Rushanara Ali and Rupa Huq are among four Muslim MPs in Britain who have been targeted with suspicious packages containing the anti-Muslim “Punish a Muslim Day” letters as well as a mysterious sticky liquid.
While Ali, who represents Bethnal Green and Bow in east London, described it as an “unpleasant experience”, Huq referred to it as a “scary experience”. Both Bangladesh-origin British MPs received the packages in their parliamentary offices in the Palace of Westminster and one of Huq’s staff members who opened the package was hospitalised as a precaution.
“Staffer who went to hospital now discharged. There is a definite pattern… Totally unacceptable for Muslim MPs to face this,” said Huq, who represents Ealing Central and Acton in south-west London.
“It’s worrying that these things are getting through security screening because I know it’s very vigorously screened. Someone out there thinks it’s open season on Muslims,” she added.
According to police, the package contained a “low level” noxious substance as well as the offensive anti-Muslim letter which had been received by a number of households across the UK over the weekend. The letter incites verbal abuse and assaults on Muslims, as well as attacks on mosques, declaring April 3 as “Punish a Muslim Day”. It asks people to carry out violent acts including verbal abuse, removing a woman’s hijab or head-scarf, physical assault and using acid as a weapon.
Other Muslim MPs who received similar packages containing the offensive letter include Pakistani-origin Labour party MPs, Afzal Khan and Mohammad Yasin.
“The letter calling for attacks on Muslim is just the latest example of rising Islamaphobia and deplorable hate crimes in this country,” said another Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi, who raised an urgent question in the House of Commons on Monday calling on the UK government to do more to tackle such "incitement to violence and help prevent the growth of such extreme views".
Scotland Yard said specialist officers had been sent to the scene to assess the packages.
“No evacuation has taken place,” a Metropolitan Police statement said.
Meanwhile, Britain’s counter-terrorism officers continue to investigate after the letters were sent to a string of locations across the country.