kapasi told Eastern Eye.
He called for a comprehensive review of the entire process from crime to sentencing, warning that the community living in the surrounding area would remain in a frightened state. Kapasi highlighted the need to examine both reported and unreported antisocial behaviour incidents.
“We certainly need to look at the subject of antisocial behaviour reported and not reported. Many questions and no immediate answer,” he said.
Kapasi argued that the government should intervene with additional focused resources, emphasising that education from a younger age should contribute towards reducing antisocial behaviour.
Dal Babu, former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan police, said, “I was extremely surprised that the horrific death of Kohli was not treated as racially motivated, despite the ‘P word’ being used during the vicious attack. I think the sentence of seven years for the boy and a three-year rehabilitation order for the girl will be challenged.”
It was evidence retrieved from the girl’s phone that showed harrowing footage of the attack on Kohli, which was presented to the jury. The boy admitted to witnesses that he had assaulted the elderly man and also wrote a letter to a social worker, admitting what he had done.
The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] presented CCTV evidence of their actions before and after the attack, including audio of them joking about it to friends.
Barnie Choudhury, Eastern Eye’s editor-at-large, told BBC Radio Five Live last week, “It’s not just the British Asian community, it’s also the white communities in Leicester who are in shock and horror on several fronts following the sentencing.
“First of all, that an 80-year-old pensioner was kicked to death and was attacked brutally, and it was filmed for seven and-a-half minutes while he was being racially abused.”
He added, “The second thing is the comments of the judge that it wasn’t a racially motivated attack. The police ignored comments and complaints and did not investigate fully enough or take seriously enough the antisocial behaviour that was happening in that very park two weeks previously.”
Choudhury said even the victims’ commissioner, Baroness Newlove, said she was concerned by antisocial behaviour.
“Nothing changes because the police have no resources to actually tackle antisocial behaviour through no fault of their own,” he told the programme.
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Muslims pray during Eid al-Adha at an open-air Eidgah in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on June 7, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
RELIGIOUS extremists in Pakistan stopped members of the Ahmadi community from offering Eid prayers in at least seven cities, the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said on Tuesday.
In Punjab, police arrested two Ahmadis and booked three others for trying to perform the ritual animal sacrifice during Eid-ul-Azha. According to JAP, members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) also forced two Ahmadis to renounce their faith.
In recent months, groups led by the TLP have been stopping Ahmadis from offering Friday prayers at their worship places. Ahead of Eid, police summoned several Ahmadis and made them sign written statements agreeing not to offer Eid prayers or perform sacrifices according to their beliefs.
The JAP said Eid prayers were blocked in Khushab, Mirpur Khas, Lodhran, Bhakkar, Rajanpur, Umerkot, Larkana and Karachi. It claimed religious extremists, with support from local administrations, prevented Ahmadis from praying even inside their own worship places.
In Lahore, TLP activists surrounded the community’s oldest worship place in Ghari Shahu on Eid day and demanded police action. The police responded by sealing the site.
In Nazimabad, Karachi, the JAP said that two members, Irfan-ul-Haq and his son, were taken to a police station along with their sacrificial animal by TLP activists. "Fearing for their safety, they recited the Islamic declaration of faith. The TLP activists celebrated by garlanding them and claiming their conversion to Islam," it said.
Punjab police confirmed that two Ahmadis were arrested and three others booked under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for attempting to perform Islamic rituals. They said Ahmadis are not allowed to observe such rituals under the law.
The JAP called this treatment discriminatory, unconstitutional and illegal. "Under Article 20 of Pakistan's Constitution, every citizen is guaranteed freedom of religion. However, Ahmadis are routinely denied this right along with other fundamental rights," it said.
The group said such incidents indicate a wider pattern of discrimination against the Ahmadi community. It added that forced conversions are a serious human rights violation and raise questions about religious freedom in Pakistan.
The JAP said the community remains highly vulnerable to attacks by extremist groups like the TLP, which it claimed operate with impunity.
In early May, a senior Ahmadi doctor was allegedly shot dead in Punjab. On May 15, around 100 graves belonging to Ahmadis were desecrated in the same province.
Though Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s parliament declared them non-Muslims in 1974. A 1984 ordinance later prohibited them from calling themselves Muslims or practising aspects of Islam. This includes building minarets or domes on mosques, or publicly displaying Quranic verses.
