In a quid-pro-quo move, Pakistan has proposed a controversial deal to the UK wherein it said it would accept the return of convicted sex grooming gang members.
In exchange, Pakistan has urged the UK to extradite two high-profile political rebel leaders.
Who are the sex grooming gang members and what is the scandal?
Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, the two convicted sex offenders in UK whose repatriation Pakistan has sought, were accused of having run a grooming gang across the country since the late 1990s. These gangs were known to target, groom and gang-rape White minor girls and the ring was active in cities like Rochdale, Rotherham, Oldham, and Telford.
Both, Shahzad Akbar and Adil Raja have been living in exile in the UK since around April 2022, and are critics of the hybrid regime of Asim Munir-led military and PM Shehbaz Sharif, according to India Today.
The issue had also been amplified in the past by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed that “a quarter of a million” children in the UK were victims.
UK PM Keir Starmer had also led a national inquiry into the scandal but it was later stalled.
Who are the political rebels Pakistan wants UK to extradite?
Pakistan wants UK to extradite Shahzad Akbar and Adil Raja. Akbar, who is a former aide of ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan and Raja, who is an ex-army officer court-martialled in absentia for 14 years.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held a meeting with the UK High Commissioner on the issue, according to Drop Site News.
In return for the extradition of Akbar and Raja, Pakistan would issue travel documents for the convicted offenders, who were stripped of their UK citizenship in 2018 and rendered effectively stateless after renouncing their Pakistani nationality.
‘Pakistan weaponising grooming gangs’
Reacting to Pakistani government’s move, dissident Akbar took to X and said, “It has become increasingly clear that my publications, broadcasts, and political commentary on human rights abuses in Pakistan, the rise of authoritarianism, unconstitutional amendments, and the current impasse over military appointments have deeply angered the regime.”
“Normal people do not think like this, but the Pakistani government does. They have finally figured out a way to weaponise British grooming gangs against overseas activists,” New York City-based journalist, Waqas Ahmed, wrote on X.
Notably, the UK and Pakistan have no formal extradition treaty, though Section 194 of the UK Extradition Act 2003 permits special “ad hoc” arrangements.