Saira Khan revealed that she has been branded a ‘racist’ and ‘white sell out’ in the past for speaking against radicalisation.
The Loose Women panelist, 49, was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire to immigrant parents from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and says that although it’s ‘very difficult’ for her to open up about her community, she feels some are ignoring British cultural norms.
This comes following the recent London Bridge terror attack where former University of Cambridge students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, were fatally stabbed during a prisoner rehabilitation event on Friday.
The presenter claimed that we are ‘allowing people to get away’ with not integrating into British society, and said that some young people are being ‘brainwashed’ at home.
Saira Khan, 49, (pictured) claimed on Loose Women that she has been branded a ‘racist’ and ‘white sell out’ in the past for speaking against radicalisation
Speaking on today’s show, she said: ‘It’s very difficult for me sometimes to sit here and talk about a culture that I belong to.
‘But I have to do it because this is my country. I was born here and I am British.
‘I love living in a multi-cultural society, but I think we all have to wake up and see we are living by cultures, side my side, where they are flouting British values and we’re allowing people to get away with it.’
She went on: ‘We’re allowing people to get away with it us because we’re not an integrated society.
‘I’ve been speaking about radicalisation of young people in this country since the 1980s and when I talk about it, I’m a “racist” or I get told by the community I’m a white sell-out.
The host, who was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire to immigrants from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, says that although it’s ‘very difficult’ for her to open up about her community, she feels some are ignoring British cultural norms
This came admit a discussion about the recent London Bridge terror attack where two former University of Cambridge students were fatally stabbed
‘That’s what happens, so I can’t physically do something myself. I am giving you an insight into parts of the community where things are not right.’
The perpetrator of the London Bridge stabbing, Usman Khan was convicted for terror offences in 2012 before being released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through his 16-year prison sentence.
Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the probation service.
Speaking of the killer, Saira said: ‘This is about being brainwashed at home from the age dot.
‘This young lad at 15 started preaching – What were his parents doing? Why didn’t they see this as a problem? What were the school doing? Why was he allowed to get away with it?’
Explaining more about Asian cultural norms that she perceives as detrimental, she says that young people who are exposed to certain behaviours from a young age are prone to think these actions, such as rape an violence, are normal.
Saira is pictured with friends and co-hosts Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Jane Moore (L-R)
She said: ‘My mum watches Asian TV. I have gone in there a couple of times, this is digital TV accessible to anybody and at three o’clock in the afternoon I’ve sat down with her, watched Asian TV and we have seen women being abused.
‘Violence against women, domestic violence, child marriage all the things.
‘There is a watershed for normal TV. So why is this going into people’s homes? In 2010 Ofcom ruled that an Islamic broadcaster broke the code for advocating marital rape and violence against women.
‘That station claims to have one million viewers daily and reaches 59 per cent of British Muslims.
‘Now if you are growing up in a home where you see this and nobody says “That’s wrong, we don’t do that in this country”, then it becomes part of your lifestyle and you don’t see there’s anything wrong.’