However, the Lahore High Court has ruled that places of worship built before the 1984 ordinance are legal and should not be altered or demolished.
(With inputs from agencies)
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'This is a symbol and celebration of rising India,' Modi said of the Chenab Bridge, which connects two mountains. (Photo: X/@narendramodi)
INDIA is committed to efforts to develop Jammu and Kashmir, prime minister Narendra Modi said last Friday (6), accusing Pakistan of seeking to destroy livelihoods there with April's deadly attack on tourists.
He was speaking on his first visit to the Himalayan region since Islamist attackers targeted Hindu tourists in the popular Pahalgam area, killing 26 men, triggering hostilities between the countries that ended in a ceasefire last month.
"The atmosphere of development that emerged in Jammu and Kashmir will not be hindered by the attack ... I will not let development stop here," Modi said in remarks after inaugurating infrastructure projects.
Key among these was a $5-billion rail link between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of India, which has been more than 40 years in the making and features the world's highest railway arch bridge.
Others include highways, city roads and a new medical college.
"Pakistan will never forget... its shameful loss," the prime minister told crowds.
"Friends, today's event is a grand festival of India's unity and firm resolve," Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic.
"This is a symbol and celebration of rising India," he said of the Chenab Bridge, which connects two mountains.
New Delhi calls the Chenab span the "world's highest railway arch bridge", sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river.
While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.
Modi said the railway was "an extraordinary feat of architecture" that "will improve connectivity" by providing the first rail link from the Indian plains up to mountainous Kashmir.
With 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, the new railway runs for 272 km (169 miles) and connects Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla.
It is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, to around three hours.
The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.
Trains run in the Kashmir valley, but the new link is its first to the wider Indian railway network. Apart from boosting the regional economy, it is expected to help revive tourism, which plummeted after the April attack.
Pakistan's foreign ministry, in a statement, said India's "claims of development... ring hollow against the backdrop of an unprecedented military presence, suppression of fundamental freedoms, arbitrary arrests, and a concerted effort to alter the region's demography".
Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
"We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom," said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organised the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s.
"In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India's forced rule."
More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire during last month's conflict.
Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict – mainly in shelling along the heavily militarised de facto border with Pakistan, known as the Line of Control.
"Their troubles are our troubles," Modi said.
Pakistan aimed to disrupt the livelihoods of the poor in Kashmir, who rely heavily on tourism, Modi said, adding that he would face down any obstacle to regional development.
Last month, Islamabad said a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute was essential to ensure lasting peace in the region, known for its snow-topped mountains, scenic lakes, lush meadows, and tulip gardens.
The region drew more than three million visitors last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Chief adviser to the government of Bangladesh Professor Muhammed Yunus speaks during a live interview at Chatham House on June 11, 2025 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
BANGLADESH interim leader Muhammad Yunus said on Wednesday (11) that there was "no way" he wanted to continue in power after elections he has announced for April, the first since a mass uprising overthrew the government.
The South Asian nation of around 180 million people has been in political turmoil since a student-led revolt ousted then prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending her 15-year rule.
Speaking in London, Yunus, asked if he himself was seeking any political post, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said there was "no way", waving his hands in the air for emphasis.
"I think none of our cabinet members would like to do that, not only me", he said.
Yunus was answering questions after speaking at London's foreign policy thinktank Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
He also said he wanted to unveil a "big package" of proposals next month that he dubbed a "July Charter" -- one year on since the students launched the demonstrations that toppled Hasina.
"We want to say goodbye to the old Bangladesh and create a new Bangladesh", Yunus said.
The charter is being drafted by a government "consensus commission", talking to political parties to "find that which are the recommendations they will accept", he added.
Yunus has long said elections will be held before June 2026, but says the more time the interim administration had to enact reforms, the better.
But after political parties jostling for power repeatedly demanded he fix a timetable, he said earlier this month that elections would be held in April 2026.
"Our job is to make sure that the transition is managed well, and that people are happy when we hand over power to the elected government," he said.
"So we want to make sure that the election is right, that is a very critical factor for us. If the election is wrong, this thing will never be solved again".
Yunus is also expected to meet in London with Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is widely seen as likely to sweep the elections.
Rahman, 59, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has lived in London since 2008 after being sentenced in absentia under Hasina -- convictions since quashed.
He is widely expected to return to Dhaka to lead the party in polls.