Ex-Muslim Council of Britain Chief Warns Grooming Gang Review Leading to ‘Scapegoating’ of Pakistani Culture

The former head of the Muslim Council of Britain has warned that the recent review on child rape grooming gangs threatens the “the scapegoating of British Pakistani culture” and the Islamic community.

A government-backed review published this week, which gathered already public data from past reports, found “clear evidence” of links between Pakistani-heritage men and cases of group child sex exploitation, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday.

In response to Baroness Louise Casey’s review findings, the left-wing Labour Party government of Sir Kier Starmer made an embarrassing u-turn in its position and finally backed calls for a full national inquiry despite previously saying those who supported such measures were jumping on the “bandwagon of the far-right.”

The inquiry will examine the failures and cover-ups of local authorities and police, which were allegedly motivated by politically correct fears of appearing racist due to the prevalence of ethnic minorities, specifically Pakistani-heritage men amongst grooming gang child sex abuse of mostly young and disadvantaged white girls.

The review also called for “better data collection and research into ethnicity and cultural issues that might improve our understanding of offending and increase our chances of tackling it.”

In response, Zara Mohammed, former secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain and a third-generation British Pakistani, warned that the national inquiry could risk demonising the Pakistani community and “legitimise the collective blame of British Muslims.”

In an open letter to Home Secretary Cooper published in the left-wing Guardian newspaper, Mohammed wrote: “The claim that British Pakistani culture itself is to blame for these crimes is not only untrue – it is a dangerous distortion, when child sexual exploitation and abuse affects the entire country.

“There is no credible evidence to suggest that ethnicity or religion are driving factors in this form of abuse. Turning this into a question of identity rather than accountability shifts attention away from the very systems that failed to protect vulnerable girls. It allows prejudice to masquerade as policy, and that cannot go unchallenged.”

The former leader of the Muslim Council of Britain went on to surmise that “in areas where British Pakistani communities are more populous, over-representation may reflect local demographics, not cultural traits.”

“Without that context, statistics are easily distorted. Crime patterns often follow social conditions. They do not reveal cultural predisposition,” she asserted, saying that the review risks “scapegoating of British Pakistani culture”.

Mohammed said that the public conversation surrounding the child rape grooming gangs has “caused widespread fear and alarm” within the British Muslim community.

“Terms like ‘Pakistani rape gangs’ or ‘Asian grooming gangs’ have dominated headlines. Social media are awash with commentators calling for the death penalty and a ban on Pakistani migration, while a sitting MP has called for deportations in the ‘many, many thousands’. A complex issue is being reduced to harmful generalisations,” she wrote.

The activist went on to suggest that “this kind of framing” could potentially lead to repeats of the recent riots in Northern Ireland after two Romanian-speaking teens were charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year old girl or the protests and riots that broke out following the mass stabbing at a Southport children’s dance party last summer by second generation migrant Axel Rudakubana.

“… the fear that misinformation could spark race-related unrest. This is the climate in which any government intervention now sits. The need for not just reason and calm but a principled defence of minority communities, of fairness and proportion, is urgent,” Mohammed said.

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