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| Britain |
| Muslims accused of rape, pressure, threats, blackmail to make student girls convert |
| 2007-03-04 |
| Follow-up on a story already evoked here. Comments at link are interesting, if only becasue there's mention of copts in egypt, and the practise of "grooming" (sexual predation upon and/or forced prostitution of young non-muslim girls, sometimes as young as preteens) in the UK. Nicola Woolcock Radical Muslims are being accused of blackmailing young Hindu and Sikh women into changing religion in “groomed conversions” on campuses. The men aggressively target vulnerable university students by using the fear of being dishonoured to force them to convert, community leaders have told The Times. Many befriend their victims, then threaten to tell their families that they are in a sexual relationship with a Muslim. Some teenagers are said to have been drugged and photographed in compromising positions. Many comply because they are so afraid of shaming their parents or being rejected by their communities. Police are aware of the problem. Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, recently attended a Hindu conference where the issue was raised. But police are powerless to act unless incidents are reported. This rarely happens because the stigma of a child converting to Islam often silences Sikh and Hindu parents. Community elders say that the practice is widespread but their estimates vary from 100 annual incidents nationwide to 120 in the past few months in the South East alone. Ranjeet Singh, of the British Organisation of Sikh Students, said: “There are cases of aggressive techniques, of drugging and of rape, of the man taking photos and blackmailing the girls into converting. “They know that by dishonouring the girls, they will make their families disown them. In the past few months there have been about 120 cases in Luton and the South East. It’s a problem that has been going on for a while, but a lot of people are reluctant to come forward and there’s not much being done. “It’s not the whole Muslim community, it’s extremist individuals. Some girls are very innocent and vulnerable when they go to university. Then they are befriended by these men. We know of some whose lives have been ruined.” Some of the young women have suffered physical violence. Others have said that the men claimed to have been paid to convert their victims. Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said: “The main problem is these girls feel very vulnerable and intimidated by these men. They talk about it to their friends, who tell us what is happening, but don’t want to speak to the police. Some families are completely broken apart by it. It becomes difficult to admit in public. “One girl was beaten up when she refused to convert. She is petrified. She only spoke to one other girl about it, who contacted us.” One Sikh organisation sets up telephone helplines and arranges visits to temples to raise awareness of the problem. Its leader, who wishes his identity and the group’s to remain anonymous, said: “This is very much taboo. These issues have been going on for many years and come to the boil at university. “I deal with many very serious cases. There are horrific examples of abuse and blackmail, with men saying they’re going to tell the girl’s parents. Then they’re pretty much trapped. We call it groomed conversions. Some of the girls go through with it because they feel they have no choice. “The men start a relationship with them, with the agenda of conversion down the line. Sometimes they take a picture of her in a compromising position. It’s so easy with camera phones. An 18-year-old girl ends up in a situation that she can’t control.” He said that the extremists were exploiting the Sikh community’s tendency to treat conversion as a grave dishonour, adding: “That’s a cultural mindset we need to tackle. It’s the worst thing you could face — worse than bankruptcy or losing your job.” A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed that officers had attended a Hindu security conference last month. She said: “We are aware of it as an issue that concerns the Hindu community but are not aware, without further research, of any specific incidents reported to police. We would encourage anyone who has been targeted in this way to seek help.” |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #5 Catch the young boys that are doing this. Break their hands across the knuckles, about halfway between knuckle and wrist, and at the wrist. Use something HARD AND HEAVY to do it. Drop them off on a dark, lonely back road. Their hands will be completely useless by the time they can get help. A handless man in a Muslim society is about as low as a person can get in that society. Let them live out THEIR lives feeling the same shame those girls they target feel. It won't stop the behavior, but it will cause the Muslims to feel less threatening and more threatened - a position that will make a few of them leave to go back where they came from. It also reflects poorly on their family that they have someone who cannot do his own ablutions before prayer, can't follow Muslim "traditions", or the rules of the Koran. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-04 17:49 |
| #4 When are we going to start reading about an epidemic of young Muzzy men found hanging by the neck from trees? Or of Muzzy mosques blown apart by car bombs? Or of Muzzies fleeing to avoid the justified outrage of non-Muzzy inhabitants seeking to repay some of the violence they've received at Muzzy hands? All this stuff is long overdue. I'm absolutely amazed there haven't been more Baruch Goldsteins yet. I suspect it won't be long before we see more of his ilk. |
| Posted by: mac 2007-03-04 14:05 |
| #3 The solution to much of this crapola is twofold. First, parents need to change their daughters' perceptions of the world, that it is not their fault if they are menaced, threatened or attacked. Nor do they lose ANY honor by resisting. Second, that small pocket knives become as common with girls as they used to be with Boy Scouts. And with the expectation that if they ever feel threatened, that they draw and use those pocket knives to protect themselves. A 2" slash will stop most attackers, but is very hard to prove is life-threatening. Plus, it is usually obvious where and how the cut was made if it was offensively or defensively done. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-04 09:25 |
| #2 Although he is not mentioned here, Mr Dinesh DSouza needs to read this article and recognize what one treacherous effect of his "align with traditional cultures" proposal is. Giving free rein to "traditional" cultures that shame women in order to wiggle out of confronting the dangers in Islam is going to sow misery among women and is not going to help our 21st century clash. The Muslims in this story are exploiting Sikh and Hindu cultural "traditions" re shaming women and are still forcing Islam on others, not smiling in accommodation of others' religion or "traditional" values. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-04 08:12 |
| #1 “They know that by dishonouring the girls, they will make their families disown them. ..." For which I blame the Hindu and Sikh families. In its own way, this is just as bad as the castrati Swedes who do nothing while their daughters are gang-raped. If a young women was drugged, raped and photographed in New Jersey I would expect every man in the extended family to offer support and sympathy to her after permanently addressing the problem at the source. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-04 08:05 |