Adil Khan, left, and Qari Abdul Rauf still remain in Britain despite deportation orders
Credit: Greater Manchester Police/PA
Pakistan is refusing to take back the ringleaders of the Rochdale child grooming scandal after they renounced their citizenship.
Ministers are engaged in high-level talks with the Pakistan government to persuade them to drop their block on the deportations of Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, two of Britain’s worst grooming offenders. Sources indicated that progress was being made.
The pair lost appeals against deportation in 2018 but remain in Britain.
Pakistan officials told The Telegraph it would be “extremely difficult” to take back such dangerous criminals and that there was “no basis to accept them” if they had renounced their citizenship.
But interior ministry sources suggested that if the UK engaged in negotiations, “progress could be made”.
Pakistan sources suggested restoring direct flights to the UK by its national airline PIA which have been suspended for safety reasons could help, but UK officials said this had not been raised in any talks.
It comes after the grooming scandal was thrust back into the spotlight this week with the publication of a damning audit by Baroness Casey, which found that police and council leaders had failed to investigate cases for fear of being labelled racist.
The Home Office has deported at least three other named Pakistani child sex groomers, including one from Rotherham, in the past nine months.
The Rochdale child rapists are the most high-profile who remain in the UK after exploiting the courts and citizenship rules to avoid deportation.
Rauf, a 55 year old father of five and Khan, 54, were jailed in 2012 as ringleaders of a nine-strong gang of Asian men who sexually assaulted 47 girls – some as young as 12 – after plying them with drink and drugs over two years in Rochdale.
Abdul Aziz tore up his passport before the 2018 deportation ruling
Credit: Greater Manchester Police/PA
The Home Office won a court of appeal ruling to deport the pair and a third member of the gang, Abdul Aziz, in 2018 after stripping them of their British citizenship.
Rauf and Khan subsequently renounced their Pakistani citizenship in an effort to prevent their deportation. Aziz was allowed to stay in the UK because he had torn up his passport before the 2018 ruling. This meant the Government had to let him stay rather than make him stateless.
Under international law, a country cannot strip its nationals of citizenship if it makes them stateless.
The UK also bars anyone from renouncing their citizenship if they are not already citizens of another country.
But Rauf and Khan exploited a loophole that enabled them to become “stateless” by tearing up their Pakistan passports.
A Pakistan government source said it was conveyed in the talks “that the UK must provide a justification for why Pakistan should accept criminals deemed dangerous to humanity, especially when they are not Pakistani citizens”.
If they had renounced their citizenship, “Pakistan has no basis to accept them,” said the source.
However, interior ministry officials said: “If the UK engages in negotiations with Pakistan on this matter, progress could be made.”
They suggested that while direct PIA flights to the UK were suspended, deportation was “not feasible”.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has been leading direct discussions with the Pakistanis on the issue backed by Home Office ministers who are said to be “working very hard” to secure an agreement on their deportation.
Lord Khan, the faith minister with strong links to Pakistan, has also been engaged.
A Home Office spokesman said it would do “everything in our power” to deport foreign nationals who commit “heinous” crimes in the UK.
“The UK and Pakistan are working in partnership on shared migration and return priorities. Both countries recognise and respect our common obligations to return those with no right to remain in our respective countries,” he said.
Among Pakistanis deported since September are Khurram Javed, 42, a member of the Rotherham grooming gang jailed for two years; Nayyar Tazeem, 34, jailed for five years for grooming and seven sexual assaults; and Rochdale sex offender Kashif Mahmood, 37, who was jailed for two years and seven months.
Paul Waugh, Labour MP for Rochdale, said it was an “utter outrage” that the two “perverts” Rauf and Khan had not been deported for their “horrific” child sex offences.
He said: “The last government failed repeatedly to send them back. Ministers in this government know that’s utterly unacceptable and I’ve been working hard with them to get it sorted. We need action because the people of Rochdale deserve nothing less.”
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said that the UK must not allow the two gang groomers to be used as “bargaining chips” by the Pakistan government and urged Sir Keir Starmer to take tougher action.
“Starmer needs to grow a backbone and suspend visas and aid if they don’t cooperate,” he said.
The Department for Transport confirmed it was still considering an application by Pakistan for its national airline to be removed from the UK safety list so it could fly to the UK.
“This is a technical and independent process – where aviation safety is the only consideration – and there is a robust process to follow before airlines are delisted,” said a source.
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