16 years on from 7/7 bombings: Survivor warns ‘world is a dangerous place’
Sajida Mughal OBE was one of the survivors of the 7/7 bombings and 16 years later she remembers the attack that almost claimed her life. She said “the world is no safer than it was 16 years ago, its still a dangerous place.”
“For example, there has been the rise in far-right extremism and I’ve experienced it over the years, I’ve had death threats, rape threats, I’ve had to move address and our charity’s building has had windows broken and EDL signs put up.”
Mughal thinks there have been no changes since 2005, when four suicide bombers went in to the underground and blew themselves up.
After the attack, she became the chief-executive of JAN Trust, which supports marginalised women and young people and raises awareness of issues including counter-terrorism.
Mughal has publicly stated that she is not impressed with the Government’s attempt to tackle extremism, and the controversial Prevent strategy, which essentially will help to prevent people becoming radicalised.
“Sixteen years on I’m concerned and frustrated, ” Mughal said.
“Having survived 7/7 and left the corporate world I’ve made my own differences on the ground in terms of the work I’ve been doing with communities but I have to say our Government hasn’t done enough, particularly with the rise of far-right extremism and the division and hate in society.”
A spokesperson from the Home Office has said ‘The Prevent programme is fundamentally about safeguarding vulnerable individuals to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
‘It is very much supported by the general public, with a recent survey showing 58 per cent of them viewed Prevent favourably compared to just 8 per cent who viewed it unfavourably,” the spokesperson added.