A UK Muslim organization is offended again, this time, because a Hindu organization released a statement not wanting their Hindu and Indian identities to be conflated with the Muslim identity of the Manchester Airport Pakistani-origin attackers.
On the 28th of July, Insight UK, a Hindu organization, posted a statement on X where they objected to the use of the term “Asian” to describe the Muslim attackers, saying that it creates confusion and conflates the Hindu and Indian identity with that of the attackers’ Muslim identity.
Insight UK wrote:
INSIGHT UK strongly objects to the use of the term “Asian” to describe the individuals involved in the recent Manchester airport incident. The individuals in question were neither Indian nor Hindu. The conflation of British Hindus and Indians with the broader “Asian” identity often leads to a misrepresentation of Indian and Hindu values and behaviors, which are fundamentally peaceful. The British Hindu and Indian communities are highly educated, well-integrated, and law-abiding. They are among the highest taxpayers and contributors in the UK across all ethnic minorities. The British Hindu and Indian communities make significant contributions to business, healthcare, technology, innovation, and finance, driving economic growth and societal progress in the UK. As law-abiding citizens, we stand by the police and commend their decisive response to the senseless attack on their officers. We urge all journalists to avoid using the term “Asian” to ensure accurate and respectful representation.
Insight UK essentially wrote that the media was using the term “Asian” to describe the two perpetrators who attacked police officers at the Manchester Airport. The accused are of Pakistani origin. The use of the term “Asian” essentially broad brushes all Indians and Hindus under the same umbrella as Muslim identities from the sub-continent, in this case, Pakistani, leading to confusion and misinterpretation. For the broader Western public, the use of the term Asian leaves no room for differentiation between Hindus and Indians, and Muslims from Pakistan. When violent behaviors are then displayed by the Muslim community, especially by those of Pakistani descent, the Western community at large gets prejudiced against Hindus and Indians as well, owing to the broad brush of identities as “Asian” by the media. Insight UK legitimately urged journalists to use an accurate representation of identities, given that the Hindu diaspora is law-abiding and amongst the highest taxpayers in the UK.
This was a perfectly reasonable demand given that it was indeed not Hindus who assaulted the police officers in Manchester Airport. It is also not the Hindu diaspora that gets into repeated trouble with law enforcement for such violent behavior. For example, as of 2022, at 4% population in the UK, Muslims made up more than 18% of the prison population. In fact, in the grooming gang issue in the UK, where non-Muslim girls are sexually abused and harassed, the perpetrators are mostly Muslims of Pakistani descent. It is, therefore, not unreasonable for the Hindus and Indians of the UK to not want their identities conflated with the Muslims of the UK, especially those of Pakistani descent.
There is additional context to the statement by Insight UK. Pakistan has been the mothership of Islamic terrorism against India for decades. Pakistan has for decades followed the policy of death by a thousand cuts when it comes to India and harbors special animosity towards Hindus. In Pakistan, the usual narrative is that someday, they would turn India into an Islamic nation – from Dar-ul-Harb to Dar-Ul-Islam. The Islamic terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba has, for example, framed the prophecy of Ghazwa-e-Hind, as one in which India is defeated and united with Pakistan, unifying the Indian subcontinent under Muslim rule.
With such animosity towards India and Hindus, it is reasonable for Insight UK to take umbrage to Indian/Hindu identities being conflated with that of the Muslim/Pakistani identity under the broad brush umbrella of “Asian”.
This reasonable demand, however, did not sit well with Muslim organizations.
Muslim Association of Britain (UK) took to X to condemn the statement by Insight UK.
MAB tweeted, “This is absolutely disgusting by @INSIGHTUK2. Rather than bringing communities together at such a difficult time they seem intent at sowing division”.
MAB was offended that the Hindu diaspora of the UK did not want to suffer for the crimes of the Muslim community, especially those where the perpetrators are of Pakistani origin.
Interstingly, while MAB is talking about shared identities and “bringing communities together” after the Manchester Airport assault by Pakistani-origin accused, during the Leicester violence in 2022, where Hindus were mercilessly attacked by Muslims, they were busy blaming the Hindus and allying with Islamists like Majid Freeman.
In 2022, MAB organized a conversation about the Leicester violence where they blamed Hindus after Muslims had gone on a rampage. One of the people who was a part of the conversation was Majid Freeman – the Muslim man who had spearheaded the violence against Hindus in Leicester and also, has now been booked for terrorism.
MAB has also spread utter lies and hate against Hindus when they came under attack from the Muslim mob in Leicester.
Majid Freeman, who MAB quotes to spread hate against Hindus, has recently been booked in the UK for terrorism. Majid Freeman was charged with inciting terrorism and lending support to the proscribed terrorist organization, Hamas. Freeman was arrested on July 9th last year on suspicion of counter-terrorism offenses, including encouraging acts of terrorism.
