Pakistan refuses to take back grooming gang leader and insists UK is 'where he was spoiled'
Pakistan's government said that "any decision regarding his release, supervision, or future legal status" is Britain's responsibility
Pakistan is refusing to take back a Rochdale grooming gang leader accused of 30 child rape offences, claiming Britain is where he was "spoiled".
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Responsibility for Shabir Ahmed's crimes belong to the UK where "he grew up, was raised, groomed, and, unfortunately, spoiled", Pakistan's foreign office spokesman Tahir Andrabi has said on Thursday.
Ahmed, 73, was released from prison two weeks ago after serving 14 years of a 22-year prison sentence for raping children as young as 12.
But due to an immigration loophole, he is protected from deportation by a provision in the immigration act that exempts Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 from removal.
Ahmed has lived in the UK long enough to qualify for the exemption despite being jailed in 2012 for multiple rape and child sex offences in Rochdale.
On Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to change the law to allow Ahmed, who has already been stripped of his British citizenship, to be deported to his birth country.
But Pakistan has refused to take back the grooming gang leader, who first came to Britain 60 years ago.
In a press statement on Thursday, Tahir Andrabi from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the matter was "entirely an internal matter of the United Kingdom".
He said: "The individual concerned is a British national who has spent his entire adult life in the United Kingdom and was duly convicted by a British court for reprehensible offences committed on British soil.
"Any decision regarding his release, supervision, or future legal status fall 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, was spoiled. His heinous crimes demand serious introspection rather than a quest to search for extraneous causes.
"Let me add, 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."
It comes after Yvette Cooper told LBC that Ahmed "should not be in the UK” and "must be deported".
On Monday, the Home Secretary confirmed the government would change immigration laws to ensure that foreign criminals can no longer use legal protections to stay in the country if they’re found to have committed serious offences.
Where they are guilty of serious and organised crime like human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, war crimes, or posing a national security threat, then they can essentially have their citizenship revoked.
But in this case, it may not yet mean he is deported as the country of origin has to agree to take them back.
Speaking to LBC in Brussels, the Foreign Secretary insisted the government was doing all it could to try and get rid of the grooming gang leader.
Yvette Cooper refused to rule out doing a deal with Pakistan to ensure his removal.
The Foreign Secretary is said to be asking officials to pull every lever to find a solution.
But insiders are worried Mr Ahmed will use the ECHR to try and stay in the UK - arguing his right to a family life, and a country he hasn’t returned to for decades.
The case has sparked outrage and calls for Mr Ahmed to be returned to Pakistan.
But the UK does not have a returns agreement with the nation, making this far harder to arrange.
Since leaving prison he has been under 24-hour accommodation, and fitted with a GPS tag - but many of his victims are fearful of his release from prison.