Pakistani Taliban commander shot dead in Waziristan

A top commander of the Pakistani Taliban was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Monday in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, security sources and family members in the tribal region told Reuters.

Asmatullah Shaheen was on the Pakistan army’s list of twenty most wanted Taliban commanders, and had a $ 120,000 bounty placed on his head since 2009.

He was appointed as interim chief of the Pakistan Taliban following the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader, in a US drone strike on Nov. 1.

Shaheen’s killers ambushed his car as it passed through Dargah Mandi, a village three miles northwest of Miranshah, the regional capital of North Waziristan.

“Unidentified gunmen in another car shot and killed Shaheen as well as the driver and guards,” a family member told Reuters.

Security sources also confirmed the deaths.

The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s democratically elected government and impose Sharia law in the nuclear-armed nation.

Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May, promising a negotiated end to violence. His stance unnerved global powers already worried that withdrawal of most US-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014 would leave a security vacuum.

Peace talks between the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents began on Feb. 6 but broke down last week after insurgents said they executed 23 men from a government paramilitary force in revenge for the killing of their fighters by army forces.

Shaheen was considered one of the proponents of peace talks, according to sources close to the Taliban.

The failure to reach a negotiated settlement has raised the specter of a major military offensive in North Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where Al Qaeda-linked militants are based.

On Sunday, Pakistani fighter jets attacked suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas on the Afghan border. The army said they killed at least 38 insurgents in the third air strike in recent days.

On Saturday, at least nine people were killed in similar strikes in Hangu district. On Feb. 20, 15 suspected militants were killed when army jets bombed the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.

(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/pakistan/140224/pakistani-taliban-commander-shot-dead-waziristan

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Pakistani Taliban commander shot dead in Waziristan

Saudi Arabia ‘seeking Pakistani arms for Syrian rebels’

Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance in the war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a Saudi source said Sunday.

The United States has long opposed arming the rebels with such weapons, fearing they might end up in the hands of extremists, but Syrian opposition figures say the failure of Geneva peace talks seems to have led Washington to soften its opposition.

Pakistan makes its own version of Chinese shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, known as Anza, and anti-tank rockets — both of which Riyadh is trying to get for the rebels, said the source, who is close to Saudi decision-makers, requesting anonymity.

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Pakistani Muslims Can Have You Arrested If They Don’t Like You - ‘Firecracker’ conspiracy theory leads to arrest and torture of Christians

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Pakistani Muslims Can Have You Arrested If They Don’t Like You - ‘Firecracker’ conspiracy theory leads to arrest and torture of Christians

Pakistani police raid school occupied by militants, official says

• Fifty militants were rounded up following the gunfire


• The gunbattle lasted more than four hours, official says

(CNN) — Pakistani police raided a school occupied by militants Saturday, killing four people, authorities said.

The attack occurred at a school in Swabi city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to senior police official Haji Khan.

Fifty militants were rounded up following the gunfire, which lasted more than four hours, he said.

A massive amount of arms and ammunition were recovered from the school.

Swabi is the hometown of Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, the deputy chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reiterated in parliament this week that he still wants to hold talks with militants instead of resorting to a military operation.

A four-member committee has been appointed to push forward with negotiations.

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Pakistani police raid school occupied by militants, official says

Pakistani teen who stopped suicide bomber to get posthumous award

A Pakistani teenager who sacrificed his life to stop a suicide bomber, saving the lives of hundreds of students, has been honoured with the country’s highest award for bravery.

Aitzaz Hassan, 15, a student in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has become a national hero after tackling the bomber who came to attack his school on Monday while hundreds of students were inside.

Hassan died in hospital after the bomber blew himself up at the school gates. No one else was wounded or killed in the incident.

The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said it had advised President Mamnoon Hussain “to approve the conferment of Sitara-e-Shujjat (star of bravery) to Shaheed Aitzaz Hassan.

“Shaheed Aitzaz’s brave act saved the lives of hundreds of students and established a sterling example of gallantry and patriotism,” it said in a statement issued late Friday.

An official from the Prime Minister’s house told AFP on Saturday that Hassan’s family is expected to receive the posthumous award on March 23, Pakistan‘s national day, following the president’s ceremonial approval.

News of Hassan’s act led to an outpouring of tributes on social media.

Pakistani newspapers, TV channels and social media sites had demanded recognition for Hassan’s bravery, calling him a hero who should receive the nation’s highest award.

Locals from Hassan’s village, Ibrahimzai in Hangu district, and Pakistan army officers laid floral wreaths on his grave on Saturday as relatives looked on and wept.

Students held a vigil and carried placards condemning the killing and terrorism.

