Pakistan has rebuffed appeals by UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to take back a ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, during Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar's crucial talks on Thursday at the Foreign Office, according to a report published in the Daily Telegraph. Mohammad Ishaq Dar told the British Foreign Secretary that there was no existing law or bilateral mechanism between the two countries that would allow for the transfer of child rapists such as Shabir Ahmed to Pakistan.
Dar said Pakistan would consider the UK's request, but sources indicated that the only way a deal could be reached was if the UK handed over Pakistani dissidents currently resident in the UK - a move to which Britain is unlikely to agree, the report added. "We currently do not have any legislation or formal mechanism under which we can take him back," the Pakistani side told British officials, according to sources briefed on the discussions.
Ahmed, 73, was freed from prison last month after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced she will change 50-year-old immigration laws to close a loophole that had prevented the Home Office from deporting the Pakistan-born rapist, even though he has been stripped of his British citizenship. Pakistan, however, is refusing to take him back, maintaining that he has renounced his Pakistani citizenship, spent virtually his entire life in the UK, and is therefore Britain's responsibility.
The Telegraph report stated that Miliband personally raised Ahmed's case with Dar during talks at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London, urging Pakistan to consider taking him back. The Foreign Secretary explained the importance of Ahmed's removal from Britain and conveyed government concerns over the convicted rapist remaining in the country. A formal statement on the talks omitted mention of the Ahmed issue, stating instead that both sides reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral relations and agreed to establish a structured mechanism for formal talks between the two foreign ministries.