Pakistan has threatened to stop taking back its illegal immigrants from the UK if London does not stop attempting to deport convicted child rapist and grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed, reported the British daily, The Telegraph.
Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan, went to the UK in the 1970s, and was one of nine men who were found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13. He was the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, which operated in the towns of Rochdale and Oldham and was charged with multiple rape and sexual offences. In 2012, he was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
He was however released early in July after only serving 14 years in jail, against advice from the UK parole board. Since then, London has been trying to deport the convicted rapist to Pakistan but to no avail so far.
Islamabad had branded the entire affair an "internal matter of the UK" and claimed that they were under no obligation to take back Ahmed as he had given up his Pakistani citizenship. Authorities had also stated that Britain "must take responsibility for his crimes".
This comes as the UK PM, Andy Burnham, has been pushing for increased deportations of convicted foreigners in a bid to free up overcrowded British jails. The Telegraph reported that there were up to 306 Pakistanis languishing in British jails.
Several Pakistani officials told The Telegraph that Islamabad had provided London with the UK government had described as "gold standard cooperation" in taking back rejected asylum seekers, visa overstayers and immigration offenders over the past year.
They added that the UK's insistence that Pakistan take back Shabir Ahmed after his release was "jeopardising" bilateral cooperation on intelligence, security and organised crimes.
Pakistani officials were also angered by suggestions that London could impose visa restrictions and cut off aid if Islamabad continued to drag its feet in taking back Ahmed.
One senior official told The Telegraph, "Britain's continued pressure over the Shabir Ahmed case appears to be driven by domestic political pressures rather than by an appreciation of the legal and diplomatic complexities involved. This risks undermining broader bilateral cooperation".
For context, the deportation of the notorious grooming gang leader has become a pressing issue in British politics, with PM Burnham having promised to prioritise Ahmed's deportation prior to his appointment.
"Pakistan has consistently worked closely with successive UK governments," a second official told The Telegraph, adding that Islamabad had gone beyond treaty obligations to facilitate returns and handovers in criminal cases. "The UK Government has repeatedly told us it's gold standard cooperation."
Pakistan says there is no specific agreement requiring it to take back sex offenders such as Ahmed, but points to its broader cooperation on migrant returns. Official data cited by the officials show Pakistani nationals returning from the UK rose 24% from 1,158 to 1,437 in 2025-26. Failed asylum seeker returns rose 74%, from 279 to 486, while other returns, including foreign offenders and visa over stayers, rose 8%, from 879 to 951.
A third official called Ahmed "very much the UK's internal problem", noting that the 75-year-old had lived in Britain for more than 60 years. "It is therefore difficult to understand why the UK expects Pakistan to take responsibility for someone who was raised, lived and committed his crimes in Britain," he said.
Islamabad had previously claimed that the UK was responsible for Shabir Ahmed's crimes. "The individual concerned (Shabir Ahmed) is a British national who spent his entire adult life in the UK and was duly convicted by a British court for the reprehensible offences he committed on British soil," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told the media last month.
The officials warned that forcing the issue could strain decades of bilateral cooperation. "These relations could be affected in all areas if the issue of Shabir Ahmed was forced upon Pakistan. It cannot be one-way traffic," one official said,
As reprehensible as Shabir Ahmed's crimes are, he is protected from deportation under Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971, which preserves the position of certain Commonwealth and Irish Citizens living in the UK prior to 1971.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has since tabled an amendment to the Immigration and Asylum Bill that would give the Home Secretary the power to deport serious criminals like Ahmed.
But even if the law has changed, Ahmed's removal would require Islamabad's approval, which has thus far been not forthcoming.
Source: India Today