- The UK is pressuring Pakistan to accept the return of convict Shabir Ahmed.
- Pakistan says the Ahmed affair remains Britain’s responsibility.
- Islamabad rejects any link with Ahmed’s crimes and release.
LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Britain has raised the possibility of imposing visa restrictions on Pakistan amid a growing diplomatic row over plans to deport Shabir Ahmed, the convicted leader of the Rochdale grooming gang, as Islamabad said the matter was entirely Britain’s responsibility and had nothing to do with Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that the Labor government was prepared to look at “every possible lever” to force countries to accept the return of offenders Britain wants to deport.
Responding to questions about Ahmed, Cooper said the British government had repeatedly raised his case with Pakistan and would continue to do so.
“This individual should not be in the UK. He should be deported,” Cooper told the committee, strongly supporting Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood’s efforts to change the law to make his deportation easier.
When asked specifically whether Pakistan could face visa sanctions if it refused to accept Ahmed, Cooper did not announce immediate measures, but confirmed that visa restrictions remained among the options available to the government.
She said previous visa measures had reduced abuse of the immigration system involving some countries and helped Britain reach additional deals for the return of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.
Cooper said she could not disclose details of confidential negotiations with the various governments, but confirmed that “all possible levers should be looked at” to ensure Britain’s immigration rules could be enforced.
Cooper told MPs that Ahmed was not the only case under discussion and that the government was seeking to return a small number of other offenders who he believed should be returned to Pakistan.
British ministers cited the cases of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Angola, which agreed to cooperate with returns after the UK threatened visa sanctions.
The foreign minister’s comments have now been followed by Pakistan’s first official public response to the controversy.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi strongly condemned child sexual abuse, but rejected any attempt to associate the Pakistani government with Ahmed or the decisions surrounding his imprisonment and release.
Andrabi said perpetrators of child sexual abuse must be investigated, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion.
He argued that Ahmed had spent his adult life in Britain, committed his crimes on British soil and was found guilty in a British court. Pakistan therefore viewed the controversy as an internal British affair.
“The government of Pakistan has no connection with this case,” Andrabi said, adding that Islamabad could not be associated with decisions regarding Ahmed’s release or his treatment under British law.
The FO spokesperson said that regardless of Ahmed’s country of birth, the responsibility lay with the society in which he had grown up, grown up and, in the spokesperson’s words, been “spoiled”.
He said Ahmed’s crimes required serious soul-searching in Britain rather than an attempt to seek accountability outside the country.
Britain argues Ahmed should be expelled from the country after being stripped of his British citizenship. Pakistan, however, has publicly described him as a British national and insists that decisions about his legal status remain with British authorities.
Ahmed, 73, was jailed in 2012 after being convicted of rape and multiple sexual offenses involving vulnerable girls in Rochdale. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and released earlier this month after serving 14 years in prison.
At the time of his offences, Ahmed held British nationality. He was later deprived of this citizenship, but his deportation was blocked by section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971. He revoked his Pakistani identity before being convicted around 14 years ago.
Interior Minister Mahmood has announced plans to change the law so that protection can be withdrawn from those convicted of serious offenses including child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and crimes posing a threat to national security.
However, changing UK law would only remove one obstacle. The government would still require that another country recognize Ahmed as its national and accept his return.
