The British government is planning to bar hate preachers from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia from entering the UK.
The plan is being made amid UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent revelation that the country is witnessing a ‘shocking increase’ in extremist disruption and criminality in recent months.
Sending a strong message, British PM Rishi Sunak recently said: “The Home Secretary has instructed that if those here on visas choose to spew hate on protests or seek to intimidate people, we will remove their right to be here.”
It is understood that officials will identify the most dangerous extremists from countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, and add them to a warning list, reported Sky News.
Rishi Sunak said the UK’s democracy has now become a ‘target’.
“What started as protests on our streets, has descended into intimidation, threats, and planned acts of violence,” he said.
“Britain is a patriotic, liberal, democratic society with a proud past and a bright future. We are a reasonable country and a decent people. Our story is one of progress, of great achievements and enduring values,” he said.
In his strong message, Sunak said: “Islamist extremists and far rights groups are spreading a poison, that poison is extremism. It aims to drain us of our confidence in ourselves as a people, and in our shared future.”
“They want us to believe that our country, and the West more generally, is solely responsible for the world’s ills. And that we, along with our allies, are the problem. In short, they want to destroy our confidence and hope. We must not allow that to happen,” he said.
“The time has now come for us all to stand together to combat the forces of division and beat this poison,” Sunak added.
Sunak said there could not be any cause to justify the support of a ‘proscribed terrorist group’ like Hamas.
He was referring to the attack by Hamas group members on Israel on October 7.
“Since October 7th there have been those trying to take advantage of the very human angst that we all feel,”Sunak said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Lord Walney, the government’s independent adviser on political violence, wrote in The Sun: “My review on political violence is about to be formally submitted to the prime minister and the home secretary.In it, I am asking the leader of every mainstream political party to take a zero tolerance approach to the menace that is threatening our democracy.”
