Pakistan resisting UK attempts to deport grooming gang leader

Pakistan resisting UK attempts to deport grooming gang leaderImage source, GMPImage caption, Shabir Ahmed was the head of a gang which abused girls as young as 12 ByRichard WheelerPolitical reporterPublished8 minutes agoPakistan is resisting attempts by the UK government to deport a freed ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang.Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the BBC that Shabir Ahmed must be dealt with in accordance with UK laws and the government of Pakistan has "no connection whatsoever with this matter".Calls have mounted for Ahmed's deportation but legislation from 1971 bars it. Ahmed's removal depends on Pakistan accepting him despite the UK government proposing to change the law.Ahmed had dual British-Pakistani citizenship before being stripped of his UK passport following his 2012 conviction for multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls.UK in talks with Pakistan about deporting grooming gang leaderPublished3 JulyAhmed, who came to the UK in the late 1960s, was one of nine men from Rochdale and Oldham found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants.Andrabi said Ahmed's "heinous crimes demand serious introspection rather than the quest to search for extraneous causes".He said: "The matter in question is entirely an internal matter of the United Kingdom."The individual concerned is a British national who spent his entire adult life in the UK and was duly convicted by a British court for reprehensible offences committed on British soil."Any decision regarding his release, supervision of usual legal status, falls 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 spoiled."He added: "The government of Pakistan...