LONDON: Pakistan is demanding the extradition of political dissidents from the UK if Britain wants to deport freed Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed.
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UK home secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out on Monday how she plans to change the law to allow him to be sent back.
Ahmed (73), who moved to the UK in 19767 aged 14 from Pakistan Punjab, was convicted of 30 offences, including rape, sexual assault, and trafficking of girls as young as 12, in 2012. He held dual British and Pakistani citizenship when convicted.
The UK stripped him of his British citizenship in 2016 yet has been unable to deport him because, having arrived in the UK before 1971, he is exempt from deportation due to Sec 7 of the Immigration Act, 1971. But even if the law changes, Pakistan is refusing to accept him.
“Pakistan cannot be railroaded into agreeing to terms and conditions that are suitable only to the UK. The Pakistan you are dealing with now is not the Pakistan you dealt with a few years ago. It is a very different kind of govt, one that will not be blackmailed,” an official told the Daily Telegraph.
A source with close ties to the Pakistan govt told TOI: “Pakistan is in no mood to accept demands by the British govt as Shabir has lived in the UK for 60 years. He was just born in Pakistan. He is a UK national as far as we are concerned, and his crimes are a matter for the UK .They have done the right thing by prosecuting him. If anything, they could give him worse punishment. This isn’t dirt you can throw at our door.”
Pakistan’s demands include the UK extraditing the dissidents that Islamabad wants. They include Shahzad Akbar, a cabinet minister under Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, Adil Raja, a YouTuber and former Pakistan army officer, and Altaf Hussain, the London-based founder of the Muttahida Qaumi opposition movement.
“There are people using British soil to destabilise Pakistan, in violation of several British laws, but the UK has done absolutely nothing about them,” the official told the Telegraph.
The UK is unlikely to hand over any of these political dissidents, creating a stalemate. The UK could apply visa sanctions or withdraw foreign aid from Pakistan, something the Tories are pushing for.