A military statement on Saturday said Brigadier Nadeem Zaki Manj, a local commander in Hangu, visited Hassan’s grave and laid a floral wreath on behalf of General Raheel Sharif, the head of Pakistan’s army.

The commander also conveyed Sharif’s “rich tributes to the bereaved family on the bravery and sacrifice” of their son, the statement added.

“The Nation is proud of this young Hero who has set a sterling example of bravery and sacrifice… he has sacrificed his today for our better tomorrow,” the army chief said in a message for Hassan’s father.

Hundreds of fellow students prayed for Hassan in the morning school assembly.

Shahban Mahdi, a classmate of Hassan, told AFP: “I am proud of what he did. I owe my life to him — had it not been for Aitzaz Hassan, none of us would be alive.”

Habib Ali, one of Hassan’s teachers, added: “His classmates miss him…but they promise they will not forget him always and will keep his memory alive. And we say to all terrorists: you cannot stop us, and we will keep on studying.”

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban for championing girls’ right to education, paid tribute to the teenager on Friday, describing him as “brave and courageous.”

“In sacrificing his own life, Aitzaz protected hundreds of innocent young students from being killed,” she said in a statement.

“I wish that in giving his own life he helps to bring peace to my people and my country,” she said.

Hassan’s father Mujahid Ali Bangash, 55, told AFP on Thursday he felt not sadness but pride at his son’s death.

“Aitzaz has made us proud by valiantly intercepting the bomber and saving the lives of hundreds of his fellow students,” he said.

“I am happy that my son has become a martyr by sacrificing his life for a noble cause.”

Bangash works in the UAE and was only able to reach Ibrahimzai village, which lies in an area of Hangu dominated by minority Shiite Muslims, the day after his son’s funeral.

Police official Shakirullah Bangash told AFP on Thursday that Aitzaz intercepted the bomber 490 feet away from the main gate of the school, which has about 1,000 students.

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Pakistani teen who stopped suicide bomber to get posthumous award

Pakistani party turns up heat on CIA drone strikes

Shireen Mazari, information secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, shows a document during a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. A political party opposed to U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan revealed what it said was the name of the top CIA spy in the country on Wednesday and called for him and the head of the agency to be tried for a recent missile strike. Pakistani police and intelligence officials have said the attack on an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district on Nov. 21 killed five people. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

Shireen Mazari, information secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, shows a document during a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. A political party opposed to U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan revealed what it said was the name of the top CIA spy in the country on Wednesday and called for him and the head of the agency to be tried for a recent missile strike. Pakistani police and intelligence officials have said the attack on an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district on Nov. 21 killed five people. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

Shireen Mazari, center, information secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, addresses a news conference with party officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. A political party opposed to U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan revealed what it said was the name of the top CIA spy in the country on Wednesday and called for him and the head of the agency to be tried for a recent missile strike. Pakistani police and intelligence officials have said the attack on an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district on Nov. 21 killed five people. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

Supporters of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, headed by cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, wave their party’s flag while burning a representation of a U.S. flag during a protest against U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. Thousands of people protesting U.S. drone strikes blocked a road in northwest Pakistan on Saturday used to truck NATO troop supplies and equipment in and out of Afghanistan, the latest sign of rising tension caused by the attacks. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Supporters of Tehreek-e-Insaf or Movement for Justice party chant anti-U.S. slogans during a rally in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. Thousands of people protesting U.S. drone strikes blocked a road in northwest Pakistan used to truck NATO troop supplies and equipment in and out of Afghanistan, the latest sign of rising tension caused by the attacks. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A Pakistani man walks by a truck carrying NATO military vehicles at a terminal in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013. Trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to Afghanistan remained stuck in Pakistan on Tuesday as concern lingered about demonstrators seeking to stop the vehicles in protest of U.S. drone strikes, Pakistani transportation officials said. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani political party launched a full-throated attack on the CIA drone program on Wednesday, turning up the heat on an issue that the government in Islamabad has tried to manage without sparking a crisis with the U.S. The party revealed what it said was the name of the CIA’s top spy in the country and called for him to be tried for murder.

U.S. missile attacks targeting Islamic militants in Pakistan’s northwest have long been a source of tension between the two countries, complicating an already troubled alliance that Washington is relying on to help negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Friction has increased in recent weeks with a pair of especially contentious strikes: one that killed the Pakistani Taliban’s leader as the government prepared to invite him to hold peace talks, and another that occurred outside the boundaries of the country’s tribal region where most attacks have taken place.

But the U.S. has shown no willingness to abandon a tool it views as critical to fighting al-Qaida and Taliban militants based in Pakistan who are outside the reach of American soldiers.

