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NSO complaint to BBC: Radio 4 ‘grooming gang’ broadcast

January 13th, 2025 | Posted by admin in Current Issues | Press Releases | Radio - (0 Comments)

Complaint to Radio 4 – Sunday programme with Edward Stourton

The Sunday programme on Radio 4 with Edward Stourton on 12th January 2025 refers to the Hindu Council UK and the Sikh Association UK objecting to the ‘misleading’ word ‘Asian’. In terms of accuracy, for the record, there is no Sikh Association UK that we are aware of, the presenter is likely referring to us – the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) who have worked with the Hindu community since 2012, in raising objection to the word ‘Asian’, and our director had a letter in the Times last week which can be read here: 

Nazir Afzal responds to the question of Hindu and Sikh objections to ‘Asian’ with the following:  

‘I’ve got no problem with what you call it, but I think the Hindu community and the Sikh community (those leaders) need to have a look at themselves as well. Just two years ago Sikh Women’s Aid which is the main body run by women to protect women who are suffering abuse within the Sikh community published their report on abuse within the Sikh community and could you believe it was really really bad; so bad actually that they didn’t want to put their name to it, they reached out to me and said Nazir would you do the foreword for our report, I said why are you asking a Muslim man or British Muslim man to do the report, they said firstly, if we put our names to it they are going to come for us, and secondly we couldn’t find a Sikh man that would put his name to it. As I said, it takes different forms in different communities, but I think British Pakistani men were more engaged in other communities, but in other parts of the country you’ll find a different picture.’[i]

To be clear Sikh Women’s Aid (SWA) focuses on violence against women and girls which is related to domestic, spiritual and sexual violence within the Sikh community. This is different to the subject of the debate which was group-based child sexual exploitation (or ‘grooming gangs’) like in Telford, Rotherham and Rochdale (to name a few), and which has been perpetrated by majority Pakistani Muslim men and the victims have been primarily white working-class girls. 

Indeed, domestic violence (and abuse within faith settings) affects all communities, so Mr Afzal presumably believes the Muslim and Christian communities should also get their house in order on this issue too? Moreover, some domestic abuse from within the Muslim community may well be justified with the interpretation of foundational Islamic texts,[ii] cited by some Imams. The presenter failed to challenge Mr Afzal, firstly in making the distinction between the different issues being discussed, which we believe were deliberately conflated. Second, the presenter should have also been informed of the fact that both Hindu and Sikh communities have also fallen victim of ‘grooming gangs’ too and targeted by men from within the Pakistani Muslim community. The BBC have made a documentary on the issue of British Sikh girls being targeted.[iii] The kidnap, forced conversion, and forced marriage of girls from Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities in Pakistan is well documented. 

Indeed, Mr Afzal did write a foreword (there were several) for SWA’s 2021 report From Her, Kings are Born – Impact and prevalence of domestic and sexual violence in the Sikh/Panjabi Community – authored by Sahdaish Pal and Sukhvinder Kaur. However, it is simply not true the authors did not want to put their name to the report, they did. Second, when Mr Afzal says that no Sikh man would put their name to the same report – again this is simply not true – there were three.[iv] Gurdwara Aid’s Mandip Singh and the late Gurdeep Singh gave a joint foreword, and The National Sikh Police Association’s president – Harvinder Singh Rai wrote one for the report too. So, this needs to be corrected and put on record too. We understand Mr Afzal has not attended any SWA conferences but posted a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) at the time of the 2021 report.[v]

We deserve a right of reply and the opportunity to set the record straight on air ourselves, based on the various inaccuracies, deflection and false information conveyed to the listeners of your flagship programme. 

Network of Sikh Organisations

[i] https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0026tz6

[ii] https://quran.com/en/an-nisa/34

[iii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23921570

[iv] https://www.sikhwomensaid.org.uk/files/Sikh_Womens_Aid_From_Her_Kings_Are_Born.pdf

[v] https://x.com/nazirafzal/status/1462088824763387914

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Joint faith group response: religiously and racially motivated sexual grooming gangs

April 12th, 2023 | Posted by admin in Current Issues | Press Releases - (0 Comments)

FAO: The Rt Hon Suella Braverman KC MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department

As UK faith representatives, we support the ongoing efforts of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who, in the face of some considerable hostility, has courageously spoken out about the over representation of British Pakistani men in sex grooming gangs operating around the UK. The evidence contained within a number of independent inquiries – Rotherham, Telford, and Rochdale support her position on what is indeed a sensitive and difficult matter.

We as faith communities want the government to acknowledge one of the motivations behind these gangs. We believe evidence points to an inconvenient truth. That is: non-Muslim girls (this includes Sikh, Hindu, and White Christian girls) have been systematically targeted in Britain due to a form of religiously and racially motivated hatred. We believe the ‘othering’ of these victims should be considered as an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentence uplift when perpetrators are brought to justice.  

