British men of Pakistani-origin have been targeting and sexually exploiting British Sikh girls for sexual exploitation for decades, The New Indian Express reports.

TNIE quotes, “the research has found verification demonstration a history of predominantly Pakistani grooming gangs targeting young Sikh females for over 50 years.”

The Sikh Mediation and Rehabilitation Team Charity has made public a report titled, "The Religiously Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of Young Sikh Women across the UK". The exploratory study has found that the grooming gangs consisting of Pakistani Muslims have been systematically targeting Sikh girls of Indian background, for almost 50 years, with earliest cases dating back to the seventies.

The report states that in some cases, the men would groom a girl and pass her around to other members of the family. It says that girls would be lured by fashionably dressed Pakistani men pretending a modern outlook. They would roam around in flamboyant vehicles in areas and schools with predominantly Sikh population.

The charity clarified that it’s motive is not to target any community, culture or faith, but the change would only happen with awareness.

Rothertham Labour MP Sarah Champion commented on the issue, “I was shocked when I first heard about the organised abuse of Sikh girls by mostly Pakistani men”. She has demanded a thorough investigation in the issue.

“The over representation of such perpetrators in selecting non-Muslim victims would appear to be indicative of a wider acceptability in certain sections of the community towards the targeting of young females from outside of the Pakistani community or Muslim faith,” she added.

After Rotherham sex abuse case, in which more than 1,000 young women were victimised by Pakistani grooming gangs, came to light, Champion had written: “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls. There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is? For too long we have ignored the race of these abusers and, worse, tried to cover it up. No more. These people are predators, and the common denominator is their ethnic heritage,” as reported by Hindustan Times.

Champion was widely criticised for her comments and forced to resign from her post in shadow-cabinet.

Also read: UK’s ‘Worst Ever’ Child Abuse Scandal Exposed, Upto 1,000 Young Girls Raped By Pakistani Grooming Gangs