THE UK government is in talks with Pakistan over the possibility of deporting a leader of the Rochdale grooming gang to the country, the BBC reported on Friday.

Shabbir Ahmed, who has dual British-Pakistani citizenship, was released from prison this week after his 2012 conviction on multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls.

British officials told his victims that Ahmed could not be deported to Pakistan because of a 55-year-old law barring his removal.

However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has asked the home secretary to review Ahmed’s case following calls for his deportation from the UK.

‘PM-in-waiting’ Burnham among those calling for Shabbir Ahmed’s deportation

The BBC reported that Andy Burnham, who is widely tipped as a future leader, was among those calling for Ahmed to be deported.

“We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Islamabad and we are committed to doing everything possible to deport foreign national offenders, and we’re clear that they should have no place in this country,” said a spokesperson for the British premier’s office.

“As previous governments have found, this necessarily involves the agreement of the receiving country – which has not always been possible – but we are currently working across government to explore all possible options in this case.”

The prime minister’s spokesperson stated that the UK would “do everything in our power to remove” Ahmed, but added that it was “clearly a complex case with implications beyond this specific incident”.

The BBC reported that Ahmed was released from prison on Thursday and is now residing in 24-hour staffed accommodation, where he is being monitored with an electronic GPS tag.

The Home Office said any breach of his strict licence conditions would result in his immediate return to prison.

Ahmed went to the UK in the late 1960s and held dual citizenship at the time of his conviction.

The BBC reported that his British citizenship was revoked by the courts after he was jailed, and he was expected to be deported upon completion of his sentence.

Earlier this week, victims of the grooming gang were informed that provisions of the Immigration Act 1971 barred the removal of any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had been resident in the country for at least five years, the report added.

Ahmed was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2012, as one of nine men convicted in the Rochdale grooming gang trial of offences against children.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2026