Journalist Absar Alam has said that Pakistan has refused to take back the leaders of the Rochdale grooming gang, stating that under no circumstances will it take back “such gangsters and criminals,” adding that the issue has become a major talking point in United Kingdom (UK) politics.
Commenting on the case in a vlog, Alam asked, “If they are unfit to live in that society, how can they be fit to live in Pakistan?”
He said that Pakistan has been defamed as a result of their actions and pointed out that the entire British media, when discussing the case, refers to such individuals as “Pakistani, British-Pakistani passport holders.”
Alam remarked that “there are always a few bad apples who become a cause of disgrace not just for their own community, but for the entire nation.”
He said that people should distance themselves from such individuals rather than involve them in protests against Pakistan outside the Pakistan High Commission in London, adding that “If such individuals are going to protest against Pakistan, then fingers will inevitably be pointed and questions will certainly be raised regarding the credibility of those protests.”
The UK government is separately in talks with Pakistan over the possibility of deporting a leader of the gang to the country.
“We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Islamabad and we are committed to doing everything possible to deport foreign national offenders, and we’re clear that they should have no place in this country,” a spokesperson for the British premier’s office said.
The incoming prime minister had tweeted that the government will examine every legal avenue to ensure that, by any means possible, the gang leaders are deported to Pakistan, as they are unfit to live in British society.
The gang leader in question, Shabbir Ahmed, 73, known as “Daddy” by his victims, held dual British and Pakistani citizenship at the time of his conviction. He was jailed for 22 years in August 2012 for a string of child sexual offences including rape. This week his victims were informed he would be released on licence and despite earlier promises, he could not be deported due to a 55-year-old law.
His British citizenship was stripped by the courts after his conviction and it was expected he would be deported once his sentence ended.
Keir Starmer has asked the home secretary to review the case amid calls for the law to be changed to allow Ahmed’s removal from the country. Ahmed is now in 24-hour staffed accommodation, wearing a GPS (Global Positing System) electronic tag.
British media reports have stated that Ahmed cannot be deported back to Pakistan due to provisions under the Immigration Act 1971, which governs who can enter, stay in and be removed from the UK.
Under its provisions, a Commonwealth citizen who arrived in Britain before 1973 and had already been living in the country for five years is protected from deportation. Ahmed, who moved to the UK in the late 1960s, falls under its protection.
Officials have said that his removal is currently barred despite his conviction. The Home Office has said that the same provisions protected many individuals caught up in the Windrush crisis.
UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that her party would attempt to amend the government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill “to close the loophole so that this man can be deported immediately.”
UK Labour MP Jim McMahon, who represents a constituency in Oldham where some of the abuse occurred, said that the 1971 Act was meant to protect Commonwealth citizens who came to the UK for a better life and contributed to the country.
“It was not designed to give a free pass to a child rapist,” he said. “I think we need to anchor it in what the law was intended to do and not the way it has been abused today.”
