Pakistan has warned the UK that it could stop accepting illegal migrants if the government tries to force it to take grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, according to a Pakistani source.
Background of the case
Shabir Ahmed, 73, known to his victims as “Daddy”, was released on licence on July 2 after serving 14 years in jail. He was convicted in 2012 for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls. He is subject to licence conditions, including staying at approved accommodation staffed 24 hours a day.
In July, the address of this premises in Accrington, Lancashire, caused uproar. Sarah Smith, Labour MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, called for his removal from the town.
Reactions and government response
Smith said: “I am disgusted that he was ever here in the first place and I join other MP colleagues who have been calling for a much wider exclusion zone so that he is not placed in Lancashire or the North West. He must be deported as soon as possible, and I am pleased the Government is taking steps to secure this.”
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said earlier this year that she would change the Immigration and Asylum Bill to remove immunity under the 1971 Immigration Act, which would prevent Ahmed being deported. But she admitted to MPs that despite the potential law change, she would be unable to deport him unless Pakistan agrees to do so.
Pakistan's warning
A Pakistani source told The Telegraph that relations with the UK “could be affected in all areas if the issue of Shabir Ahmed was forced upon Pakistan”. They added: “It cannot be one-way traffic.”
Pakistan says agreements on accepting rejected asylum seekers, visa overstayers and immigration offenders, along with wider collaboration on intelligence, security and crime, could be jeopardised if the UK tried to force its hand regarding Ahmed.
