Letters have been sent out across parts of Britain declaring April 3, “Punish a Muslim Day”. Indeed, in a bid to create a competitive atmosphere of sorts the masterminds of this latest call to incite religious hatred have turned it into a reward-based game. Points are awarded to different acts of violence committed against this minority group: 25 for removing a hijab and 500 for murder. Somewhere in between lie throwing acid on a Muslim and blowing up a mosque. While no group has as yet claimed ownership of this — what should we call it? –utter vileness, British counter-terrorism forces are investigating it to the fullest. For one positive that can be credited to the Theresa May government is the recognition of, following the Finsbury Park mosque attack, Islamophobia as a form of extremism. Nevertheless, such hate material suggests the slow and cruel death of the country’s long lived and much touted multiculturalism of yesteryear; which, with it integrationist approach, had always been held up in favourable contrast to continental Europe where secularism means assimilation. For given that this is what some political commentators concluded in the wake of the London bombings — why should this currency not hold weight today? The letter reads: “Are you a sheep like the vast majority of the population? Sheep follow orders and are easily led. They are allowing the white-majority nations of Europe and north America to become overrun by those who would like nothing more than to do us harm and to turn our democracies into sharia-led police states”. Even Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, finds himself, at times, being baited, to prove his Britishness above and beyond his Pakistani (read Muslim) heritage. But perhaps the most chilling part of all is that those behind this appear to have adopted Al Qaeda’s tactics in the propaganda war; though obviously this has been done on the cheap. Meaning that the latter has a monopoly on slick online production as it aims to encourage so-called lone-wolfs to attack their western homeland without need to splash lots of cash. So, what is the way forward? With regards to the content of this letter of hate and the objections it raises — the time has come for the British state to address these once and for all. A good and necessary first place to start is the colonial project that plundered wealth and resources from what was previously known as the Third World but today — in a bid to wash the bloody stains from privileged hands — is referred to as the less fully loaded Global South. Theresa May could perhaps offer the well-versed and articulate Shashi Tharoor a leading role on this front. A second and equally important place to follow-up with is Britain’s penchant for militarised foreign policy which predominantly targets the Muslim world. This is not about determining what came first, the chicken or the egg. But it is about ultimately getting honest about admitting the nexus between persecution and blowback; on all sides. Which is something that Pakistan ought to keep in mind as it hurtles along towards theocracy’s deadly embrace. * Published in Daily Times, March 14th 2018.