‘London Taliban’ threatening women without headscarves

LAHORE – Women who did not wear headscarves are being threatened with violence and even death by Islamist extremists intent on imposing Sharia law on parts of Britain, it was claimed on Sunday, according to the Daily Mail, a British newspaper.
The newspaper said other targets of the “Talibanesque thugs,” being investigated by the police in the Tower Hamlets area of London, included homosexuals, and stickers had been plastered on public walls stating: “Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment.”
Whitechapel in east London was at the centre of the hate campaign by the “London Taliban” and posters for H&M, which featured women in bikinis and a racy poster for a Bollywood film, had been defaced, the newspaper said.
“An Asian woman who works in a pharmacy in east London was told to dress more modestly and wear a veil or the shop would be boycotted. When she went to the media to talk about the abuse she suffered, a man later entered the pharmacy and told her: ‘If you keep doing these things, we are going to kill you’.
The 31-year-old, who is not a practising Muslim, said she has since been told to take holiday by the pharmacy owners and now fears she may lose her job,” the newspaper reported. According to the Mail, Ghaffar Hussain of anti-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation told The Sunday Times that the intimidation was the work of “Talibanesque thugs” who thought they had the right to impose their fringe interpretation of Islam on others.
Three men had been charged with religiously-aggravated criminal damage in connection with some of the incidents, which had mirrored crude attempts at censorship in Birmingham, said the newspaper. The newspaper quoted Tower Hamlets Borough Commander Paul Rickett as saying it was saddening that a small minority of people existed who did not wish to respect the lifestyle choices of others.
“I would like to reassure the people of Tower Hamlets that we are investigating these incidents. At this stage there is no information to suggest any of the incidents are linked. Anyone found committing such criminal acts will face criminal proceedings,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.
Anjem Choudary, whom the newspaper dubbed a “firebrand Muslim cleric” and “hate preacher”, was quoted as saying that he was aware of individuals who would speak up if they saw a Muslim woman without a headscarf, but insisted they were only giving advice about their views of Islam.
He said no threats would be made and described the allegations of death threats as completely ridiculous. “There are groups who propagate Islam, and if they see a Muslim woman without a hijab they may say ‘sister, it’s obligatory that you cover your hair.’ It’s an individual intervention to propagate Islam. For non-Muslims, they may point out to them that women are being exploited in the West. It’s about telling people about the preference of covering up, but nobody’s going to say ‘you are going to be killed,'” the Mail quoted Choudary as saying.
Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, said he had seen posters vandalised in Birmingham but was not aware of threats being made, the British daily reported. “I have seen posters defaced in Birmingham and it’s just complete nonsense. If people choose to follow the religion they should be free to do so and we don’t want to go down the route that the French have done, but these people have to accept other people.
If it’s about the freedom to do what you want, others should have the freedom to do what they want to do. It’s the actions of a very small minority, and in Birmingham we have not seen people threaten women who are not wearing the burqa – if someone were to do that the police should be informed,” the newspaper quoted Mahmood as saying.