Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf has vowed to suspend visas and foreign aid to Pakistan after its government refused to accept the return of Rochdale grooming-gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed.
Ahmed, 73, was convicted in 2012 of 30 rape and child sexual offences. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and was released last week, after serving just 14 years. Ahmed preyed on vulnerable, mostly white, working-class girls as young as 12, plying them with alcohol before subjecting them to horrific sexual abuse.
Although he has been stripped of his British citizenship, successive British governments have failed to deport Ahmed. A legal loophole protects certain Commonwealth citizens from deportation if they were settled in Britain before 1973, as Ahmed was. The Labour government is expected to announce a change in this law now, but this comes too little too late - Pakistan claims Ahmed is no longer one of its citizens and has refused to take him back. Ministers have lacked the political will to change this law earlier and use Britain’s considerable leverage to force Pakistan to accept the return of criminals like Ahmed.
Zia Yusuf criticised Pakistan for not taking back “their depraved rapist” and blamed Conservative and Labour governments for this nonsensical situation. The Tories and Labour sent Pakistan “£6 billion in foreign aid of your money” and issued “two million visas over the last 20 years”, Yusuf said. And yet Pakistan “won’t take back their national, Shabir Ahmed, who raped 30 girls as young as 12.”
If Britain cannot deport a foreign-born rape-gang ringleader who has been stripped of his citizenship, what is the point of having borders? A sovereign country must be able to decide who is allowed to enter and who must leave, particularly when the safety of British children is at stake.
Yusuf explained that a Reform UK government would stop all foreign-aid payments to Pakistan and suspend the issuing of new visas to Pakistani nationals from its first day in office.
If Pakistan still refused to accept Ahmed, Reform UK would impose sanctions on every member of the Pakistani government and freeze any assets they held in Britain.
Yusuf vowed that “a Reform government will not allow the British people to be taken for mugs”.
Reform UK has also pledged to publish 40 years of official files relating to the grooming-gangs scandal and promised an additional £300 million for dedicated police and National Crime Agency taskforces to pursue perpetrators, as well as those responsible for the institutional cover-up. Reform UK would make sure that grooming-gang rapists spend their whole lives behind bars.
As Yusuf said: “We will stand up for Britain and protect our children.”
Ahmed, 73, was convicted in 2012 of 30 rape and child sexual offences. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and was released last week, after serving just 14 years. Ahmed preyed on vulnerable, mostly white, working-class girls as young as 12, plying them with alcohol before subjecting them to horrific sexual abuse.
Although he has been stripped of his British citizenship, successive British governments have failed to deport Ahmed. A legal loophole protects certain Commonwealth citizens from deportation if they were settled in Britain before 1973, as Ahmed was. The Labour government is expected to announce a change in this law now, but this comes too little too late - Pakistan claims Ahmed is no longer one of its citizens and has refused to take him back. Ministers have lacked the political will to change this law earlier and use Britain’s considerable leverage to force Pakistan to accept the return of criminals like Ahmed.
Zia Yusuf criticised Pakistan for not taking back “their depraved rapist” and blamed Conservative and Labour governments for this nonsensical situation. The Tories and Labour sent Pakistan “£6 billion in foreign aid of your money” and issued “two million visas over the last 20 years”, Yusuf said. And yet Pakistan “won’t take back their national, Shabir Ahmed, who raped 30 girls as young as 12.”
If Britain cannot deport a foreign-born rape-gang ringleader who has been stripped of his citizenship, what is the point of having borders? A sovereign country must be able to decide who is allowed to enter and who must leave, particularly when the safety of British children is at stake.
Yusuf explained that a Reform UK government would stop all foreign-aid payments to Pakistan and suspend the issuing of new visas to Pakistani nationals from its first day in office.
If Pakistan still refused to accept Ahmed, Reform UK would impose sanctions on every member of the Pakistani government and freeze any assets they held in Britain.
Yusuf vowed that “a Reform government will not allow the British people to be taken for mugs”.
Reform UK has also pledged to publish 40 years of official files relating to the grooming-gangs scandal and promised an additional £300 million for dedicated police and National Crime Agency taskforces to pursue perpetrators, as well as those responsible for the institutional cover-up. Reform UK would make sure that grooming-gang rapists spend their whole lives behind bars.
As Yusuf said: “We will stand up for Britain and protect our children.”
Picture by: Greater Manchester Police.
