 The Muslim Council of Britain issued a press release pointing out there was a lack of evidence of any forced conversions and suggested it was an underhand attempt to smear the British Muslim population.An academic paper by Katy Sian published in the journal "South Asian Popular Culture" in 2011 explored the question of how "forced conversion narratives" arose around the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom.Sian, who reports that claims of conversion through courtship on campuses are widespread in the UK, says that rather than relying on actual evidence they primarily rest on the word of "a friend of a friend" or on personal anecdote.