Pakistani officials regularly criticize the strikes as a violation of the country’s sovereignty and say they kill too many civilians. That has made the drone program very unpopular with the Pakistani public. But the Pakistani government and military are known to have secretly supported at least some of the attacks in the past.

One of the biggest drone critics has been the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which is led by cricket star Imran Khan and controls the government in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has pushed the federal government, which is controlled by a rival party, to take extreme measures like cutting off the NATO troop supply line to Afghanistan until the U.S. stops the attacks.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s information secretary, Shireen Mazari, sent a letter to police Wednesday calling for the CIA station chief in Islamabad and agency director John Brennan to be tried for murder and “waging war against Pakistan” in connection with a drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district on Nov. 21.

CIA spokesman Dean Boyd would not confirm the Islamabad station chief’s name and declined to immediately comment. The Associated Press is not publishing the name given by Mazari because it could not verify its authenticity.

It was the second time in recent years that Pakistanis opposed to drone strikes targeting Islamic militants have claimed to have revealed the identity of the top CIA spy in the country.

Mazari claimed in her letter that the station chief did not enjoy diplomatic immunity and should be prevented from leaving the country. Interrogating him could produce the names of the pilots who fly the drones, she said.

A spokeswoman for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Anila Khawaja, declined to say where the party obtained the station chief’s name.

Mazari said in a news conference that the strike in Hangu killed four Pakistanis and two Afghans, and also wounded children.

Pakistani intelligence officials say the attack killed five Afghan militants, one of whom was a deputy to the leader of one of the most dangerous groups fighting American troops in Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The Hangu district police chief, Iftikhar Ahmad, said at the time of the attack that no one was seriously wounded.

The strike was one of the first to take place outside of Pakistan’s tribal region and outraged members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Human rights organizations have also criticized drone strikes in Pakistan, questioning their legality and saying they have killed hundreds of civilians. The U.S. rarely discusses the covert drone program in Pakistan publicly, but officials have insisted it’s legal and that the civilian casualty figures are much lower.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf pledged on Saturday to block trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to and from Afghanistan until the U.S. ended drone attacks. Protesters stopped trucks and roughed up drivers before the police intervened to stop them. The NATO supply trucks remain stuck though, because transportation officials are still worried about what protesters will do.

The CIA pulled its top spy out of Pakistan in December 2010 after a Pakistani lawsuit accused him of killing civilians in drone strikes. The lawsuit listed a name lawyers said was the station chief, but the AP learned at the time it was not correct. Nevertheless, the CIA pulled the station chief out of the country after militants threatened to kill him.

It’s rare for a CIA station chief to see his cover blown. In 1999, an Israeli newspaper revealed the identity of the station chief in Tel Aviv. In 2001, an Argentine newspaper printed a picture of the Buenos Aires station chief and details about him. In both instances, the station chiefs were recalled to the U.S.

The station chief in Islamabad operates as a secret general in the U.S. war against terrorism. He runs the Predator drone program targeting terrorists, handles some of the CIA’s most urgent and sensitive tips and collaborates closely with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

The CIA station chief who ran operations in Pakistan during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden left his post in 2011 due to illness, U.S. and Pakistani officials say. American officials said at the time that the station chief clashed with the U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, who objected to CIA drone strikes during diplomatic negotiations.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.

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Pakistani party turns up heat on CIA drone strikes

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Pakistani girl dug herself out of grave after being raped and buried alive

Published time: October 30, 2013 15:35

Pakistani NGOs workers carry placards during a protest against the rape of a five year old girl, in Lahore on September 19, 2013. (AFP Photo / Arif Ali)

A 13-year-old Pakistani girl managed to dig her way out of a shallow grave after being raped and buried alive by her attackers. A court has ordered an investigation into the incident after police allegedly refused to pursue the case.

The teenage girl was on her way to a Koran seminary in the province of Punjab when she was abducted by two unknown assailants. The men then took her to a remote location and raped her until she lost consciousness. Believing her to be dead, the attackers then buried the 13-year-old in a shallow grave.

When the girl regained consciousness she was forced to dig her way out of the grave. She was later transferred to a nearby rural health center.

When the victim’s father, Siddique Mughal, reported the incident to local police, the case was reportedly ignored, writes the Times of India. This prompted the intervention of the Lahore high court chief justice’s Complaint Cell, who ordered a district and sessions judge from the Toba Tek Singh district to probe the matter.

In Pakistan many child abuse cases are ignored by authorities and fall by the wayside. A non-profit organization, Sahil, that works to stamp out child abuse in Pakistan estimates that every day more than four children are abused in some way in the country.

