A small minority of Pakistani men DO believe white girls are fair game': Tory cabinet minister Baroness Warsi calls on mosques to act after Rochdale grooming gang scandal
- Pakistani men who see white women as 'third class citizens' need to be 'isolated' by their communities
- 'Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law,' senior Muslim politician said
- Comments clash with Labour MP Keith Vaz and police who say race was not an issue in Asian men's child sex grooming ring
|
Muslim cabinet minister Baroness Warsi said race was a factor in the abuse of young white girls by Pakistani men
In comments following the Rochdale grooming scandal involving nine Muslim men, the Conservative Party co-chairman admitted that race was a factor.
She urged Muslim leaders to address the issue and ensure that men who regard white women as 'third class citizens' are isolated by their communities.
Nine Muslim men, mainly of Pakistani origin, were found guilty last week of plying girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could 'pass them around' and use them for sex.
After the trial, Greater Manchester Police sought to play down suggestions of any racial element to the case, as did Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee.
But Lady Warsi, who grew up in a Pakistani community in Yorkshire, told London’s Evening Standard newspaper: 'There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game.
'And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.
'This small minority who see women as second class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens, are to be spoken out against.'
Lady Warsi, Britain’s most senior Muslim politician, said she had decided to speak out after her father - who moved to the UK from the Punjab - told her she should be 'out there condemning it as loudly as you could'.
'In mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them,' she said.
'Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say, ‘'This is wrong, this will not be tolerated'’.'
She also urged the authorities to have the confidence to tackle allegations involving minorities.
'Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law,' she said.
The abuse began at two takeaways in the Heywood
area of Rochdale, including the Balti House (pictured), which is under
new ownership
Under new ownership: The Tasty Bites takeaway - now renamed Bakar's - was the other takeaway at the centre of the scandal
The men - who are all from Pakistan, apart from one who is from Afghanistan - were found guilty of raping and abusing up to 47 girls - some as young as 13 - after plying them with alcohol and luring them to takeaways.
They were found to have groomed and 'shared' the young white girls because they were vulnerable.
Despite overwhelming claims that the targeting of young white girls was a cultural problem, several senior figures were accused of 'burying their heads in the sand' by denying the link.
Police played down the racial backgrounds of the men, saying the girls – mostly from broken or ‘chaotic’ homes – were targeted because they were vulnerable, not because they were white.
Evil: Abdul
Qayyum (left), 43, was sentenced to five years for conspiracy. Mohammed
Amin (right) 45, was handed five years for conspiracy and sexual
assault. The gang's 59-year-old ringleader, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, was sentenced to 19 years in jail
Monsters: Abdul
Aziz (left), 41, was given nine years for conspiracy and trafficking for
sexual exploitation. Mohammed Sajid (right), 35, received 12 years tor
conspiracy, trafficking, one count of rape and one count of sexual
activity with a child
Scum: Hamid Safi
(left), 22, was given four years for conspiracy and trafficking but not
guilty of two counts of rape. Adil Khan (right), 42, was found guilty
of conspiracy and trafficking for sexual exploitation
Kabeer
Hassan (left), 25, was jailed for nine years for conspiracy and rape.
Abdul Rauf (right), 43, was found guilty of conspiracy and trafficking
for sexual exploitation and jailed for six years
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar