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Sikhs fear thugs
Aug 28 2003
By Poppy Brady, Evening Mail
The number of racist attacks on the city's 60,000 strong Sikh population is rising at an alarming rate, it was claimed today.
Sikhs in Birmingham have been targeted more than ever during the two years since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Dal Singh Dhesy, chairman of the Sikh Community and Youth Service UK, said many Sikhs were now too afraid to eat in restaurants, go shopping or take holidays.
"After September 11 some people who saw our turbans, jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought we were Afghan Taliban.
"It seems that we are getting the backlash on all sides - from the white far right and also Islamic extremists.
"The rising amount of attacks is very disturbing and people are looking to us to help them."
Mr Dhesy added: "What would help is the creation of racial harassment centres which could monitor inter-ethnic crime rather than just the 'black and white' incidents."
In one of the latest incidents a 14-year-old Sikh boy was attacked by racists who cut off his 3ft-long hair which he had grown from birth.
The boy's family, from Edgbaston, said the attack left him afraid to go out and traumatised.
Condemning the attack Gulfram Khan, a Muslim who chairs Aston Conservative Party, said: "Fifteen years ago there used to be a lot of friction between Sikh and Muslim youths, but that no longer exists.
"If this is starting to resur-face we need to shed light on this problem because we do not want this sort of nonsense in our community."
