LONDON: Pakistan is demanding the extradition of political dissidents from the UK if Britain wants to secure the deportation of the Rochdale grooming gang ringleader.
A senior Pakistani government official has told The Telegraph that Britain needs to “respect the issues that matter” to Pakistan rather than resort to “arm-twisting” and threats to return Shabir Ahmed, a child rapist, to Pakistan.
Ahmed, 73, was released from prison last week after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. He cannot be returned to Pakistan, despite being stripped of his UK citizenship.
He has avoided deportation because the Immigration Act 1971 exempts Commonwealth citizens who came to Britain before 1973 and have lived in the country for at least five years.Pakistan has refused to take back Ahmed and two other ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang because they claim not to be Pakistani, having renounced their citizenship.
However, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pakistan was prepared to think “out of the box” and “beyond normal procedures” on what it might agree to pave the way for a possible return of Ahmed to Pakistan.
It is understood that Pakistan has raised concerns with the UK about several dissidents and political activists living in the UK, including two who are subject to formal extradition requests by Pakistan.Last December it sought the extradition of Shahzad Akbar, a member of former prime minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, and Adil Raja, a Pakistani journalist and ex-military officer, for alleged “fake news” and anti-state propaganda.
Pakistan has also repeatedly asked the UK to hand over Altaf Hussain, the London-based founder of the Muttahida Qaumi opposition movement, who has been living in exile in the UK for three decades.
“There are people using British soil to destabilise Pakistan, in violation of several British laws, but the UK has done absolutely nothing about them,” said the official.
“The UK tells us these miscreants are law-abiding and following UK law. They tell us they have to protect their human rights and free speech. We have shared evidence that they incite hatred, violence and social unrest, but the UK does not listen to us. Why double standards?”
The official suggested UK-Pakistan negotiations over Ahmed, as well as other grooming gang member, had been going on for nearly a year in anticipation of his release.
