LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Britain has raised the possibility of imposing visa restrictions on Pakistan in a growing diplomatic row over the proposed deportation of Shabir Ahmed, the convicted ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, as Islamabad declared the case was entirely Britain’s responsibility and had nothing to do with Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that the Labor Government was prepared to examine “every possible lever” to force countries to accept the return of criminals Britain wants to deport.
Responding to questions about Ahmed, Cooper said the British government had repeatedly raised its case with Pakistan and would continue to do so.
“This individual should not be in the UK. He should be deported,” Cooper told the committee, strongly backing Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s efforts to change the law to make it easier to remove him.
Asked specifically whether Pakistan could face visa sanctions for refusing to accept Ahmed, Cooper stopped short of announcing immediate action, but confirmed that visa restrictions remained among the options available to the government.
He said previous visa-related measures had reduced abuse of the immigration system involving certain countries and helped Britain secure additional arrangements for the return of foreign criminals and rejected asylum seekers.
Cooper said he could not reveal details of confidential negotiations with individual governments, but confirmed that “every possible lever must be examined” to ensure British immigration rules can be enforced.
Cooper told MPs that Ahmed was not the only case under discussion and that the government was seeking the return of a small number of other criminals who he believed should be deported to Pakistan.
British ministers have pointed to the cases of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia and Angola, which agreed to cooperate with returns after the UK threatened visa penalties.
The foreign secretary’s comments were followed by Pakistan’s first formal public response to the controversy.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi strongly condemned child sexual abuse but rejected any attempt to associate the Pakistani government with Ahmed or decisions regarding his imprisonment and release.
Andrabi said perpetrators of child sexual abuse must be investigated, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
It argued that Ahmed spent his adult life in Britain, committed his crimes on British soil and was convicted by a British court. Pakistan therefore considered the controversy as an internal British matter.
“The Government of Pakistan has no connection with this matter,” Andrabi said, adding that Islamabad cannot be associated with decisions regarding Ahmed’s release or his treatment under British law.
The FO spokesperson claimed that, regardless of Ahmed’s country of birth, the responsibility lay with the society in which he had grown up, grown up and, in the spokesperson’s words, been “spoiled”.
He said Ahmed’s crimes required serious introspection in Britain rather than an attempt to seek responsibility outside the country.
Britain maintains that Ahmed should be expelled from the country after being stripped of his British citizenship. Pakistan, however, has publicly described him as a British citizen and insists that decisions regarding his legal status remain the responsibility of British authorities.
Ahmed, 73, was jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of rape and multiple sexual offenses involving vulnerable girls in Rochdale. He was sentenced to 22 years and released earlier this month after serving 14 years.
At the time of his offences, Ahmed had British citizenship. He was later stripped of that citizenship, but his deportation was blocked by section 7 of the Immigration Act of 1971. He revoked his Pakistani identity before being convicted about 14 years ago.
Home Minister Mahmood has announced plans to amend the law so that protection can be withdrawn for people convicted of serious crimes, including child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and crimes that pose a threat to national security.
However, changing British law would remove only one obstacle. The government would still demand that another country recognize Ahmed as its national and accept his return.
