The recent toxic wave against the Pakistani diaspora in the UK is shocking on many counts. It has surfaced in a big way as evident with the questionable involvement of multi-billionaire Elon Musk.
Memories of past grooming scandal of Northern England were refreshed to criticise the role of British PM Keir Starmer who happened to be the Director of Public Prosecutions back in 2008. It is yet to be exactly understood what actually compelled Elon Musk to recall the 2008 Rochdale case.
Despite unclear intentions, Elon Musk’s criticism of the present British Prime Minister, his Labour Party and accusations of Pakistanis settled in the UK have created wider ripples.
According to the owner of ‘X’ Platform Elon Musk, the present British Prime Minister and his Labour Party willingly avoided strict actions against the Pakistani-origin culprits reportedly involved in the Rochdale grooming scandal.
To be more precise, Elon Musk has accused Labours and Keir Starmer of negligent hesitation against perpetrators just to save the vote bank comprising considerable Pakistani origin settlers.
Crimes like child grooming and organised abuses through exploitative gangs are extremely heinous in nature. No second opinion in modern societies prevails justifying any sort of soft corner for the gangsters involved in child abuses.
The belated awakening of Elon Musk on past crimes triggered hateful sentiments in the UK against Asian settlers specially of Pakistani origin. Ironically, known racist and white supremacist groups joined the chorus and started targeting the Pakistani-origin settlers with serious allegations against the Muslim community residing in the UK.
The scope of the hateful Islamophobic campaign expanded further beyond the boundaries when Indian right-wing extremists belonging to the ruling party BJP jumped on the bandwagon. BJP’s Islamophobic and anti-Pakistan activism is no longer a well-kept secret.
The negative impact of this targeted demonising campaign was so deep that eventually, Pakistan’s foreign office had to counter the baseless allegations against the Pakistani diaspora settled in the UK. Collective demonisation of the whole community, for a past crime committed by a few vagabonds is condemnable. However, by no means such individual acts should be exploited as a tool to demonise the whole community.
Over a period of time, the rapid flow of fake news and hateful content on social media platforms has transformed into a greater challenge for the states. A few months back, the UK faced serious law and order disruptions amid the rapid spread of inflammatory fake news immediately after the murder of a young girl in a Southport stabbing episode.
Social media platforms including space ‘X’ were pointed out by UK authorities for fueling the public sentiments with an unchecked flow of unauthentic news. This venomous campaigning triggered violent anti-migrant riots in the UK.
The recent demonisation of the Pakistani community was rightly termed as ‘Racist’ and ‘Islamophobic’ by the Pakistan foreign office. Strong clarification from the office of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) effectively exposed the baseless accusations against the British Pakistani community.
Richard Fewkes, the director of NPCC’s Hydrant Programme about child sexual abuse rejected the ethnicity-based accusations against settlers in the UK.
According to the police database, 85 percent of group-based child abusers were white men during the first quarter of 2024. These clarifications once again exposed the multiplying negative effects of false social media propagations on societal behaviour.
Tech giants like Elon Musk are blatantly utilising their platforms to perpetuate the violent hateful campaigns against ethnic and religious communities.
The matter turns more intricate when EU countries openly express concerns about Elon Musk’s perception-twisting interventions vis-à-vis questionable alignment of known Islamophobic and racist quarters led by firebrand figures like Tomy Robinson and activists affiliated to Modi’s BJP.
