The foundations our forefathers built are being destroyed by the third and fourth generations. But should we really blame the young people or those religious scholars who are too busy arguing between themselves rather than dealing with the problems in their community?

South Asians migrated to various locations within the UK after the second World War. Our forefathers were the real deal, working eighteen hour shifts in the coldest winters of the 1960's. All for a better life for their wives and children.

The vast majority of the South Asians who came over worked in textile mills, coal mines, steel mills and whichever other mill you can think of. They were hardworking people who laboured day and night to provide for their families.

I hear stories from the elder generation, where they tell me of how they would carry handi niya marcha (chilli powder) in their pockets as the National Front would be waiting for them at the bus station on a Friday. Waiting to beat and rob them of their hard earned money.

They would not fight, instead they used chill powder as their pepper spray in order to get away!.

Terraced houses were filled to the rafters with fifteen to twenty men, halal meat was hard to come by so it was mainly dhaals (lentils) and sabziya (vegetables). These men didn’t have the luxury of owning their own cars, so their main mode of transport was the bus.

Now fast track sixty years, Asians have diversified and progressed, they excelled in fields our forefathers could only dream of. Beautiful mosques have been built, houses have been bought and the average Asian goes on holiday once a year. Even if its just to Mirpur , Mumbai or Syhlet!

We are no longer considered cheap labour and factory workers, our communities consist of doctors, dentists, surgeons, lawyers and successful business owners.

There isn't a single job where we aren't represented. And this makes me proud. Knowing that we are still working hard, whether it be in the takeaways or the offices, we are making our forefathers proud.

But at the same time I see pockets of our community who brushing issues under the carpet. As a community we have serious issue with gambling, drug abuse and alcoholism, yet we are no closer to addressing them now than when I was a kid.

In my home town of Blackburn we have some of the biggest and most beautiful mosques in the whole of Europe. But the sad truth is these mosques are doing very little, and in some cases nothing at all to address these issues within our community.

When will our Jummah kutbah's (sermons) be focused and address the youth? When will mosques stop arguing with each other on whether Mawlid is permitted or if we should follow Morocco or Saudi Arabia’s moon sightings and instead focus on a whole generation?

There are much bigger issues out there but our scholars are keeping us away from dealing with them.

The reason they do this is that they want us to talk more about Brelvi's, wahabbis and shias rather society's ills taking place on their very doorstep. I'm sorry to say the responsibility does lie with these people as they have the most influence in their neighbourhoods.

They would rather people like me shut up.

Before any one says the Pakistani youth are to blame we should look at other cities.

If you go to Bethnal green in London the public say it is the Bangladeshi youth who are the problem. If you go to Leicester they say it is the Indian youth who are the problem. This is a load of rubbish by labelling our problems to get away from the sad reality of our lost youth.

We blame a particular group of people rather than addressing the bigger problem at hand that the younger generation needs guidance and help from real leadership within the community.

So please stop trying to pass the blame and look into ways to address the small pockets of south Asian youth who are going astray. I say SMALL POCKETS of our Asian Youth who are going astray as most the of them are civilised, intellectual and well mannered individuals.

Unfortunately, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to look back at ourselves in sixty years and think about how great we had it, and how we ruined the foundations laid down for us by our forefathers.