Dear Yvette Cooper, let the Casey review lead to justice – not the scapegoating of British Pakistani culture | Zara Mohammed

Dear Minister of the Interior,

On Monday for the national review of the sexual exploitation of children and its abuse, it was published, Under the leadership of Louise CaseyDistinguish a pivotal moment. Not only in the face of the horrific crimes committed against weak girls in cities such as Rothherham, Rocdale, Oxford and Telford, but in a report how we respond to it as a country.

Casey review It provides realistic narration of institutional failure. These girls were simply let down. They failed in the systems and individuals assigned to protect them. This should not happen again. Justice, accountability and reform are necessary.

I write to you as a British Muslim, a third -generation Pakistani woman, and a person working with societies throughout the country, to express his deep concern about how to talk about this issue and distort this issue.

She asked Mrs. Casey to study race alongside “cultural and social drivers”. The review determines non -proportional numbers of Asian men among the suspects in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. At the same time, it stresses that national data is incomplete and inconsistent. These results are tension. However, the media and the political response have amplified a simplified message: that there is a cover -up and that the race itself was the reason.

In the areas where Pakistani British societies are more populated, the excessive representation may reflect the local population composition, not cultural features. Without this context, statistics are easily distorted. Crime patterns often follow social conditions. It does not reveal cultural readiness.

The way this was framing in fear and alarm on a large scale. Over the past few days, I have received messages from friends and colleagues concerned about the direction of national conversation. Terminology such as “Pakistani rape gangs” or “Asian gangs” dominated newspapers. Social media is mired with commentators who claim the death penalty and a ban on Pakistani migration, while a He called the deputy to be deported In “many, thousands”. A complex issue is reduced to harmful generalizations.

The claim that the British Pakistani culture itself is to blame these crimes not only incorrect – it is dangerous distortion, When sexual exploitation and abuse of use affect the entire country. There is no reliable evidence that race or religion is driving factors in this type of abuse. Converting this into a issue of identity rather than accountability leads to the shift of attention away from the systems that have failed to protect weak girls. Prejudice is allowed to disguise as a policy, and it cannot pass without challenge.

When the culture is called without evidence or definition, it does more than the mystery of facts – it receives full groups of people under doubt. This has real consequences for people like me, my family and neighbors, who are seen not as citizens, but as possible threats. The danger now is that bias are included in politics. Consequently, institutional failures in protection and accountability are re -presented to legitimize the collective blame of British Muslims.

We have already seen what this type of frame can raise. Last summer, Riots erupted In cities across England and Northern Ireland, which has been afflicted with wrong information and inflammatory rhetoric. I was attacked by mosques and community centers. The vehicles were stopped because the drivers “seemed Asian”. Just a few days ago, in the e -Yomina, there were racist motivated attacks on foreigners that “left the families wandering in their homes”, According to the policeDays after the turmoil that left societies in fear and distress. Even in Liverpool, after a car gathered to the fans for a soccer procession, the police rushed to confirm the sweat of the suspect, a reflection of the extent of the weather, and the fear that the wrong information can raise the disturbances associated with race. This is the climate in which any government intervention is now sits. The need is not just a cause and a quiet but the initial defense of minority societies, of fairness and ratio, urgent.

The pain of the survivors should remain in the midst of this conversation. Justice for them is not negotiable. We should also not forget that some of the victims came from minority societies that are now subject to scrutiny. Their experiments are often erased. The perpetrators did not care about their victims. Their motives were abuse, control and exploitation.

Casey Review provides an opportunity to enhance protection and rebuild confidence. We can only do that if we stay on the ground in the evidence, not bias, in responsibility, and not a speech.

The next investigation must study how these crimes were allowed to happen, how institutions have failed to respond and how to prevent such an attack in the future. It should not allow the story to become one of the racist doubts. This path does not lead to justice, but to division.

British Muslims, like all citizens, want justice and safety. We want our institutions to behave fairly and in conjunction. What we do not want is to feel cooperation in the crimes we did not commit.

Criminals must face the law, whatever it is.

• Zara Muhammad is the former Secretary -General of the Islamic Council of Britain

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