New Delhi:
Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said the blame for grooming gangs in UK cannot be laid on Asia, but “one rogue nation” Pakistan, a statement SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said was “true”.
Her statement came on a day the UK’s opposition Conservative party had sought to use Parliamentary debate to force the establishment of a new national inquiry into widespread sexual abuse of primarily white British girls by men of mostly Pakistani origin in various northern English towns, spanning several decades.
Ms Chaturvedi objected to Britain’s Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement on Monday in which he said that during his time as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between 2008 and 2013, he had brought the first prosecution of an Asian grooming gang.
True
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 8, 2025
The grooming gangs row has increased the pressure on Mr Starmer, who was CPS at the time of the scandals. He hit out this week at “lies and misinformation” around the issue.
Mr Musk has over the past week made repeated attacks against Mr Starmer, with the latter rejecting calls for the new inquiry. He instead stated that the priority should be on taking implementing recommendations from a previous, extensive seven-year inquiry, which provided nearly two dozen suggestions on tackling the issue.
The focus in the UK was also on the children’s bill, which would require all local authorities to hold a register of children who are not in school, calling it part of wider efforts to protect vulnerable youngsters.
The children’s bill was introduced and backed by UK lawmakers months after the case of 10-year-old British-Pakistan girl Sara Sharif was found dead in her home outside London in August 2023 with extensive injuries including broken bones, burns and even bite marks after being subjected to years of abuse. Her father Urfan Sharif and step-mother Beinash Batool were convicted of her murder last month and given life sentences in prison.
MPs progressed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to the next stage of the parliamentary process without the need for a further formal vote.
