Counter terror chief warns British Muslims against joining Syria war

LONDON: British Muslims who fight in Syria are crossing a “red line” and will be investigated by police, the UK’s counter-terrorism chief warned on Thursday.
Helen Ball, senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism, told The News, she was “very concerned” about the growing numbers of British nationals travelling to fight in Syria alongside extremists who are engaged in a deadly war to de-seat President Bashar Al-Asad. “It’s a very serious matter for us, and we are dealing with it on urgent basis.”
Helem Ball was speaking to media at the launch of a national appeal, held at New Scotland Yard, for Muslim women to urge their relatives not to fight in the war-ravaged country. On the occasion, a leaflet, which looked like a passport, was also distributed warning against travelling to Syria.
When asked about the percentage of British Pakistani youth travelling to Syria, she said the police don’t have statistics yet on the basis of ethnicity of British Muslims.When asked what she meant by the “red line,” Helen Ball said: “Fighting full stop and training to fight is likely to lead to a police investigation.”
Estimates suggest that over 400 British Muslims have travelled to Syria for Jihadi purposes.She said: “I have been very concerned indeed in the national role I have in counter-terrorism policing to see the number of young people who have been travelling to Syria; some of them with absolutely strong ideological motives to support the suffering of the Syrian people; and some of them wanting to fight. I have seen the effect on families who have lost them, and how torn apart they are by losing them.
“We are starting to think how women in particular can challenge the attitudes of people themselves, and stop their young people putting themselves in dangerous positions and possibly becoming radicalised.”
She warned that young Britons are being radicalised by social media and are soft target for extremist groups. She said that Muslim women have a crucial role to play in this fight. She urged the Muslim women who are concerned that their loved ones might be preparing to travel to Syria to fight to contact police officers.
Community leaders urged female Muslims to “nurture” their children and divert them away from violence.Sajda Mughal, from the JAN Trust, which empowers Muslim women, said:
“What we are saying is mothers are the ones who need to be protecting their child and safeguarding their child in order for them not to travel out to Syria and come to harm. We know that mothers are key agents of change. Mothers need to take more of an active role in their child’s life.”
Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz also questioned the national appeal warning that it was unlikely parents would report suspicions about their children to the authorities.“All the evidence indicates that the families themselves are the last to know,” he said.
“They are also most unlikely to tell the police. The police are not the Samaritans; they are the first step in the criminal enforcement process. This needs to be addressed at a peer group level, include partnerships with social media and have the full engagement of the communities affected. They hold the key. Young people need to be persuaded that if they go to Syria they may end up dead.”
Michelle Russell, from the Charity Commission, said there is a genuine and desperate need for humanitarian assistance to help people affected by the conflict in Syria but accepted that she was not sure if the aid sent from the UK was actually ending up with extremist groups or not.