Pakistan could take back two of the worst offenders in the Rochdale grooming gang, according to reports. Officials from Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Islamabad could drop its block on the deportation of ringleaders Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan if the UK restores direct flights between the two countries.
Both men held dual British-Pakistani citizenship but were stripped of their British nationality after being found guilty of involvement in the scandal. The pair renounced their Pakistani citizenship in a desperate attempt to avoid deportation after the Home Office won a Court of Appeal ruling in 2018. Under international law, a country cannot strip its nationals of citizenship if it makes them stateless.
Rauf and Khan have continued to remain in the UK as Pakistan has refused to accept them after they tore up their passports.
But now an official from Pakistan’s foreign office has confirmed this could change if the UK allowed Pakistani airlines to operate between the two countries, The Times reports.
Pakistani airlines were banned from operating in and out of the UK in 2021 over safety concerns.
Pakistan has applied to be removed from the UK Air Safety list, with the application reportedly under consideration.
An Islamabad official told The Times it would be hard to repatriate Rauf and Khan because they had renounced their Pakistani citizenship.
“This complex case involves several legal challenges, and we are currently in discussions with UK authorities, although no significant progress has been made yet,” the official said.
“Concurrently, technical discussions regarding the resumption of PIA flights to the UK are also under way.”
Osama Malik, a UK-trained immigration law expert, told the newspaper: “If these convicts have legally renounced their Pakistani citizenship, it would be very difficult for Pakistan to accept these deportations, as Pakistan cannot allow dangerous convicts on its soil if they are not Pakistani citizens.
“If these convicts reapply for Pakistani citizenship then they could be accepted by Pakistani authorities, but that is unlikely.”
Father-of-five Rauf, 55, and Khan, 54, were the leaders of a grooming gang that attacked 47 girls – some as young as 12 – after plying them with drink and drugs.
Rauf was jailed for six years but released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence.
Khan was jailed for eight years in 2012.