In addition the group believes that cases of child sexual abuse covered by the media increased from 668 in 2002 to 2,788 in 2012.

“We still think these statistics are just a fraction of what’s going on,” Manizeh Bano, the group’s executive director told the Washington Post.

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Pakistani girl dug herself out of grave after being raped and buried alive

US Won’t Let Pakistani Drone Victims’ Lawyer Visit for Congressional Testimony

US Won’t Let Pakistani Drone Victims’ Lawyer Visit for Congressional Testimony

State Dept Derailing Congressional Hearing on Drones

by Jason Ditz, September 24, 2013

A Congressional hearing on CIA drone strikes is planned next week, but it’s going to have to go on without testimony from human rights lawyer and Foundation for Fundamental Fights director Shahzad Akbar, because the US State Department won’t let him.

Akbar is representing multiple children injured in a US drone strike in North Waziristan, an attack which also killed their grandmother. Akbar and his clients were invited to the hearing.

Akbar sees the move as a deliberate attempt to keep him from testifying, and says he had a US diplomatic visa for two years in the past, and had never had a problem getting permission to visit the US until he started representing drone strike victims.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D – FL) condemned the State Department’s move, saying they had given no excuse for why Akbar shouldn’t be allowed in. “We have a chronic problem in Congress that when the administration is involved in one side of the issue, we rarely hear the other side of the issue,” Grayson noted.

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz

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• Hawks Quick to Spurn Iranian President’s Diplomacy Push – September 24th, 2013


• NSA Reforms: Senate Split on Plan – September 24th, 2013


• Pentagon Rejects Money to Overhaul Gitmo – September 24th, 2013

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US Won’t Let Pakistani Drone Victims’ Lawyer Visit for Congressional Testimony

Suicide bombers kill 78 Christians outside Pakistani church

1 of 2. A man cries at the death of his brother at the site of a suicide blast at a church in Peshawar, September 22, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Fayaz Aziz

By Fayaz Aziz

PESHAWAR, Pakistan | Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:15am EDT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old church in Pakistan after Sunday Mass, killing at least 56 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim South Asian country.

Religious violence and attacks on security forces have been on the rise in Pakistan in past months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to tame the insurgency after coming to power in June.

The attackers struck the historic white-stone All Saints Church in the north-western city of Peshawar just as hundreds of parishioners streamed out of the building after Sunday mass.

“I heard two explosions. People started to run. Human remains were strewn all over the church,” said one parishioner, who only gave her first name, Margrette.

Her voice breaking with emotion, she said she had not seen her sister since the explosions ripped through the gate area outside the church.

Christians make up about four percent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million and tend to keep a low profile in a country where Sunni Muslim militants frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including Christians, Sufis and Shi’ites.

Attacks on Christian areas occur sporadically around the country but Sunday’s assault was the most violent in recent history.

In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra in Punjab province. At least seven Christians were burnt to death. Seventeen Christians were killed in an attack on a church in Bahawalpur in 2001.

Najeeb Bogvi, a senior police officer, put the death toll from Sunday’s attack at 56, saying more than 100 people were wounded. Police said the death toll included many children and women.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the densely populated Christian residential area in the old walled city in Peshawar.

ANGRY RESIDENTS

Some residents, enraged at the lack of adequate security at the church, took to the streets immediately after the attack, burning tires and shouting slogans. Shops were closed in the Kohati Gate area where several other churches are located.

“Terrorists have not spared mosques, temples and churches. Please have mercy on us,” one man outside the church, his face distorted by fear and anger, told Pakistan’s private Geo television channel.

Protests by Christians were also reported in other cities including the violent port city of Karachi.

A bomb disposal security source said there were two explosions carried out by a pair of attackers. More than 600 parishioners were inside the church for the service.

Pakistan, which also faces a Taliban insurgency, is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for minorities, and Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and Ahmadis are victims of a rising tide of deadly violence.

Sunday’s attacks could complicate efforts by Sharif to engage militants in peace negotiations at a time when roadside bombs, targeted killings and suicide attacks continue unabated.

“The Prime Minister said that terrorists have no religion and targeting innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and all religions,” his office said in a statement.

“He added that such cruel acts of terrorism reflect the brutality and inhumane mind set of the terrorists.”

(Writing by Maria Golovnina; additional reporting by Hameedullah Khan and Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Pakistani Premier Says Government Intends to Charge Musharraf With Treason

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Monday that his newly installed government intends to press treason charges against the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, setting up a potential clash with Pakistan’s powerful military.