We support Baroness Warsi’s previous position when she said, “a small minority” of Pakistani men see white girls as “fair game” and ask the government to help the Pakistani Muslim community tackle this stain on an otherwise majority law-abiding community.

A Rotherham survivor has confirmed she was targeted for being a ‘white slag’ and because she was ‘non-Muslim’. Judge Gerald Clifton who sentenced men in Rochdale in 2012, made a similar observation in sentencing remarks. He said the Muslim men had targeted their victims because they were not part of the offenders’ ‘community or religion.’

British Sikh and Hindu communities have been complaining about Pakistani grooming gangs since the 1980’s, prior to high-profile cases like Rotherham, Telford, and Rochdale, but complaints have fallen on deaf ears. A television report on BBC1’s Inside Out programme in 2013 was the first high profile media to cover the targeting of Sikh girls, as was coverage in the Times following sentencing of men in Leicester. In recent years Hindu and Sikh community groups have attempted to highlight the targeting of girls within their communities. Despite the BBC interviewing them in 2018, a proposed television report on the issue, was pulled for what we assume to be fear of offending the Muslim community.

The unfortunate consequence of government and police inaction in protecting victims is the hate filled narrative of far-right groups, who maliciously and falsely label all Pakistani Muslim men as ‘groomers’. We can’t allow them to hijack the debate with their poisonous and divisive message, nor can we allow political correctness to stifle obtaining justice for victims by addressing the actions of a minority. Indeed, police failures in protecting young girls from grooming gangs has also contributed to rising community tensions in the UK and has negatively impacted social cohesion.

Although it is good that the ethnicity of offenders is now being recorded, we believe the racial and religious-based motivations behind a significant proportion of perpetrators sentenced in places like Telford, Rotherham, Rochdale – needs to be further explored and openly discussed. Victims deserve justice and deserve to be heard. The first step is being able to discuss the various motivations behind this pattern of criminality freely and fearlessly. Discussion should not be censored by fear of being labelled ‘racist’ or ‘Islamophobic’.  We the undersigned therefore unequivocally support the Home Secretary’s brave and principled stand in addressing this serious issue.

Lord Singh of Wimbledon, Director, Network of Sikh Organisations

Mohan Singh Khalsa, The Sikh Awareness Society UK 

Dal Singh Dhesi, The Sikh Youth Movement UK  

Anil Bhanot OBE, Interfaith Relations Director, Hindu Council UK 

Pt Satish K Sharma MBCS FRSA, Director, Global Hindu Federation  

Vinod Popat, The British Hindu Voice, Hindu Community Organisations Group 

Ashish Joshi, The Media Monitoring Group UK

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Our Director’s letter in the Daily Mirror

July 25th, 2022 | Posted by Singh in Current Issues | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)
DMR_20220725_null_null_01_34Download

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Joint faith group response: culturally motivated sexual grooming

January 15th, 2021 | Posted by Singh in Current Issues | Press Releases - (0 Comments)

As UK faith representatives, we support the persistent efforts of Home Secretary Priti Patel who has in the face of some considerable opposition decided to release the government report on, ‘Group based child sexual exploitation characteristics of offending.’[i] The Home Office report talks of ‘othering’ of victims by perpetrators, but remarkably failed to address one of the more obvious motivations behind street based sexual grooming gangs in the UK – that is culture linked to religion.

We believe the evidence overwhelmingly points to an inconvenient truth that non-Muslim girls (this includes Sikh, Hindu, and Christian heritage girls) have been systematically targeted in Britain, and this aspect of ‘othering’ is culturally motivated hatred. We implore the Home Secretary to have the courage to explore this element, which is critical in understanding the motivations behind street based sexual grooming gangs like those convicted in Rochdale, Rotherham, Telford and Oxford. It is important that we listen to the voice of Muslim leaders like Baroness Warsi, who bravely said, ‘a small minority’ of Pakistani men see white girls as ‘fair game’.[ii]

Victims and others concerned are increasingly speaking out. A Rotherham survivor said she was called a ‘white slag’[iii], and in evidence given to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is quoted to have said perpetrators viewed, ‘kaffir girls as worthless’.[iv] (‘Kaffir’ is a derogatory term for non-Muslims). Judge Gerald Clifton who sentenced men in Rochdale in 2012, made a similar observation in sentencing remarks. He said the men had targeted their victims because they were not part of the offenders’ ‘community or religion.’[v]

Since the 1980s British Sikh and Hindu communities have suffered at the hands of Pakistani grooming gangs.[vi],[vii] A television report on BBC1’s Inside Out programme in 2013 explored this issue – in particular, the targeting of Sikh girls.[viii] In the same year there was a conviction of men with mainly Muslim names in a case in Leicester, in which a Sikh girl was being abused above a restaurant called the Moghul Durbar.[ix],[x]

The establishment’s perceived obfuscation on the issue of race and religion, has created an opportunity for Britain’s far right activists to have a stake in this debate,[xi] in which they unfairly blame Muslims in general. They also blame others from the sub-continent for the behaviour of a minority of Muslims who use a misunderstanding of Islamic teachings to justify the negative treatment of women of other faiths and cultures.