Majid Freeman is a local Leicester Muslim “activist” who is known to harbor problematic and extremist Islamic views. Throughout the Leicester violence, Majid was at the forefront of spreading fake news that instigated violence against Hindus.
It was on 28 August 2022 that a scuffle broke out after India defeated Pakistan in a T20 match after the Indian flag was desecrated. After the scuffle, Hindus had even calmed the situation down and tended to the individual who had snatched and desecrated the Indian flag. Majid Freeman, however, had a different story to tell.
On the 30th of August, after the Leicester police got influenced by the Muslim organizations and lied about “death to Muslims” being chanted by Hindus (they later clarified their investigation found no such chants were heard), Majid took to Twitter to rabble-rouse against Hindus.
On the 30th itself, he lied about the Quran being desecrated in Leicester, insinuating that the Hindus had committed this act. However, OpIndia tried to verify these claims.
There was another incident that was cited by Majid Freeman to claim that Hindus had been attacking Muslims. He claimed that a mob of 30+ Hindus had chased and assaulted a Muslim teenager. When confirmed, it turned out that while the Muslim organizations had claimed this, no video evidence was submitted to the police and no investigation was underway, OpIndia was told by Insight UK.
On the 4th of September, when the violence against Hindus started with mobs hunting them down in their houses and on the streets, Majid Freeman took to Twitter to dog-whistle against Hindus again.
From the 4th to the 7th of September, Muslim mobs went on a rampage against Hindus. On the 4th of September, when Majid tweeted and dog-whistled, the Muslim mob went on a rampage unprovoked while the Hindus were celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. Eggs were thrown when Hindu symbols were spotted and where Ganesh puja was being held. A Hindu man was dragged out of his home and stabbed when his aunt ran out of the house to defend him, she was injured because the Muslim mob punched and beat her.
On the 12th of September, a dangerous lie started. It was alleged that Hindu men had attempted to abduct a Muslim girl while she was going to school.
After the story went viral, aided by Majid Freeman, the Hindu man started getting threats from Islamists since they had outed his car number, his location, and his picture.
On the 14th of September, the Leicester police confirmed that the news was fake.
In fact, another lie that was circulated by Majid Freeman and his Islamist cohorts was that a Mosque was attacked by Hindus during their peaceful protest. The Leicester police confirmed that no such mosque was attacked, however, they did confirm that a Hindu temple had been vandalized.
Besides being the key instigator of the 2022 anti-Hindu riots, Majid has also encouraged European Muslims to “do jihad in Syria,” and has promoted “tributes” to the late Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. OpIndia had, in fact, exposed Majid Freeman’s links with ISIS and organizations connected to Al Qaeda and IHH.
MAB, which is closely associated with Majid Freeman, and justified violence against Hindus and blamed Hindus for the violence committed by Islamists, is today offended that Hindus of the UK don’t want to bear the burden of the crimes committed by the Muslims of the UK.
This playbook of indulging in violence and then crying Islamophobia is repeated across the world, with minor tweaks, depending on the situation. MAB accusing Insight UK of ‘sowing division’ is just another manifestation of it.
What happened at the Manchester Airport
On the 23rd of July, there was reportedly an altercation between some passengers of a Qatar Airlines flight. Greater Manchester Police said that the police were called by the Airport staff after an altercation at Terminal 2 of the Manchester Airport. The police reached the airport, checked the CCTV, and spotted the suspect at the ticket counter. The accused further attacked the police and broke the nose of a female police officer after which the police had to act.
Initially, a video emerged where the police officer was seen kicking the accused’s head. This led to widespread outrage claiming that the police were being racist and had used excessive force even after the accused was down on the ground.
However, later another video emerged where it was seen that before the police officer had kicked the accused in the head, the accused had rained punches against the police officers injuring one male and 2 female police officers.
In the second video which has emerged, according to the Independent, “Three police officers – one male and two female – approach two men standing by one of the ticket machines and proceed to restrain one of them, who was wearing a matching light blue top and shorts. The second man, wearing a black t-shirt, then circles around the male officer, who was leading the restraint of the first man, and appears to begin to attack him. The pair then seem to begin punching one another while the first man hits the two female officers multiple times. The man in the black t-shirt is eventually tased by the male officer, at which point the second man looks to have knocked the two other officers down and proceeds to punch the male officer in the back of the head. After the male officer and the first man wrestle to the ground, he appears to be tased by the female officers. The male officer then gets up and appears to kick the man in the head, where the video ends”.
Two of the accused are Fahir and his brother Amaad. According to The Express report, the row erupted as the two brothers headed to Manchester Airport on July 23 to meet their mother, who was returning from a visit to Pakistan.
While the police – two women officers and one male officer – got seriously injured in the violence which was unleashed by the accused, the Muslims of the UK have cried about Islamophobia.