In a speech to Parliament on Monday that was sharply critical of the military, Mr. Sharif said that Mr. Musharraf had to answer for his acts during his years in power, comments that drew loud applause from Mr. Sharif’s supporters.

But the government has stopped short of pressing formal charges against Mr. Musharraf because Mr. Sharif says he wants to first consult with the country’s other political parties.

The treason case against Mr. Musharraf is pending in the Supreme Court, and charges have also been pressed in four other cases relating to Mr. Musharraf’s rule from 1999 to 2008. He has remained under house arrest at his villa outside Islamabad since April, shortly after his return from years of exile abroad.

Mr. Musharraf’s treatment has already stirred disquiet in parts of the military, which is uncomfortable at the sight of a former army chief being dragged through the courts, a shocking spectacle in a country where the military has ruled for more than half of its 66-year history.

Under the army’s supreme commander, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani military has largely stayed out of the political process of late.

But a treason charge, based on accusations that Mr. Musharraf subverted the Constitution by imposing emergency rule in late 2007, would considerably raise the ante. Musharraf supporters have hinted that should the charge go ahead, carrying with it the possibility of a death sentence, the army could intervene.

Ahmad Raza Kasuri, a senior aide to Mr. Musharraf, said it would open a “Pandora’s box,” while Mr. Musharraf’s spokesman warned that “the people of Pakistan will not tolerate this circus.”

“It takes the focus away from the serious challenges faced by the nation and could result in unnecessary tension amongst the various pillars of state, and possibly destabilize the country,” said Reza Bokhari, the spokesman.

Mr. Sharif and Mr. Musharraf have a bitter personal history dating back to 1999, when the army ousted Mr. Sharif in a coup, installing Mr. Musharraf as leader and, later, banishing Mr. Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Sharif returned to Pakistan in 2007, and his party won a comfortable victory in the May 11 election. Mr. Musharraf, meanwhile, returned from four years in exile to run in the election, only to find himself disqualified and bogged down with legal troubles.

But the treason charges are also being stirred by the Supreme Court, led by the independent-minded Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is also an old rival of Mr. Musharraf. Some analysts said the judges had forced Mr. Sharif’s hand.

In the Supreme Court on Monday, judges questioned the attorney general about whether the government intended to bring charges. The government asked for 30 days’ leave, but the court instructed it to return to court and provide further details on Thursday.

Critics of the charges argue that Mr. Musharraf was not alone in his actions and that he enjoyed the support of senior officers and civilian officials when he was in power.

Salman Masood reported from Islamabad, and Declan Walsh from Johannesburg.

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Pakistani Premier Says Government Intends to Charge Musharraf With Treason

Pakistani community must tackle grooming gangs, justice minister insists

The exploitation lasted for five years and only ended when the girls became brave enough to report their abusers to police.

But there is growing concern that wider issue is being brushed under the carpet because the authorities are fearful of being accused of racism.

Mr Green said: “It’s not sadly the first example we have had of organised serious exploitation and abuse involving Pakistani heritage men grooming and abusing white girls

“I hope that what happens is that any last vestiges of political correctness that say, ‘there are some cultural issues to address here’ disappear, because this is criminality, pure and simple.

“It goes without saying that every world religion condemns the exploitation and abuse of children and just as there are huge challenges to the social care system and the police, there are clearly challenges for community leaders to make it absolutely clear that this is 100 per cent unacceptable in any circumstances.”

“I am encouraged that I have heard voices saying that over the last couple of days but I think that has got to be the starting point, that this must not be a cultural issue, this is just criminality and it applies to everyone.”

Mr Green said the new Home Office task force would be aimed at helping those vulnerable to sexual exploitation by building in support across the criminal justice system.

He explained: “This will mean their voices are heard earlier and listened to more carefully. It will build more support into the system and improve systems for identifying those at risk.

“But our prime responsibility is, of course, stopping abuse before it starts. The group will be working to target the organised crime groups that perpetrate the sort of systematic abuse we saw in Oxford.”

He said the group would also look at how social media is used by gangs to groom and abuse the vulnerable.

Mr Green said while it was important to recognise exploitation and sexual abuse was a problem common to all parts of society denying the issue existed in the Pakistani community for cultural reasons was completely wrong.

He said: “It is the case that most cases of child abuse actually involve the white British middle aged men, we have seen terrible examples of Jimmy Savile and others, but it does seem from the evidence that we have seen so far, a particular problem of this organised, systematic year after year grooming and abusing.

“There is clearly more than one example of this within the Pakistani origin community so that itself is a specific problem and everyone particularly the community leaders need to recognise that as a problem we need to address.”

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Pakistani community must tackle grooming gangs, justice minister insists