Pakistan has pointed the finger at Britain over the crimes of convicted grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, while again refusing to accept his return.
Ahmed, now 73, led a group of sexual predators who preyed on vulnerable young girls across Greater Manchester for years, abusing victims in rooms above takeaway premises in Oldham and Rochdale and moving them between locations for sexual exploitation.
He was released last month after being sentenced in 2012 to 22 years in prison for 30 child rape offences, alongside a 19-year term for child sex offences and trafficking.
Efforts to remove him to Pakistan, where he was born, have triggered a diplomatic dispute after reports that Ahmed renounced his Pakistani citizenship. He left the country in 1967, when he was 14.
Although the previous UK government stripped him of his right to remain in Britain, effectively leaving him without a nationality, ministers have been unable to deport him because of a 1971 law that safeguards the rights of some Commonwealth citizens.
Pakistan has repeatedly rejected attempts to send Ahmed back.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs again distanced itself from the convicted paedophile, even suggesting that his offending was linked to the life he lived in the UK.
Tahir Andrabi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, told journalists that the issue of what happens to Ahmed was “entirely an internal matter of the United Kingdom”.
He also suggested the monster had been ‘spoiled’ by his British life.
The government has said it will change the law to depart Rochdale grooming gang boss Shabir Ahmed (pictured) but his home nation has refused to take him back
Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi (pictured) doubled down on the country’s refusal to accept Ahmed, who reportedly renounced his Pakistani citizenship
‘The individual concerned is a British national who spent his entire adult life in the UK and was duly convicted by a British court for reprehensible offences committed on British soil,’ Mr Andrabi said.
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‘Any decision regarding his release, supervision of usual legal status, falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of the competent British authorities and must be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom.
‘Regardless of where he was born, the onus lies on where he grew up, was raised, groomed, and unfortunately spoiled.
‘The government of Pakistan has no connection whatsoever with this matter.
‘We cannot be associated with any decisions relating to the individual’s release or subsequent treatment under the British law.’
Mr Andrabi added that Pakistan ‘strongly condemned’ child sexual abuse, and that perpetrators should face the ‘fullest extent of the law, irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion’.
His comments sparked anger last night: shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the suggestion the UK was to blame for Ahmed’s crimes was ‘deeply repugnant’.
He said: ‘Vile paedophile child rapists who came here from Pakistan should all be deported back.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this week she would seek to amend the 1971 Immigration Act which, as it stands, prevents Britain from deporting Ahmed.
The law prevents any citizens of the Commonwealth – of which Pakistan is a member – from being deported even if they have been convicted of a criminal offence.
It had been drawn up to protect the Windrush generation, and those who had come to Britain as citizens of the British Empire.
Even if the law is changed, Ahmed’s removal depends on Pakistan accepting him back – something it has said it will not do. Downing Street insists it is still pressuring Pakistani diplomats.
A No10 spokesman told the Mail: ‘We are engaging with the Pakistan government at a senior level, doing everything possible to deport him.’
It came as ministers last night signed off £153million in foreign aid for Pakistan despite the diplomatic row.
No10 said that none of the aid goes to the Pakistan government but to charities and other bodies working in the country.
Because Pakistan has limited tax revenues, it relies heavily on foreign aid to fund vital services.
The Foreign Office yesterday said the cash would be used to help build a ‘safer, more resilient Pakistan’ which would reduce ‘security and migration risks to the UK’.