We believe moderate voices in all communities have a duty to promote an open and honest dialogue about the racial and religious drivers behind these crimes, which will help strengthen the image and standing of the majority of British Pakistani Muslim men, who are law abiding citizens.

The Home Office must prioritise this in any subsequent research into the characteristics of those convicted in high profile sexual grooming gang cases, while showing support and understanding to those survivors who are brave enough to speak out about it.   

Signatories:

Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE, Director – Network of Sikh Organisations

Anil Bhanot OBE, Interfaith Director – Hindu Council UK

Rajnish Kashyap MCICM, General Secretary – Hindu Council UK

Arun Thakur, President – National Council of Hindu Temples UK

[i] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/priti-patel-publishes-paper-on-group-based-child-sexual-exploitation

[ii] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18117529

[iii] https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/rotherham-grooming-gang-sexual-abuse-muslim-islamist-racism-white-girls-religious-extremism-a8261831.html

[iv] https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/19095/view/LOY000001.pdf .

[v] https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/you-preyed-on-girls-because-they-were-687987

[vi] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6428197/Sexual-exploitation-British-Sikh-girls-grooming-gangs-ignored-claims-report.html

[vii] https://metro.co.uk/2007/02/22/hindu-girls-targeted-by-extremists-108990/

[viii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039kmx6

[ix] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-23896937

[x] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rising-tensions-between-muslims-and-sikhs-over-hidden-pattern-of-sex-grooming-2nvjjk22mxr

[xi] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslims-extremism-women-far-right-tommy-robinson-rape-a9143671.html

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Home Office report into ‘grooming gangs’

December 18th, 2020 | Posted by Singh in Current Issues | Press Releases - (0 Comments)

The Home Office’s research paper into ‘Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation Characteristics of Offending’ was published earlier this week, but it fails to acknowledge one of the well evidenced motivations behind grooming gangs like those in Rochdale and Rotherham – the religion and culture of the perpetrators.

The report talks of ‘othering’ of victims to justify abuse but fails to accept this also involves ‘othering’ of non-Muslim girls who are considered fair game and worthless. Their abuse is justified by the perpetrators because they are considered inferior. This religion-linked justification empowers the perpetrators who feel they have impunity, whilst sustaining the persecution of the victims. The Home Office’s failure to acknowledge this important driver is most peculiar, given it is clear from the testament of victims (in places like Rotherham), and in the conclusions of the judge in Rochdale, who said the perpetrators targeted their victims because they were outside of their community and religion. In failing to consider this important aspect, the victims have been failed yet again.

For years we’ve highlighted that it’s not only white girls who’ve been targeted by predominantly Pakistani heritage Muslim gangs in street-based sex grooming – it is something that has been an issue for Sikh and Hindu communities for decades, and one that has regrettably triggered vigilante responses by young Sikh men, some of whom have been sent to prison as a result.

Whilst we acknowledge perpetrators come from various ethnic backgrounds, the high-profile cases like Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Telford (to name a few) have involved mainly Pakistani heritage Muslim men and showed a now well-established pattern of criminality which has blighted our country over the last few decades. We understand that it has been difficult to obtain meaningful data on ethnicity of perpetrators, and this has limited the inquiry’s exploration into characteristics of offenders. In fact, in the report’s foreword, Home Secretary Priti Patel writes, ‘Some studies have indicated an over-representation of Asian and Black offenders. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the ethnicity of offenders as existing research is limited and data collection is poor.’

We want to reiterate our position on the vague word ‘Asian’ (which has been used in the report several times), which is offensive to Sikhs and Hindus. This issue has at least now been recognised by the Editors’ Codebook – guidelines which accompany the Editors’ Code of Practice, which are rules the reporting print media has to follow, and is regulated by The Independent Press Standards Organisation.  

It’s time for the Home Office to accept religiosity is one of the drivers behind high-profile sex grooming gangs. If they choose to turn a blind eye, they not only do a disservice to the victims, but fail to build on perpetrator profiles, which will no doubt assist law enforcement agencies now and in the years to come.

