Khadija Khan, a journalist and commentator who is herself British-Pakistani, told the event: “This issue had been unfolding for years. ... Some men defended these criminals, saying ’they’re from a different culture. They don’t understand these things,' and there was a shrugging of shoulders by the authorities.”
Hardeep Singh, deputy director for the Network of Sikh Organisations, said he had been initially reticent to speak at Thursday’s event in London for fear of opening himself up to accusations of Islamophobia but he said: “There was a conspiracy of silence on the issue because of nervousness over race. That emboldened the perpetrators.”
“If it hadn’t been for Andrew Norfolk we wouldn’t have known about the industrial rape that had been going on.”
‘Non-Muslim Girls Were Called White Trash or Infidels’
Khan said: “There is truth in that. Girls who were non-Muslim were called white trash or infidels.”But she said it was wrong to assume that these men treated Muslim women, within the Pakistani community, with respect.
Khan said: “Religious ideology plays a part. ... Women aren’t treated as equals. Sharia councils are not recognised as lawful but they are a parallel legal system. If you challenge the sharia councils you are seen as challenging the word of God.”
Rakib Ehsan, a writer and senior data analyst with the Centre for Social Justice, told the event part of the problem was that the authorities treated the Pakistani community as if it was “monolithic” and not a collection of individuals.
“This attitude of treating groups as a whole is hugely problematic. It’s the bigotry of low expectations. That you think you will offend the whole group,” he said.
Ehsan said: “A well-integrated British Pakistani family living in Guildford may have a very different view to a traditional family in somewhere like Blackburn.”
He said that, undoubtedly, some British Pakistani men saw white girls as “fair game,” and it was an attitude that persisted.
Singh said he believed the abuse had not stopped and was still going on in towns and cities up and down the country.
Singh said in the past the police and councils in places like Rochdale and Rotherham “made the wrong decision, to sacrifice these girls on the altar of political correctness,” because they feared it would harm “social cohesion” when it has actually played into the hands of the far-right.
“But it’s going on right now and it’s going right now in towns and cities around the country,” Singh added.
Survivor: Responsibility Not Solely With Pakistani Community
Spencer told The Epoch Times, in a direct message on Twitter: “While those particular Muslim men had that view of me, they were only one group of men I was trafficked and raped by. There were also white British men and women, some Italian, at least one Indian Sikh, and people from many different backgrounds involved in my abuse and the abuse of several other girls. I do know that they are still actively abusing other girls as they have specifically told me that. I don’t believe responsibility lies solely with the Pakistani community to address the issue as it’s not strictly a Pakistani issue.”She added: “I have received amazing support in the aftermath, including from people within the Pakistani community. So they definitely aren’t ignoring the issues around sex trafficking. I know there are certain groups out there that do like to push that agenda and only focus on Pakistani abusers but that does nothing to help the victims as our stories are often twisted and cherry picked to a point where the white abusers are completely ignored. That message could see white abusers completely overlooked, resulting in victims of trafficking by anyone but Pakistani men could go completely unnoticed.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Home Office but has not yet received a response.