In the throes of the 24-hour news cycle’s darkest turns,
their lives are often unplannable. Nikita Malik, director of
the Centre on Radicalisation & Terrorism at The Henry
Jackson Society in London, works to mould society’s
conversation around terror in the UK. When, in May 2017,
a bomb at Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert killed
23, including its detonator, Malik was about to leave on her
honeymoon. “The first level of analysis is always factual,” she
explains. “What materials have been used? Is this linked to
Islamic State, or has it been inspired? Who is the individual?
What were their networks?” Did she keep her honeymoonplans with her husband? “I was on emails, unfortunately for
him, for the majority of that holiday,” she sighs.
The work is ceaseless. On a wet London afternoon, tucked
away in a government office block a few moments from Fleet
Street, Sara Khan, 39, is in the last stages of preparing her
Home Office-commissioned report on the scope and effect
of extremism in modern Britain. It is the culmination of 18
months’ endeavour, and she is unflappable.
It hasn’t been an easy ride. Her appointment in January
2018 was so controversial that a hundred Muslim organisations
co-signed a petition demanding her resignation. You’d thinka Muslim woman in high office would generally be considered
a good thing – but putting her in charge led some to believe
the Home Office was labelling extremism an exclusively
Muslim problem. Khan had also been an advocate of Prevent,
the contentious government strategy that has its defenders
but potentially divides communities by encouraging them
to report one another. “The one thing I would say,” she
acknowledges of the furore over her hiring, “is throughout
my career, I’ve always had people say, ‘You can’t do it.’ I think
women know we’re often told we can’t.” She thumps the table
cheerfully. “I’m just going to get on with it.”
Born and raised in Bradford, to Pakistani immigrant
parents, Khan trained as a pharmacist, wore the hijab
as a teen and young woman, and initially joined some
conservative Islamic youth organisations. But, in the
wake of the 7/7 bombings, she founded the charity
Inspire to challenge extremism and promote gender
equality at a grass-roots level with outreach programmes.
Conversation and empathy, she believes, are vital to
stopping radicalisation. “The reality is that extremism
is a spectrum,” she explains in a no-nonsense but upbeat
tone. “We understand what we’re talking about when
we talk about terrorism, but when we’re talking about
other manifestations of extremism – the suppression
and denial of individual liberty and rights, and the
propagating of hatred – that’s something we want to
try and bring out to the fore a lot more.”
The report’s findings zero in on “hateful extremism”
in all its political and religious flavours, and the
insidious way it bleeds into communities and becomes
a tinderbox for violence. Khan’s public consultation
received almost 3,000 responses: “Hard-left extremism,
hard-right extremism, animal rights extremism,
Islamist extremism, Sikh extremism, other forms of
religious extremism...” Broadly, the most evolved
threats remain from hard-right and Islamist groups.
Khan toured more than 20 towns speaking to people
on all sides. She found that nuance ruled in a way that
was not always apparent from a distance. As divided
as society can feel, it is often still small, organised
groups of travelling hate-mongers who head to any
community on the edge of division.
In Birmingham, Islamist extremists descended on
the school protests, though, Khan insists, the situation
is never black and white. “There were Muslim parents
who supported their children being taught about
LGBTQ+ rights, and wanted to support the teachers.”
Across the spectrum, Khan discovered that little
differentiates the extremists’ approach. Sunderland- with low employment and a newly arrived community
of asylum seekers – was already on the watch list when,
in 2016, Chelsey Wright, a local mother on a night
out in the city, alleged that she had been gang-raped
by six immigrants. It became a big regional story.
Following an extensive police investigation, the
Crown Prosecution Service, lacking evidence to substantiate
the claim, did not authorise the police to charge any suspects.
“What made that entire situation worse,” says Khan, “were
far-right groups seeing that and going, ‘This is a wonderful
opportunity’ – Tommy Robinson and members of Britain
First, for example. Sunderland experienced, in the space of
13 months, 13 far-right demonstrations.” Yet, once again,
Khan found a modulated narrative on the ground. “You had
people who were travelling from outside the city to cause
disruption, and residents despise that. A lot of residents I
spoke to really were angry and thought this unacceptable.”
Above: Yasmin wears
dress, £2,335, Proenza
Schouler. Boots,
£1,050, Jimmy Choo23811-19-Well-CounterExtremism.indd 238 13/09/2019 15:19