UK grooming gangs
\nPakistan says \u201cdemonising\u201d such a large community on basis of actions of few individuals needs to be condemned
\n Islamabad
\nResponding to a recent spate of \u201cxenophobic remarks\u201d, the Foreign Office (FO) on Monday expressed deep concern over the increasingly racist and Islamophobic political and media commentary towards the Pakistani community in the United Kingdom (UK).
\n\u201cPakistan-UK friendship is characterised by warmth, cordiality, robust cooperation and trust. Nurtured over decades this relationship remains an important priority of Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy,\u201d an FO spokesperson said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe deep and multifaceted relations cover important areas including trade and investment, education, security, counter-terrorism, parliamentary cooperation and people-to-people contacts,\u201d said Shafqat Ali Khan, adding: \u201cThe presence of 1.7 million strong British-Pakistani diaspora provides the strongest link between the two friendly countries.\u201d
\nIslamabad\u2019s reaction came after Elon Musk, owner X, falsely accused British-Pakistani men of running grooming gangs in a spate of posts on the microblogging website.
\nThe FO official said that British nationals of Pakistani origin have a rich history of contributing to the UK\u2019s growth, development and, indeed, freedom.
\n\u201cAn exceptionally large number of predominantly Muslim soldiers from what is now Pakistan served in the British Indian army and laid down their lives for the cause of democracy in both world wars,\u201d Khan added.
\nThe official said that British Pakistanis today form the backbone of the UK\u2019s health, retail, and services sectors, adding that many British Pakistanis held high public offices, while thousands served their communities as Members of Parliament, mayors, councillors, and members of local police and municipal services.
\n\u201cBritish Pakistanis have excelled in sports and arts. Their cuisine and music enrich British culture,\u201d said Khan, and concluded, \u201cTo demonise such a large and diverse community on the basis of the actions of a few individuals needs to be condemned.\u201d
\nThe provocative posts from Musk also prompted a response from the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) earlier this month, stating that the vast majority of sexual grooming gang offences are carried out by white men.
\nRichard Fewkes, the director of the NPCC\u2019s Hydrant programme targeting child sexual abuse, said: \u201cThere is no significant issue with any particular ethnicity or setting.\u201d
\nFewkes\u2019s comments come after Musk used his social media platform X to wage an online campaign against the UK government over the issue of grooming gangs, making hideously false allegations against Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had actually ensured that the grooming gangs are prosecuted and punished for their crimes when he was the head of Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) at the height of this scandal involving Pakistanis, Asians, and White men.
\nPreviously, the billionaire also falsely accused the British prime minister of being \u201ccomplicit in the rape of Britain\u201d over his record as a former director of public prosecutions, and called safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a \u201cwitch\u201d and a \u201crape genocide apologist\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK grooming gangs Pakistan says \u201cdemonising\u201d such a large community on basis of actions of few individuals needs to be condemned Islamabad Responding to a recent spate of \u201cxenophobic remarks\u201d, the Foreign Office (FO) on Monday expressed deep concern over the increasingly racist and Islamophobic political and media commentary towards the Pakistani community in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-455137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n