Britain: How Pakistani rape gangs run amok as the state is obsessed with political correctness

Immigration is that reality of our times that cannot be wished away by any means. The transcontinental flow of people as well as goods is a daily truth of today’s highly interconnected global economy. Every single year, more than 1.2 million people migrate to the United Kingdom alone in search of a better life. Yet immigration not only becomes a nuisance when the new arrivals ignore the local culture and customs, but it also becomes a major threat to the law and order in the host country when they indulge in the most gruesome activities, leading words to fall short and all logical ability to fail in comprehending what just happened.

Picture this: in the last 25 years, there have been more than ten major cases of grooming gangs systematically exploiting children and young women across various towns in the United Kingdom. This includes the widely covered Rotherham case, where more than 1,400 children were sexually abused between the years 1997 and 2013, as well as other cases, including those in Rochdale, Telford, Oxford, Huddersfield, Newcastle, and Oldham. As per certain estimates, more than 250,000 White girls have been abused to date by the grooming gangs, the majority of whom were barely teenagers. Their ordeal as captured in transcripts is too graphic to share, making one wonder how perverse a human being can become to a vulnerable child.

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‘Grooming gangs’, as they are widely known, basically refer to an organised syndicate that systematically targets, grooms, and sexually exploits vulnerable people, mainly children and young adults. They start by building a relationship of trust and affection with the victim and later exploit them with highly coordinated sexual abuse involving multiple perpetrators. But the term ‘grooming gang’ is a misnomer. What these criminals actually indulge in can be easily referred to as “rapes” but till date, they are referred to as ‘grooming gangs’ only by the media as well as the law enforcement agencies.

This is something that even the famous author JK Rowling has also called out recently, urging people to refer to them as “rape gangs” instead. Another major issue with the way these cases are reported in the media or handled by law enforcement agencies is the use of the term ‘Asian men’ or ‘South Asian heritage’ to describe the perpetrators. This is when almost every single major case has so far involved British males of Pakistani origin as the culprits. Yet, the frame of reference used to describe them continues to be a vague one suggesting that it is males from all of the Asian continent or the Indian subcontinent that are indulging in such behaviour. It not only paints a target on the back of a much larger community without any fault of theirs but also helps the real culprits evade action, leading to more and more such cases.

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Currently, a heated debate is going on in the country over the absolute failure of the state in protecting the young girls from these sexual predators over the last two decades. There are also questions regarding the propensity of the civil society to safeguard the culprits in the name of diversity, racial justice, and other such ideals. Although the debate gathered momentum after comments from noted public figures such as Elon Musk and JK Rowling. But what has also contributed to a fresh discussion over these crimes is former Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s scathing attack on the currently serving Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips for refusing an inquiry into the grooming gangs of Oldham.

Phillips reportedly comes from a constituency, Birmingham Yardley, where there is a significant population of Pakistani-origin people, which some social media accounts are citing as the reason for this refusal. Meanwhile, Braverman continues to be that one leader who has always clearly outlined the facts of grooming gangs in the public domain. Earlier in 2023, while still serving as the home secretary, Braverman had come under attack for asserting that an overwhelming number of grooming gang members were of Pakistani origin. Her claim was heavily contested, with a large section of the media even branding her a ‘racist’. Even the press regulator in the country had termed her claim as incorrect in a ruling.

But today Braverman is not the only person in the country to make such an assertion. In fact, as disturbing details of the grooming cases are emerging with transcripts of victims’ versions being shared publicly, a large number of people are siding with Braverman. Many of them have even taken to social media and are writing that if calling a spade a spade makes them a ‘racist’ or ‘far right’ then so be it. What has also enraged them is the fact that an influential journalist, Tommy Robinson, who has often spoken against grooming gangs, continues to be in prison for making child abuse allegations against a Syrian refugee, with a campaign to malign him going on currently.

Robinson is a well-known activist-journalist who has recorded the plight of grooming gang victims in great detail through his documentaries. The rot seems to run so deep that while calling for Robinson’s release on social media platform X, Musk also attacked the current UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, as well. In the UK, serious crimes such as rapes require approval of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to charge suspects, and Starmer had served as the head of the CPS between 2008 and 2013. Starmer himself has admitted in the past that the CPS had let down many victims on his watch, with ethnicity being a major issue in prosecuting the perpetrators. In his defence, he had launched certain reforms as well to enable a higher conviction rate, but it seems that it was just not sufficient.

Anyway, the current debate aside, what is happening in the UK in the form of grooming gangs seems to be the biggest fallout of immigration in the recent decades. Although it has become a fact of life across all modern nation-states, these countries are also supposed to run on the principles of religious, linguistic, and racial equality so that everyone alike can live in a safe and protected environment. Yet sometimes in the name of these very principles, the system ends up actively supporting criminals such as these gangs. This is because in the name of political correctness, the law and order machinery, as well as civil society, ends up providing a cover for deranged elements that, on the other hand, need to be dealt with strictly.

For instance, there is a raging debate on the ethnicity of the perpetrators involved in these crimes, with the media as well as certain civil society organisations labelling anyone who calls them of ‘Pakistani origin’ as ‘Islamophobic’, ‘racist,’ or ‘far right’ but there is little effort actually spent by the state in recording the data on ethnicity so that precautionary measures can be taken to stop them in advance. The irony being that the grooming gang members target their victims by taking their background into account, where they purposely target young White women and term them of a ‘loose character,’ but as per the response provided to a ‘Freedom of Information’ request (the UK equivalent to India’s Right to Information), no data on the background or ethnicity of the perpetrators is recorded by the government authorities. The fact that, despite such cases being so rampant in the country, little authoritative data is available regarding the perpetrators shows that the state has not only failed in its very basic duty to protect children and young girls but also it has also ended up playing the role of an enabler.

There may be many reasons for the state to not collect such data, but a major one is the fear that it may breed racial stereotypes, leading to racial targeting or discrimination in the society. This is one of the main reasons cited by lobbies that represent the Pakistani community. But this still does not provide a sufficient basis to not collect ethnicity data because actionable data, if collected in a proper way, can be used to enforce certain measures internally that can protect victims even if it is not made available through a public database.

One particular use can be to undertake surveillance of people of this particular ethnicity when they are employed in jobs that have a direct relation with grooming gang cases. This reminds me of the case of one Shabir Ahmed, who was the ringleader of a notorious grooming gang, and yet he was employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council, where he ran the grooming gang from the welfare office itself. There are various social media handles that are sharing the ordeal of a 12-year-old girl who went to seek legal action but was repeatedly raped due to his position.

If we observe what is happening in the UK currently, it seems like a classic case of a culture of silence that has emerged around the criminal practice of grooming gangs. Many ordinary people from towns where such gangs are active are shocked at how the local law and order machinery and even the media have not allowed the truth to emerge. But this is not the sign of a civilised society in any manner. Protecting children and young adults from sexual abuse is the responsibility of the state. But if the state is choosing political correctness and appeasement of a certain section to avoid fulfilling this duty, then it is definitely a worrying fact. The only way out from this troubling situation is a backlash by the ordinary people of the country, especially those who are parents of young girls. If a certain community can twist the machinery to get away with a crime as heinous as grooming and sexual abuse, then clearly, the actual civil society also needs to stand up and seek accountability from their lawmakers. The political correctness of the system has put the lives of so many vulnerable people at risk. It is high time that questions are raised against the state, which has apparently taken on the role of an enabler.

The author is a New Delhi-based commentator on geopolitics and foreign policy. She holds a PhD from the Department of International Relations, South Asian University. She tweets @TrulyMonica. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.