Agressive conversion will be tackled: British Met Police

London, Feb 22 (UNI) Britain's Metropolitan Police has assured the Hindu community here that it will take action against aggressive conversion techniques and intimidation being employed against young Hindu girls by radical Muslim groups in university campuses.

This was announced yesterday at a conference organised by the Hindu Forum of Britain and the National Hindu Students Forum.

Issues like Stop and Search and under-reporting of hate crime by Hindus will also figure as subjects of enquiry by a Hindu Safety Forum, to be formed by the Metropolitan Police.

Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said, '' There is a feeling in the Hindu community that we have not given them as much attention as other groups.'' The conference, organised in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Hindu Association, was attended by 160 youth, community leaders and stakeholders from the Criminal Justice System.

Tom Lund-Lack, an expert on Islamist Terrorism at the Met, spoke on vital differences between terrorist groups like the Provisional IRA and al-Qaeda, while Commander Rod Jarman spoke about the impact of Stop and Search of ethnic communities.

Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain said, '' The Police and other agencies have no idea about the high levels of resentment building up in the Hindu and Sikh communities over aggressive conversion techniques and intimidation by radical Islamist groups on campuses. Families are breaking down, while some of our girls have been beaten up and had to leave university. We need to look at positive action rather than just speaking on these issues. I hope the proposed Hindu Safety Forum will be able to tackle these issues.'' Speakers and panelists at the conference included Tony McNulty MP, Minister for State for Security and Policing Dr Rob Berkeley, Deputy Director of the Runnymede Trust, Raj Joshi, the senior-most Hindu serving in the Crown Prosecution Service, Commander Rod Jarman, Cllr Richard Barnes from the Metropolitan Police Association and Chief Superintendent Steve Jordan, Security Lead on the Commission of Integration and Cohesion.

UNI