The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday found fault with the “discriminatory and xenophobic” remarks regarding Pakistani men, by British Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Braverman has been accused of peddling extremist far-right lies about Pakistanis after she singled out British Pakistani men over concerns about grooming gangs as she accused authorities of turning a “blind eye” to signs of abuse involving young people.

In a recent interview with Sky News, the UK minister had said that the “systematic and institutional failure to safeguard the welfare of children when it comes to sexual abuse” was one of the biggest scandals in British history.

“What’s clear is that what we’ve seen is a practice whereby vulnerable white English girls, sometimes in care, sometimes who are in challenging circumstances, being pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of British-Pakistani men who’ve worked in child abuse rings or networks,” she had stated.

Responding to the discriminatory remarks, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in today’s press briefing that such comments would give rise to dangerous trends. 

Braverman’s comments, tantamount to racist and bigoted generalisation of Pakistanis, have been condemned widely and she has been urged to apologise to Pakistanis for putting their lives in danger and for increasing the threat of racist attacks on them after her unfounded allegations.

Suella Braverman had also been warned by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) that sexual predators do not just come from “one background” and that a focus solely on race could create new “blind spots” when tackling child abuse.

The NSPCC had criticised the UK home secretary and expressed its shock at her hatred towards Pakistanis and for singling out Pakistanis.