LONDON, Jan 7 : A number of Indian diaspora groups in the UK have strongly objected to the use of the generic term “Asian” with reference to a historic child sexual abuse scandal across different parts of England, largely involving gangs of men of Pakistani heritage.
Defending his record, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that he had reopened such cases and brought the first prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale, north-west England, during his time as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between 2008 and 2013.
The Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) reacted to Starmer’s statement to highlight that the charity had first complained about the use of “vague” terminology referencing the country’s wider South Asian community in connection with the crime back in 2012.
“This use of the vague reference to ‘Asian’ grooming gangs is extremely disappointing from the Prime Minister,” NSO said in a statement.
“Part of the problem with this issue has been a fear of not speaking openly about the ethnicity and (or) religion of the majority of perpetrators. This has, in some instances, made it worse for the victims,” it said, calling for “greater accuracy in reporting”.
“This is a matter of significant public interest, and criminality that has impacted our communities too,” the charity added.
Sikh Federation UK echoed similar concerns following Starmer’s comment, warning against using the generic reference “for reasons of political correctness”.
“Politicians by continuing to use the misleading term ‘Asian grooming gangs’ shows they are more worried about votes and do not have a clue how to address a perverse upbringing mixed with a religious philosophy of forced religious conversion that has been allowed to thrive for decades without being called out,” it posted on X.
Some British Hindu groups also raised similar concerns around political correctness among the UK authorities that is failing the victims of such crimes.
“Due to political correctness and the fear of being labelled racist or Islamophobic, the authorities have preferred to use the term ‘Asian’ to define these gangs and worse, some have buried their heads in the sand hoping that the problem will go away,” noted community organisation Insight UK.
It came as UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons on Monday that her department would be pursuing plans to include tougher measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to make it mandatory for organisations and institutions to report child sexual abuse.
During her parliamentary statement, the minister pointed to official reports dating back 10 years ago which found that “1,400 children had been sexually exploited, raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked across other towns, abducted, beaten and threatened with guns”.
“Girls as young as 11 had been raped. Those reports a decade ago identified a failure to confront Pakistani heritage gangs and a ‘widespread perception’ that they should ‘downplay the ethnic dimensions’ for fear of being seen to be racist,” noted Cooper.
The issue has been brought back into sharp focus since Tesla CEO Elon Musk began using his X platform to attack the UK government’s handling of the scandal, opening up a war of words with the Starmer-led government. While the Opposition Conservatives have been using it to mount attacks on the Labour government, ministers are keen to highlight Tory failures from when the party was in charge. (PTI)
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