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7 January 2011
Last updated at 22:14 ET
Former home secretary Jack Straw has said he believes some Pakistani men in Britain see white girls as "easy meat" for sexual abuse.
Mr Straw was speaking after two Asian men who abused teenage girls in Derby were given indeterminate jail terms.
The Blackburn MP said there was a "specific problem" in some areas where men of Pakistani heritage "target vulnerable white girls".
He called on the Pakistani community to be "more open" about the problem.
He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "Pakistanis, let's be clear, are not the only people who commit sexual offences, and overwhelmingly the sex offenders' wings of prisons are full of white sex offenders.
"But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men... who target vulnerable young white girls.
"We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."
Marriage expectations Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty at a trial in November of charges including rape.
They were the ringleaders of a gang which groomed and abused teenage girls, ranging in age from 12 to 18.
Many of the gang's victims were given alcohol or drugs before being forced to have sex in cars, rented houses or hotels across the Midlands.
Saddique, of Northumberland Street, Normanton, was jailed for at least 11 years and Liaqat, of Briar Lea Close, Sinfin, for a minimum of eight.
Six other men had already been sentenced for their part in the abuse.
The judge in the case said the race of the victims and their abusers was "coincidental", but Mr Straw said vulnerable white girls were at risk of being targeted by some Asian men.
He said his own constituency was one of the areas where it was a problem.
'Self-fulfilling prophecy' "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically," he said.
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"So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care... who they think are easy meat.
"And because they're vulnerable they ply them with gifts, they give them drugs, and then of course they're trapped."
Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Muslim youth group the Ramadhan Foundation, said the abuse was fuelled by racism in parts of the Asian community.
"There is a perception that some of these young men do not see white girls as equal, as valuable, of high moral standing as they see their own daughters, and their own sisters, and I think that's wrong," he said.
"It's a form of racism that's abhorrent in a civilised society."
But Helen Brayley, from University College London's Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, said people should not draw hasty conclusions from the case.
"When you jump in with thinking about race too quickly, you can miss a whole load of other things that are happening in other areas.
"So by racially stereotyping this early on without a national scoping project... you might be leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy of if people are looking for Asian offenders, they will only find Asian offenders."
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Mr Straw was speaking after two Asian men who abused teenage girls in Derby were given indeterminate jail terms.
The Blackburn MP said there was a "specific problem" in some areas where men of Pakistani heritage "target vulnerable white girls".
He called on the Pakistani community to be "more open" about the problem.
He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "Pakistanis, let's be clear, are not the only people who commit sexual offences, and overwhelmingly the sex offenders' wings of prisons are full of white sex offenders.
"But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men... who target vulnerable young white girls.
"We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."
Marriage expectations Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty at a trial in November of charges including rape.
They were the ringleaders of a gang which groomed and abused teenage girls, ranging in age from 12 to 18.
Many of the gang's victims were given alcohol or drugs before being forced to have sex in cars, rented houses or hotels across the Midlands.
Saddique, of Northumberland Street, Normanton, was jailed for at least 11 years and Liaqat, of Briar Lea Close, Sinfin, for a minimum of eight.
Six other men had already been sentenced for their part in the abuse.
The judge in the case said the race of the victims and their abusers was "coincidental", but Mr Straw said vulnerable white girls were at risk of being targeted by some Asian men.
He said his own constituency was one of the areas where it was a problem.
'Self-fulfilling prophecy' "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically," he said.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
It's a form of racism that's abhorrent in a civilised society”
End Quote
Mohammed Shafiq
Ramadhan Foundation
"So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care... who they think are easy meat.
"And because they're vulnerable they ply them with gifts, they give them drugs, and then of course they're trapped."
Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Muslim youth group the Ramadhan Foundation, said the abuse was fuelled by racism in parts of the Asian community.
"There is a perception that some of these young men do not see white girls as equal, as valuable, of high moral standing as they see their own daughters, and their own sisters, and I think that's wrong," he said.
"It's a form of racism that's abhorrent in a civilised society."
But Helen Brayley, from University College London's Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, said people should not draw hasty conclusions from the case.
"When you jump in with thinking about race too quickly, you can miss a whole load of other things that are happening in other areas.
"So by racially stereotyping this early on without a national scoping project... you might be leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy of if people are looking for Asian offenders, they will only find Asian offenders."
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