An open letter to the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, on the appointment of Sara Khan

This appointment flies in the face of our shared intent to achieve the commission’s objectives

Sara Khan has been appointed to lead the Commission for Countering Extremism (PA)

Dear Home Secretary,

I am writing to you to express my grave concerns about your appointment of Ms Sara Khan to lead the Commission for Countering Extremism.

In the wake of the horrific Manchester attack the Prime Minister outlined her vision for the Commission for Countering Extremism, its focus being to root out Islamist extremism, making no safe spaces that allow extremism to flourish. Following the Finsbury Park attack, the focus was widened, and the Prime Minister finally recognised Islamophobia as a form of extremism, noting the evidence that nearly a third of referrals for extremism were for right wing views and particularly anti-Muslim hatred.

This to me highlights why we need a strong non-political appointment. This should be a position of challenge, not of blind agreement. To replicate what the commission on racism did, strong leadership is paramount. We need a commission that will not only call out extremism as the Government sees it, but will also challenge a Government who are often ”short termists” in their approach.

The Commissioner needs to be someone who can bridge the divide. For real change, we need to bring people with us. To have both the confidence of the government and the community.

I have been critical of the Prevent programme in the past for creating a “them and us” mentality. It is a legacy that focuses on disengagement with communities and the truth is this is a path that Sara Khan has been at the centre of defending time and time again. It is a path that has got us no closer to tackling some of the root causes of extremism or any closer to building integrated resilient communities that understand and respect each other.

This is a critical position which requires demonstrable leadership, public confidence and independence.

Independence, credibility and trust has to be central to any appointment and subsequent work of the Commission. It must engage those communities which feel the most marginalised.

The core pre-requisite for this role is simply trust, trust which Ms Khan does not command from the mainstream Muslim community.

The huge criticism of this appointment from across the political divide is indicative of that.

Ms Khan fails to meet the basic requirements of transparency. This is illustrated by the fact that despite her appearance before the Home Affairs Select Committee, Ms Khan failed to address the concerns about her “independence” which I raised myself. The content of the Select Committee can be found here.

Ms Khan’s ability to engage with communities has been damaged by her long held view of supporting the Governments “disengagement policy”.

I firmly believe, as do many others, that our shared intentions are to eradicate extremism in all its forms. However, this appointment will do nothing to advance that objective.

Ms Khan is not connected to, respected or trusted by the mainstream Muslim community. Therefore, this appointment flies in the face of our shared intent to achieve the commission’s objectives.

I urge you to reconsider this appointment. We must not risk losing another decade of the battle to eradicate extremism in all its forms.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Naz Shah MP
Bradford West