Pakistan rejects UK request to deport Rochdale gang leader

Pakistan has rejected United Kingdom requests to deport Shabir Ahmed, the 73-year-old convicted ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang. During bilateral talks, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, informed UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband that no existing law or bilateral mechanism exists to facilitate the transfer of such offenders.

Ahmed, who was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction for 30 child rape offences, was released from prison in July. While the UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has expressed intentions to amend 50-year-old immigration laws to close the loophole preventing his deportation, the legal impasse remains.

Pakistani officials maintain that because Ahmed has spent nearly his entire life in the UK and has renounced his Pakistani citizenship, the responsibility for his supervision rests with Britain. Sources suggest that any potential agreement might require the UK to hand over Pakistani dissidents residing in Britain, a condition the UK is unlikely to meet.