Network of Sikh Organisations

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Success in campaign against media’s use of the word ‘Asian’ to describe grooming gangs

December 11th, 2020 | Posted by Singh in Current Issues | Press Releases - (0 Comments)

Over the last few years, we’ve been lobbying for change in the Editors’ Code of Practice which sets out the rules that newspapers and magazines regulated by The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) have agreed to follow. Our issue has been in relation to the print media’s regular and misleading use of the vague word ‘Asian’ to describe those convicted in grooming gang cases in towns like Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford, and Oxford. The perpetrators in such cases have been almost always men of Pakistani Muslim heritage.

We are pleased to say we have succeeded. The latest edition of the Editors’ Codebook (the handbook which accompanies the code) has made a recommendation under the ‘accuracy section’ which reads, ‘Editors may be well advised to approach crimes committed by people identified as members of religious or racial communities with caution – and to be aware that their reporting may, in turn, prompt concern in other communities.’ It goes on, ‘British Sikh and Hindu groups have objected to the use of the word ‘Asian’ to describe those convicted in sexual grooming gang cases. While accurate, it is better to avoid such general descriptions but this may not always be possible,’[i] Although this is a non-binding recommendation – editors will have to pay attention to it when reporting such matters from January 1st, 2021.

Our long running campaign emerged in 2012, when we issued a joint statement the Hindu community to complain about the term, which was reported by the BBC.[ii] The following year we coordinated a petition on the matter following comments from the then MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk. The petition was reported in The Times.[iii] In 2015 we coordinated a letter published in The Times ‘Sexual grooming and the culture of denial’, which not just challenged the vague term ‘Asian’ but also highlighted that both Sikh and Hindu communities have themselves suffered at the hands of grooming gangs. In 2017, our Director Lord Singh came to the defence of Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham who was forced to quit the front bench after pointing out that many perpetrators of sex crimes involving street-grooming were of Pakistani origin, his intervention was supported by Hindu and Christian organisations and was reported in The Times.[iv]

In 2018, we filed a complaint with IPSO for an article in the British tabloid the Mirror that used the term ‘Asian’ six times when describing what the paper termed ‘Britain’s ‘worst ever’ child grooming scandal’, in which approximately 1,000 girls were sexually groomed.[v] At the time we wrote, ‘To put it frankly, the word ‘Asian’ gives the false impression gangs of Indian, Thai, Japanese, or Korean men are rampaging across Britain sexually abusing underage white girls on an industrial scale. Is that fair?’ The complaint was not upheld because IPSO said ‘Asian’ was accurate, nonetheless our complaint triggered complaints from the Hindu and Christian Pakistani community. At this point we knew change was urgently needed.

From around 2018 we raised the issue with IPSO and subsequently produced a Journalists’ guide to Sikhism[vi] (hosted by IPSO on their website which highlighted our concerns on the matter in one section). Our Director Lord Singh of Wimbledon also met the then IPSO Chair Sir Alan Moses, and we subsequently filed a submission (April 2020) to The 2020 Editors’ Code of Practice review in which we specially asked for an acknowledgment of the Sikh and Hindu concerns in editorial guidelines when it comes to the reporting of grooming gangs. We have consistently written about the issue in the media and our efforts with support from our allies have come to fruition.

We’d like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their support over the years. The Hindu Council UK, The Hindu Forum of Britain and in particular Anil Bhanot, Ashish Joshi, Mohan Singh, Trupti Patel and Satish K Sharma. They have all played an important role in making this change happen and have celebrated this success with us. We are grateful for their commitment. Remarkably, in contrast there has been a deafening silence from organisations who purport to represent Sikh interests, who have been distracted with nonsensical ideas like ‘ethnic’ tick boxes, and others who are involved in the interfaith industry, or want to cosy up to civil servants and give the impression they are somehow ‘community leaders’.

Now we have this important recommendation in place which goes as far as asking editors to ‘avoid’ using ‘Asian’, the work is not over. We must now hold journalists, editors, and publications to account when they insist on reporting on grooming gangs as they have previously done so. The good news is we can now point to The Editors’ Codebook in our correspondence which provides a compelling reason to ditch the fudge ‘Asian’.

[Ends]

[i] https://www.editorscode.org.uk/downloads/codebook/Codebook-2021.pdf

[ii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18092605

[iii] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-gangs-asian-label-insults-us-say-hindus-and-sikhs-xfd5dmzgds9

[iv] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/religious-groups-defend-mp-sarah-champion-over-grooming-claim-fnbslnnlm

[v] http://nsouk.co.uk/the-mirrors-recent-article-on-grooming-gangs-and-use-of-the-word-asian/

[vi] https://www.ipso.co.uk/media/1710/nso_ipso_jun_2019.pdf