Labour MP for Blackburn, Jack Straw has been slammed by a leading Pakistani political campaigner for comments made by the former home secretary.
Mr Straw who has been an MP for more than 30 years has claimed Pakistani men see white girls as being "easy meat". Mr Straw's comments come after two men from Asian heritage were sent to prison for a sexual abuse network that they ran in Derby.
Irfan Ahmed who is from a Pakistani background and someone who lives in a large Asian populated community has called for the resignation of Mr Straw as MP for Blackburn.
Blackburn is an area that is highly populated with the Pakistani community.
Speaking after the call for Mr Straw to resign, Irfan Ahmed said:
"Straw has branded the Pakistani community in a way that is unacceptable and should resign as the MP for Blackburn.
"The comments by Mr Straw are on the borderline of being linked to racism."
Irfan added that he believes a detailed investigation needs to take place to find patterns in the crimes that have taken place surrounding grooming and the problem needs to be addressed at a nation-wide level and no single community should be singled out.
Irfan Ahmed also praised comments by Keith Vaz MP and Khalid Mahmood MP who both asked for evidence from Mr Straw, instead of cheap political shots as he has made over this issue.
"We need to tackle the problems surrounding grooming but what we can't have is MPs simply pointing the finger at the Pakistani community for a crime which a minority commits.
“The majority, if not all the Pakistani community is against such acts, these men did not act in-line with the Islamic teachings or the Pakistani culture and ways. These men have brought shame upon not only the Pakistani community but the Muslim community on a whole.
"I congratulate the police and all the other agencies that are bringing these gangs of dirty criminals who commit such indecent crimes down.”
Irfan Ahmed also asked the Blackburn based editor of Political Scrapbook, Mr Laurence Durnan to condemn the comments by Mr Straw and to openly defend the Pakistani community that live in large numbers in Blackburn.