This was a recent article on the Guardian website. The Guardian is a well respected UK newspaper, not a tabloid.
Article follows:
Call to prosecute anti-Muslim Facebook group
Riazat Butt
Friday September 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
People accusing Muslims of drugging, beating and raping Sikh women should be prosecuted for inciting religious hatred, an expert on religion has told Guardian Unlimited.
Philip Lewis, who is the Bishop of Bradford’s aide on interfaith matters, was responding to claims posted by a group on the social networking site Facebook.
The group is called STOP OUR SIKH SISTERS BEING DRUGGED, RAPED, BEATEN AND USED FOR PROSTITUTION and claims that Sikh, Hindu and white girls from the ages of 13 to 22 are “being held against their will, drugged and gang raped” for the “pleasure” of Muslim extremists.
12.15pm
Call to prosecute anti-Muslim Facebook group
Riazat Butt
Friday September 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
People accusing Muslims of drugging, beating and raping Sikh women should be prosecuted for inciting religious hatred, an expert on religion has told Guardian Unlimited.
Philip Lewis, who is the Bishop of Bradford’s aide on interfaith matters, was responding to claims posted by a group on the social networking site Facebook.
The group is called STOP OUR SIKH SISTERS BEING DRUGGED, RAPED, BEATEN AND USED FOR PROSTITUTION and claims that Sikh, Hindu and white girls from the ages of 13 to 22 are “being held against their will, drugged and gang raped” for the “pleasure” of Muslim extremists.
Article continues
There is no evidence on the site to support the claims and Singh Kaur, the group’s creator, provides no information about sources. But the group has attracted 2,900 members with nearly all of them young British Sikhs.
Dr Lewis said: "If there is a serious concern being raised then it’s a matter for the police. If there is not a case to be answered, people need to be prosecuted.
“It is pernicious rumour-mongering that needs to be exposed. It’s a form of slander. It is exacerbating relations between communities.”
He said the issue was not on the radar of religious groups in Bradford, one of the “hotspots” cited by the group.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said there was no evidence that such activity was taking place in London, another allegedly “affected area”.
One anti-racism activist urged people to either come forward with evidence or stop agitating.
Rob Deeks works for Aik Saath, a project that brings together Sikh, Muslim and Hindu youths from the Slough area, in Berkshire. It was set up after clashes between young people from different Asian communities.
He said: “Whoever is behind it is doing a good job of stirring up ill feeling. What’s more worrying is there are 3,000 people who believe these claims.”
The Facebook row is the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities about forced or aggressive conversions.
Senior figures from Hindu and Sikh groups have accused Muslims of using underhand, sometimes violent, methods to convert girls to Islam. There has never been a formal investigation and there is no official complaint on record.
However one Sikh organisation said there was evidence of “heavy proselytising” on university campuses. Indarjit Singh, from the Network of Sikh Organisations, said: “The community is very concerned.”
My thoughts:
I have some close Indian friends, so it hurts me to see this, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least. For years Indian groups have spread lies about Muslims in the UK and Pakistanis in particular.
If you read the above article you will notice there has been no prosecution or evidence supporting these lies, but yet this group gets 3000 members willing to believe Muslims have been drugging and raping Sikh, Hindu and Christian girls.
As I said, this is nothing new, sadly. When I was at college years ago the Sikh students circulated a letter warning Indian girls that Pakistanis were wearing turbans and other Sikh symbols to attract Indian girls -this was complete BULLSH1T!
Very recently a Sikh girl in my area converted to Islam. She converted out of free choice however her family tracked down the Muslim family who gave her shelter and attacked their home. The family is currently planning on fleeing the country.
To make matters worse, the Sikhs held protests and marches claiming Muslims were FORCING their girls to convert to Islam. This is after ONE conversion by free choice, they then go on to claim that hundreds of girls are being forcibly converted!
I realise animosity exists between Indians, specifically Sikhs and Hindus and Muslims (Pakistanis to be specific), but the difference has generally been Pakistanis will try and address the problems face to face whereas the Indian groups will spread rumours and disinformation. Generally they try and influence white peoples’ thinking, trying to promote their (Indian) belief that Pakistanis and Muslims are thugs and criminals.
The truth is we, Indians and Pakistanis, are not very different at all. Although of course, we practice different faiths (I realise there is a large population of Muslims in India). What also saddened me in the past is that some Indian Muslims I met held negative views of Pakistanis also, often without any evidence, just general prejudiced thinking and views.
NOTICE- the above article mentions there is no evidence for the above claims of rape, yet the Indian/Sikh group they talk to at the end of the article ignores this and says there are issues with Muslim students on university campuses. This has nothing to do with the claims of rape and violence, they know that the facebook group is peddling lies yet they try and divert attention onto other issues.
The sad truth is that we should all be trying to live in peace and harmony.
:halo:
