Today a meeting takes place at Manningham Mills Community Centre which has been described by the Bishop of Bradford’s advisor as important and brave.

Dr Phil Lewis said the meeting, organised by local and national Muslim groups, marks the beginning of a serious discussion with Muslim communities about sexual grooming in gangs.

More of a launch event than a meeting, the Community Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation is a coalition of different groups against the culture of street grooming of young girls, which is seen by many as primarily a male Muslim crime.

Dr Lewis said: “It is a brave event largely engineered by a Muslim woman, convert Julie Siddiqui. She has pushed and cajoled local Muslims to engage in the teeth of a good deal of opposition.

“The aim is to insist that criminality within a community should not be equated with religion. Further, that religion is part of the solution.”

Speakers include the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend Nick Baines, West Yorkshire Police, Victim Support, Bradford Council of Mosques and Dr Lewis.

Earlier this year, the Telegraph & Argus reported that the district’s MPs were calling for tougher action against street grooming gangs following the arrest of 54 suspects in five months.

The following day, Prime Minister David Cameron added his voice, calling on community leaders to work with public agencies to stamp out sexual grooming.

He said: “I expect those in leadership positions across the community, together with the Local Safeguarding Children Board, Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and other agencies to do all they can to identify victims and abusers and send out a clear message that this is totally unacceptable.”

One of the fears is that public revulsion will encourage anti-Muslim sentiment among non-Muslims and organisations such as the English Defence League. To counter this, the Alliance is expected to call for zero tolerance towards street grooming.

“There are few crimes more horrific than the sexual exploitation of young women – these girls have been let down by everyone,” said executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain, Julie Siddiqui.

“I have been sickened reading about these cases. There should be no excuse, no hiding place, for those who perpetrate such crimes.”

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “This is an appalling and abhorrent kind of behaviour, which is totally unacceptable regardless of race or religion.

“Some of those perpetrators who have recently been convicted happen to be from the Muslim community, so we need to be at the very front of the voice that is condemning this. It is important that leaders of religious communities speak out against this deplorable and abhorrent behaviour by adults toward vulnerable children.”

Nick Lowles, chief executive of the HOPE Not Hate organisation, said: “This is not an issue of race or religion. We want to encourage all our partners to help us remove the veils of secrecy and control that allow abuse to flourish.

“We also need to ensure that the media, and far-right groups, do not promote an anti-Muslim agenda over so-called ‘grooming’ trials either. HOPE Not Hate will focus on busting myths that groups such as the EDL and BNP like to promote in their quest for hate and division.”

In March, leading Muslim cleric Muhammad Mustaqueem Shah, general secretary of Bradford Imams’ Forum spoke out in the T&A after Shazad Rehman and Bilal Hussain, who cruised Keighley streets to pick up young girls to drug and rape, were jailed.

He said: “Those two examples alone demonstrate paedophilia has nothing to do with a particular race or religion. Indeed, every religion in the world is against such things.

“A lot of perceptions are to do with the way news is covered. Scandals involving Jimmy Savile or the Catholic Church are seen as separate from the issue of street grooming.”

The Community Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation urges faith and community leaders to speak out against street grooming and to listen to and support those at risk.

They want to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation through education and campaigning across all communities; produce training kits and background factsheets on the issue for faith and community leaders, so they can speak out with knowledge and confidence.