Harris Bokhari OBE is the founder and a trustee[1] at the Patchwork Foundation, for which he won the Diversity Champion of the Year Award in early 2018.
[5] He is also an independent member of the "Community and Voluntary Service" of the Honours Committee[6] and is credited to help increase diverse representation for the awards.
[15] His Punjabi-born father was the first British Muslim to run a secondary school in the UK; he was headteacher of Ernest Bevin College and was awarded an OBE for services to education in the 2001 Birthday Honours.
[23][24][25] Harris Bokhari was appointed as first honorary patron of The Prince's Trust Mosaic Network,[26] where he is a National Advisory Board member.
[32][33][34][35][36] In 2007, Bokhari was appointed press officer for the launch of Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), which was attended by the Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.
[36] In 2002, Bokhari organised protests in London, attended by thousands of people "to express their solidarity with the Palestinians and against Israel's ongoing military operations in the West Bank.
"[39] In 2006 Bokhari told the Socialist Worker that in his opinion British foreign policy has long been a major concern, noting widespread opposition from diverse groups, not just Muslims.
[48][49] Bokhari, who organised the Woolwich interfaith event following the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, the Christchurch vigil at the Islamic Cultural Centre and memorial at New Zealand House in 2019, was invited by the US State Department on their International Visitor Leadership Programme on CVE in 2017.
[51] Bokhari had been instrumental in getting Mosques closed during the crisis and was described as a leading campaigner to keep Muslims at home during Ramadan, by organising virtual iftars during 2020, which were attended by more than 75,000 people.
[52] Bokhari started the Naz Legacy iftars, which were launched by the Prince of Wales and attended by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Bishop of London Sarah Mullally and the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.