Thaindian News

London, Mar 18 (ANI): A senior Muslim politician in Britain has voiced his concern that some Pakistani men, who are unhappy with arranged marriages to cousins, target vulnerable young white girls to fulfil their sexual desires.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Britain’s first Muslim peer, is the first politician to make a link between first-cousin marriages and sex crimes by Pakistani men, the Daily Mail reports.

His comments have come following a number of high-profile court cases wherein groups of Pakistani married men have been sentenced for physically engaging themselves with white girls as young as 12 in Derby, Blackburn and Rotherham.

Lord Ahmed, who advocates the end to cousin marriages, said: “They are forced into marriages and they are not happy. They are married to girls from overseas who they don’t have anything in common with, and they have children and a family.”

“But they are looking for fun in their sexual activities and seek out vulnerable girls,” he added.

He also said that these men abuse young white girls, and avoid getting seriously engaged to adult white women fearing that they might be asked to divorce their wives.

“An adult woman - if you are having an affair - would want your time, money and for you to break up your marriage,” Ahmed added.

Earlier, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had expressed outrage over the fact that some Pakistani men look at white girls as ‘easy meat’ for sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, Ahmed said: ‘I get a lot of criticism from Pakistani people who ask, “How can you say this about Pakistani men? But they must wake up and realise there is a problem.”

“I am deeply worried about this as it has happened in my own backyard, and in Rochdale and Bradford. This didn’t happen in my or my father’s generation. This is happening among young Pakistanis. While I respect individual choice, I think the community needs to look at marriages in the UK rather than cousin marriages or economic marriages from abroad,”