Majority of Conservative members believe Islam a threat to British way of life: Poll

Majority of Conservative members believe Islam a threat to British way of life: Poll
Conservative members are twice as likely — compared to the overall population — to have a negative view of immigrants, Opinium found. (Getty Images)
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Updated 28 February 2024
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Majority of Conservative members believe Islam a threat to British way of life: Poll

Majority of Conservative members believe Islam a threat to British way of life: Poll
  • Most also believe parts of European cities subject to Shariah law
  • Anti-racism group: Islamophobia ‘runs deep’ in governing party ‘but this poll illustrates the problem starkly’

LONDON: A majority of Conservative Party members in the UK believe that Islam is a threat to the British way of life, a new poll has found.

The Opinium poll surveyed 521 members of the country’s ruling party about the UK’s second-largest religion, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Compared to the overall population, respondents were twice as likely to view Islam as a threat to the British way of life, with 58 percent agreeing with the statement.

Just over half of respondents — 52 percent — believe the false claim that sections of European cities are subject to Shariah law and are effectively “no-go zones” for non-Muslims.

It comes amid a growing row within the Conservative Party over Islamophobia, with MP Lee Anderson having been sacked last week after claiming that Islamists had “got control” of Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a Conservative MP, also drew controversy after writing in the Daily Telegraph last week that “the Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge now,” referring to pro-Palestine protests that have been held across the UK in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Conservative members are twice as likely — compared to the overall population — to have a negative view of immigrants, Opinium found.

About three-quarters of respondents said they believe that immigration has been bad for the UK and multiculturalism is failing.

Nick Lowles, founder of Hope Not Hate, an anti-racism group that commissioned the poll, said: “It’s clear from the events of the past week that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment run deep in the Conservative Party — but this poll illustrates the problem starkly.

“Based on the views of Conservative members, it’s clear why Anderson, Braverman et al feel increasingly emboldened to push the boundaries of decency and speak negatively of Muslims, immigrants and multiculturalism more generally.

“The battle for the soul of Conservative Party has begun, and so far the radical right is winning.”

The poll findings suggest that views within the party have hardened in recent years. A 2020 poll, also commissioned by Hope Not Hate, found that 47 percent of Conservative members agreed with the statement that Islam is a threat to the British way of life.

The party was cleared of allegations of institutional Islamophobia in 2021 as part of an inquiry known as the Singh Review, but critics have questioned the scope of the investigation.

Sajjad Karim, a former Conservative member of the European Parliament, told The Guardian: “I can go back to about 2012 or 2013 when I first started to detect some of this type of talk. We haven’t got here suddenly. But the party really has to get a grip of it now.”

He added: “(The Singh review) ended up sending a signal to the party membership that was basically ‘Muslims are fair game.’”


Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters
Updated 12 sec ago
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Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters
  • Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days
  • Pakistan has banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is sealing off its capital, Islamabad, ahead of a planned rally by supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan.
It’s the second time in as many months that authorities have imposed such measures to thwart tens of thousands of people from gathering in the city to demand Khan’s release.
The latest lockdown coincides with the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrives in Islamabad on Monday.
Local media reported that the Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days. On Friday, the National Highways and Motorway Police announced that key routes would close for maintenance.
It advised people to avoid unnecessary travel and said the decision was taken following intelligence reports that “angry protesters” are planning to create a law and order situation and damage public and private property on Sunday, the day of the planned rally.
“There are reports that protesters are coming with sticks and slingshots,” the statement added.
Multicolored shipping containers, a familiar sight to people living and working in Islamabad, reappeared on key roads Saturday to throttle traffic.
Pakistan has already banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters and activists from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI.
Khan has been in prison for more than a year in connection and has over 150 criminal cases against him. But he remains popular and the PTI says the cases are politically motivated.
A three-day shutdown was imposed in Islamabad for a security summit last month.

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre
Updated 30 min 38 sec ago
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre
  • Doctors sent Rohitash Kumar, 25, to mortuary instead of conducting postmortem after he fell ill
  • Kumar was rushed to hospital on Friday for treatment but was confirmed dead later

JAIPUR: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump
Updated 39 min 17 sec ago
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NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump
  • NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security

Brussels: NATO chief Mark Rutte held talks with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on the “global security issues facing the alliance,” a spokeswoman said Saturday.
The meeting took place on Friday in Palm Beach, NATO’s Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement.
In his first term Trump aggressively pushed Europe to step up defense spending and questioned the fairness of the NATO transatlantic alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister had said he wanted to meet Trump two days after Trump was elected on November 5, and discuss the threat of increasingly warming ties between North Korea and Russia.
Trump’s thumping victory to return to the US presidency has set nerves jangling in Europe that he could pull the plug on vital Washington military aid for Ukraine.
NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte said recently at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“At the same time, Russia has to pay for this, and one of the things they are doing is delivering technology to North Korea,” which he warned was threatening to the “mainland of the US (and) continental Europe.”
“I look forward to sitting down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.


Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre
Updated 51 min 23 sec ago
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

JAIPUR, India: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people
Updated 23 November 2024
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Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people
  • Senior police officer said Saturday armed men torched shops, houses and government property overnight
  • Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram

PESHAWAR: Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 33 people and injured 25 others, a senior police officer from the region said Saturday.
The overnight violence was the latest to rock Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and comes days after a deadly gun ambush killed 42 people.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million people in Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram.
The senior police officer said armed men in Bagan and Bacha Kot torched shops, houses and government property.
Intense gunfire was ongoing between the Alizai and Bagan tribes in the Lower Kurram area.
“Educational institutions in Kurram are closed due to the severe tension. Both sides are targeting each other with heavy and automatic weapons,” said the officer, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Videos shared with The Associated Press showed a market engulfed by fire and orange flames piercing the night sky. Gunfire can also be heard.
The location of Thursday’s attack was also targeted by armed men, who marched on the area.
Survivors of the gun ambush said assailants emerged from a vehicle and sprayed buses and cars with bullets. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not identified a motive.
Dozens of people from the district’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been killed since July, when a land dispute erupted in Kurram that later turned into general sectarian violence.