Sister Nisa’s ordeal at Leicester Central Station has been widely reported in the press as a racist attack and here at MPAC we classified the incident as not only racist, but Islamophobic. When talking to MPAC Nisa explained that the reason she felt the drivers had treated her in such a vulgar and disrespectful manner was primarily because she “wore Hijab”. When we heard this we couldn’t help but be shocked, we are supposedly living in a multi-cultural society where now we have got to point where it is a simple matter of our clothing which will instigate discrimination. Surely, this cannot be accepted. What shocked us even more was that this occurred in Leicester, a town with an extremely large Muslim population; surely the train driver had seen sisters with Hijab before? But if that is the case does this mean that Nisa’s treatment was not a one off, maybe this had happened before and been allowed to continue. When we asked Nisa if she thought this was the first she agreed that it probably was not and would, also probably, not be the last.

However, if we can make enough of a presence then maybe we can attempt to eradicate this kind of Islamophobic behaviour. Whilst talking to Nisa we noticed a sense of determination and ambition, despite the stressful ordeal that she had been put through. She remains calm and focused in achieving her end goal whereby she hopes that the train driver will hopefully, receive disciplinary action or dismissal. Nisa demands an outcome from this investigation that will serve as an example for all people who work in positions of authority i.e. that racism cannot and will not be tolerated.

Nisa, Alhamdulilah, managed to highlight her case and quickly received responses to it from the media and from Muslims around the country. As a student of journalism, she is probably better placed, than some other sisters may have been. Yet as we acknowledged previously there have probably been other attacks on sisters and these may have just gone unnoticed because they were too frightened to do anything. Whilst Nisa has campaigned for justice we have yet to receive the results of the investigation from Central Trains, although they have said that they are investigating it thoroughly and will publish the results shortly.

As Nisa explained, what happened to her was “a horrible thing to go through and very easy to go unreported”. Yet along with other sources, we have managed to give this story the coverage it deserves. It requires actions from YOU and Nisa asks that everyone keeps up the lobbying of Central Trains in order to make sure they understand the severity of these drivers’ actions, whilst she also thanks those many who have already done so. Whilst our first aim may be to ensure justice is achieved for Nisa, through the removal of the drivers, Inshallah let’s hope that this campaign can achieve justice for all victims of Islamophobic attacks by making Public Services Companies examine and re-examine their policies towards racism and Islamophobia in particular.

Islamophobic attacks like these will not be tolerated here at MPACUK. We want to ensure that this does not happen again and people like these racist train drivers are not in a position to carry out their witchunts. But this cannot be achieved without your help. To make a difference and help defend the Ummah, join us,  or fund us. Together we CAN make a difference.

See MPACUK ALERT to complain against the drivers : Horrific Attack By Train Staff On Young Girl - For Wearing Hijab!

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