By Er. Rajesh Pathak (Bhopal)
Indian Americans are the most successful group of any kind in the United States: we have the highest per-capita incomes, the highest educational attainment and the lowest crime rate. Seventy seven percent of us over the age of twenty-five have a college degree (which is two and a half times more than American average); more than half have post graduate degree. We are 8% of American doctors. Around a fifth of all start-ups in Silicon Valley were founded by Indians.' –says America based author, Suketu Mehta , in his book, ‘ This Land Is Our Land…', published in 2019.
Not only in America but wherever in Europe that the Indians live they proudly lead almost same standard of life. Yet one thing that causes extreme fear in them is that lest should they get shrunk from extended Indian family with mother-father and uncle – aunt to that nuclear one with only husband-wife and their children being left to live with . And, more so, this family then completely having perished too, they also would suffer to have got to be mingled with those people living in the cities of America and Europe, whose half of the population is bound to live alone . This fear is not without ground . That the disintegrated family led to what kind of a problem in America could be understood from the speech former President George Bush once made among the school students of the country. He asked-‘Having reached the home do you complete your home-work of the Mathematics? Or else an Indian student might get away with your job in future.' The attention of the student thus drew lies in two contrasting scenarios of family–system there. Reaching home from school where Indian students get the warm presence of same real mother-father; American students face ever new guardian due to frequent divorce or separations.
But now ever more perverted form of the problem has come up to draw the attention of all there. In October 2021 in Bradford, England, a case was registered against Umar, Khalid, Jamil with other 21 Pakistanis in all. They all were found to have indulged in sexual exploitation of an under matured girl continuously for 4 years. Later in-depth enquiry led to revelation that it hadn't been an isolated case of its kind. Behind such cases Pakistanis are involved in a planned way. And finally British home secretary, Suella Baverman, had to come forward to take lead on the issue. She openly stated that British-Pakistanis (who are mentioned as ‘Grooming Gang') are engaged into sexual exploitation of white skinned girls, coming into contact of them with shrewd flirtation. And later enticing them into drug addiction.
According to an estimate 19000 cases have come into light so far!!. Victim girls are reported to be mostly those whose parents are either divorced; or went separation, once under live-in relationship. And now, deprived of emotional guardianship of a family, they suffer lack of proper attention to themselves. Taking advantage of it notorious British-Pakistanis first inches closer into the lives of such girls through ‘online chat', then gradually exploits their vulnerable tender sentiments. Later, having snared them into taking themselves(Pakistanis) for the most trustworthy companion through emotive display of sympathies, they set upon executing their chosen intention .
However in 2005 that such case came into light for the first time. But due to cultural susceptibilities and local and geo-political politics it was avoided to directly take this issue into debate. What is notable is that several constituencies of England have now got to be such that where the Muslim electorates are decisive to affect the results of election. But now Rishi Sunak government has decided to crackdown on grooming gang.
Notably a ‘Joint Faith Group' of Hindu- Sikh living in England welcomed the courageous initiatives taken by Suella Baverman on the matter. It pleaded that the involvement of Pakistanis grooming gang in making non-Muslim girls target should be grasped in the context of their ulterior motives in nutshell.
Refer- ‘This Land Is Our Land- An Immigrant's Manifesto' – Suketu Mehta; ‘Hindu Pratibha Ke Darshan' – Ravi Kumar
(The author is a Civil Engineer and a freelance writer and contributing to national and regional publications)
