Rochdale – Factionalism, political splits and Islamic Grooming Gangs

Cllr Farooq Ahmed of Rochdale – Kicking off because of political attention being paid to Islamic Grooming Gangs

 

I’m indebted to the Tweeter Joe Long ‏@long46927755  for putting me onto this story.

 

 

The town of Rochdale was once known as the place where the Co-operative movement started, an industrial town a historic market town that is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

Now however, things are very different and instead of being known for its history or its industry or its heroes, Rochdale is now known for the horrific Islamic sex crimes that have been allowed to happen there. Court cases have revealed that groups of Muslim men systematically raped, tortured and sold vulnerable girls and young women to other Islamic perverts.

For years, possibly decades, because the scale of this problem is only now starting to become clear and also starting to enter the public consciousness, Islamic Grooming Gangs committed sexual offences which were not prosecuted for a whole variety of reasons. There was no desire to upset ‘community cohesion’ on the part of a police force that like others had been politicised by the Labour Party, and ideology infested social services department and a local political establishment that had come to rely on the ‘whipped mosque vote’. Because of these major and other more subtle corruptions in Rochdale, Islamic rapists were able to act almost as if they were outside the Law.

It appears that the Islamic Grooming Gang issue in Rochdale isn’t going away, at least in political circles that is. Joe Long alerted me to a story of a argument between two Labour councillors, which ended up in the Muslim councillor screaming homophobic abuse at the non-Muslim councillor and resulted in the Muslim councillor ‘helping police with their enquiries’.

The Manchester Evening News said:

A top councillor is being investigated by police over claims he screamed homophobic abuse at a fellow councillor in the street.

Farooq Ahmed, who is in charge of finance at Rochdale council – is due to be questioned by officers.

Witnesses described seeing him rowing with fellow Labour councillor Neil Emmott on Cheetham Street in Rochdale on Thursday afternoon.

During the bust-up – seen by a number of passers by – Coun Ahmed is alleged to have hurled a homophobic insult at his colleague.

He was not arrested but was due to be questioned by police.

It is thought at least one witness has given a statement about the fracas.

Councillor Emmott represents the West Middleton ward, and lives in Heywood.”

It appears that this row blew up over the issue of Islamic Grooming Gangs that have been (and may well still be for all we know) operating in the Rochdale area.

The Manchester Evening News added:

It is believed Wednesday’s row was sparked by emails sent by Coun Ahmed attacking the town’s MP, Simon Danczuk, over his views on the town’s grooming scandal.

Mr Danczuk has repeatedly said the Asian community is in denial over the issue.

In his message to eight fellow Asian councillors, Coun Ahmed called the MP’s views ‘absurd’ and ‘derogatory’ adding: “This man must be stupid to bluntly make comments against all Asians being masters of child sex exploitation in child grooming cases.

We should stand up against this or just carry on being a puppet to this man.”

In response Mr Danczuk described the email as ‘misguided’ and ‘disappointing’.”

Ahmed has not a leg to stand on over this issue. There has been in play in Rochdale a massive denial from the council, Muslim community, police, social services and third sector organisations that there is a Muslim grooming problem, not an Asian grooming problem but a Muslim one. Add into that the cultural issue of Muslim men being brought up to consider themselves as ‘little Lords’ and you have the makings of a big problem.

Ahmed is playing the wounded feelings card from the Taqiyya deck with his email and it is right that Simon Danczuk the local Labour MP seems to be having none of it. Ahmed’s bluster is purely to try to deflect rightful criticism of the Muslim community of Rochdale. These gangs were too big and too organised for at least a significant proportion of Rochdale’s Muslims not to have known or suspected that something was going on. My suspicion is that there were those in the Muslim community of Rochdale who knew what was going on, and who turned a blind eye to the problem or assisted the offenders because to them the victims were only subhuman kufars.

I also believe that part of the reason behind Ahmed’s bluster is because turning a cold and bias-less eye on the situation in Rochdale may expose much more similar wrongdoing to the public gaze. Why are Muslim councillors like Ahmed so keen to shut down debate on the issue of Islamic Grooming Gangs? How much other political and cultural murkiness is also going on in Rochdale?

It was interesting to note that in Rochdale there appear to be at least two factions within the local Labour party, those who support the MP Mr Danczuk, and those who are allied with the council leader. Although Labour is not a complete ‘one party state’ it is the Labour party who control the council with 43 seats compared with a combined Lib Dem / Tory count of 17 councillors. In these situations it is not between different parties that political battles happen it is within the ruling Labour party that these disputes happen. Different Labour factions fighting is what too often happens when Labour have been in power too long. Bent postal votes and other shenanigans such as ‘whipped mosque votes’ sometimes vitrify an area for Labour leaving no chance for honest voters to kick out Labour and replace it with something better.

The Manchester Evening News said on the subject of the factionalism within Rochdale Labour:

The bust-up also further exposes deep divisions within the town’s Labour party.

Coun Ahmed is a close ally of council leader Colin Lambert – who has repeatedly traded public insults with Mr Danczuk on a range of issues.

Coun Emmott works for Mr Danczuk in his constituency office near to where the row took place.”

I can’t help thinking that this story indicates that there is more to come out about Rochdale, the Grooming Gang scandal and what looks like a seriously corrupted local political scene.

 

Links

First Manchester Evening News story

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/rochdale-finance-chief-farooq-ahmed-6595376

Second later Manchester Evening News story

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/rochdale-councillor-farooq-ahmed-denies-6651249