UK in thrall over naked' protests & the return of reformed' jihadis

Britain, one has often thought, has an obsession with nudity. I think it has something to do with its Victorian repressive past — and so, here, baring all for a lark or a cause is still considered sensational! Really? Coming from a country like India, where we are used to large communal bathing melas — for example, at the Kumbh, nudity is not something that grabs headlines. Nakedness can indicate that you have gone beyond worldly possessions or cares. And if one strips for grabbing eyeballs or headlines — it is merely crass behaviour.

And so when Rachel Johnson whipped off her top on Sky News to support Brexit — she not only startled her co-presenters but, I think, also reduced the issue to a farce. Yes, she maintained that she was combating a rival “flasher”, with opposing views: Victoria Bateman. Ms Bateman is an economist who gives media interviews in the buff because she thinks that Brexit will leave Britain naked. And she wants the country to stay in the EU.

Both these women are barely there — (excuse the bad pun) where the argument pro or anti-Brexit is concerned, though they have managed to turn the debate about the presentation of points. (Another bad pun). Hopefully, the EU will not begin to retaliate with naked barbs — or undressing the agreement.

Ms Johnson would not have done her brother, the former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, any favours with her topless moment (it seems she quickly pulled her shirt on again — once she had exposed her love for Brexit) — but it would have merely proved again that the Brexiteers will go to any lengths to push for the final exit.

I am not sure if she won over many supporters that day. Though the TV channel ratings would have certainly shot up.

Should terrorists who have “reformed” be allowed to return to the UK? This is the question that is affecting most countries which have been under attack from Islamist terrorism, and from where the Islamic State (ISIS) had won recruits. The often forgotten story is not just of the terrorists themselves — but of the support structure that they created, especially by indoctrinating young women who would become their brides. More than 6,000 Europeans, men and women, are supposed to have joined the Islamic State’s war, many of them very young.

Young people are vulnerable — and are indoctrinated by all kinds of ideologies — because the youth (of all countries) are often seeking a cause to die for or someone to believe in. Just like once upon a time they believed in the failed ideology of Marxism, many continue to be affected by ideas of a utopian world which they can create through their own sacrifices. Just as they are brainwashed, either through religious preachers or through the Internet — they require counter brainwashing.

Now the tragic case of Shamima Begum, a young woman who went as a 15-year-old to the ISIS and wants to return to the UK, four years later, has turned the spotlight on this vexed issue. Should she be welcomed back as a prodigal child or should she be turned away? The home secretary, Sajid Javid, does not want her to be accommodated in the UK — while there are many who feel that these children (and Ms Begum, though young, is also pregnant) deserve a second chance. But there will always be the fear that young people like her could become easy targets for terrorists once more. These issues, post 9/11, have been troubling many countries. Terrorism is not easy to root out — it is a global franchise and can occur anywhere, anytime. Many, like Ms Begum, may have been brainwashed — but there are others who have been coerced or forced to join under threat. If they came back to the UK, could they still stay away from the indoctrinators? Or do these young people deserve to be permanently exiled, as punishment and to deter others from making the same mistake? These are the unanswered questions the UK is battling with. And meanwhile, Ms Begum’s fate hangs in the balance.

This week is going to a be historical one. It will soon be 100 years since the Jallianwala Bagh massacre — and we at the Partition Museum are in the final stages of preparing an exhibition to commemorate it, which will be opening in London, Birmingham and Manchester in April, with the support of the Manchester Museum, and the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Commemoration Committee. But before that, there will be a debate at the House of Lords on February 19th, in the evening, initiated by Lord Meghnad Desai and Lord Raj Loomba. Hopefully, the whole House will condemn what happened in Amritsar a century ago. This is very important because the House of Lords, just after the massacre, had condoned the actions of both Brig. Gen. Dyer and Sir Michael O’Dwyer who was the lieutenant governor at the time. Please do remember to listen in or watch the debate!