The Lancashire Telegraph today calls on all communities in East Lancashire to join together to openly tackle sex grooming and lays out the facts behind this ongoing sickness in our society.

Our call follows the outcry sparked by Jack Straw's comments that some Pakistani men saw vulnerable white girls as ‘easy meat’ for sex abuse.

In 2006 we launched our Keep Them Safe campaign to raise awareness of this growing crime. At the same time police and other agencies across East Lancashire set up Operation Engage to crack down on the menace.

Today the Lancashire Telegraph re-states the facts surrounding sex grooming so that a meaningful and open debate can follow.

FACT 1: Gangs of men are grooming young white girls on our streets and the perpetrators are largely, but not exclusively, Pakistani men. Hard statistics back this up.

FACT 2: The offenders involved represent a tiny minority of that group and the Asian community utterly abhors the behaviour of these criminals.

FACT 3: Grooming has many guises. Online grooming is largely committed by white men and as Jack Straw pointed out, there is a disproportionately high number of white men in the sex crimes wings of our prisons.

FACT 4: The on-street grooming menace has existed for years, but it seems the national media have only discovered it in the past week.

Following Mr Straw's comments on the Newsnight programme on Friday many local community leaders have spoken out, voicing concerns that the Blackburn MP and former Home Secretary had unfairly stereotyped an entire community.

But it is clear that this was not his intention. His fuller interview on Sky TV on Saturday put the sex grooming issue in proper context, and it's worth remembering just how hard Jack Straw has worked on behalf of the Asian community in his time as an MP.

The bigger question is: should the issue be raised at all? The answer to that is, and has always been, a resounding yes.

That is why this newspaper launched its Keep Them Safe Campaign four years ago and why other agencies set up Operation Engage.

Many Asian leaders have taken issue with Mr Straw's choice of words. But nearly all have acknowledged and condemned the actions of the tiny minority of criminals within their community operating in gangs to exploit vulnerable young girls, many of whom come from fractured family backgrounds.

Concerned about a fast-growing and sickening crime, the Telegraph's Keep Them Safe campaign was primarily targeted at the sex-grooming of naïve young girls by gangs of men on our streets.

The aim was to raise awareness across all sections of the community but it was clear then, as it is now, that most of the criminals involved in this specific activity were from the Pakistani community and part of our hope was for that community to take part in this awareness drive.

Our campaign goes on but the many practical successes of the Operation Engage team, which has garnered support from all sections of the community, give cause for hope.

Meanwhile we need to underline again that most forms of sex crime are predominantly committed by white men. That is why this newspaper has been unceasingly robust in exposing and shaming the region's internet perverts, paedophiles and rapists.

That does not, however, negate the need to find specific causes to specific crimes.

In the case of sex-grooming by gangs of men and given the statistics behind this particular sex offence, there is an imperative for the Pakistani community to look inwards to see what answers can be found.

Are the actions of this offending minority within the Pakistani community fed by a disrespect for white culture, particularly the (some would say) declining moral values of our society? Conversely, what does it say about white society when so many of our young girls are being left on our streets seemingly without the security of strong and caring families?

There are lessons to be learned by everyone but we will only learn these lessons if we openly debate the issues.

Some people have gone to ground this weekend rather than venture into such a sensitive issue. But we don't need a conspiracy of silence.

In recent years East Lancashire has led the way on this debate. There is no room for racism in this discussion. Equally there is no room for excessive political correctness.

So let's ensure the events of the past week don't slow the progress of Operation Engage, and let's keep the issue where it belongs - out in the open.