Greater Manchester Police, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

LONDON — Last week, a court in Liverpool sentenced a gang of nine men, all but one of Pakistani origin, to between four and 19 years of imprisonment for committing a total of 25 sex offenses against children. The men had “groomed” up to 47 girls, some as young as 13, with alcohol and drugs before having sex with them. With prominent public figures such as the historian David Starkey accusing the so-called Rochdale gang of “acting within their cultural norms,” the case is exposing fault lines in race relations in Britain.

Far-right British parties such as the English Defense League and the British National Party held protests throughout the trial against “Islamists.” But putting aside the right wing’s efforts to exploit the case to stir Islamophobia, the trial has in fact raised uncomfortable questions about the British-Pakistani community’s attitudes toward women.

Statistical snapshots suggest that British-Pakistanis are frequently linked to crimes like grooming, which includes any action taken to befriend a child before engaging him or her in sexual activity. Out of 77 recent convictions for grooming, rape and other predatory sex crimes, 67 involved Pakistani men. The majority of suspects who commit sex crimes in large groups — as opposed to acting alone — tend to be of Pakistani origin. One study about such groups found that 83 percent of 52 suspects charged in five major grooming investigations were Pakistani. Chief Crown Prosecutor Nazir Afzal — himself a Pakistani — has said that men of South Asian origin are disproportionately responsible for on-street grooming, which involves cruising the streets and enticing girls with cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

The British-Pakistani community has tried to deflect criticism by arguing that focusing on the ethnic identity of the perpetrators is counterproductive; better to do more about the young girls left vulnerable to attack. Afzal, for example, has repeatedly cautioned against focusing on the racial element, emphasizing instead the problem of young female victims who are “unwanted, unloved.” The Rochdale Council of Mosques, an umbrella organization representing 14 mosques and madrassas, issued this statement recently: “This is not a race, faith or creed issue. It is about crime and exploitation of young vulnerable girls, and vulnerability goes across the color divides.”

Women’s rights groups back this line of reasoning. Speaking to the Guardian, Marai Larasi, co-chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said “an excessive focus on some cases of sexual exploitation with a primary focus on ethnicity rather than the exploitation itself is misleading and fuels racist attitudes which ultimately won’t help women and girls.”

Yet I find myself agreeing with the Children’s Minister Tim Loughton, who says there’s little to be gained from “shying away” from race. If anything, there is something to be lost: the British police have been criticized for performing poorly to prevent sex crimes by Pakistani gangs for fear of being accused of institutionalized racism. ( They dropped a rape case that could have led to the earlier detection of a gang.)

Britain’s Pakistani community may be moved to review its attitude toward women and sexuality if the disproportionate number of British-Pakistanis involved in grooming is openly acknowledged. The historian Starkey goes too far when he suggests that members of the Rochdale gang were upholding “cultural norms” by exploiting young women. But the fact remains that education about women’s rights is lacking in Pakistan and its diaspora. Pakistan is the world’s third-most dangerous country for women. More than 1,000 women and girls are victims of honor killings each year, and up to 90 percent face domestic violence.

Pakistan’s independent media, which are usually vehement when it comes to defending the nation’s honor or pushing back against racial slurs from foreigners, have been strangely silent about the Rochdale trial. Might this be because they fear there is some truth to the claims that Pakistani attitudes toward women are regressive?