Walking through Rochdale, it is hard to ignore the quiet anger that still lingers more than a decade after one of the most disturbing child abuse scandals in modern Britain. Shabir Ahmed, the man victims knew as "Daddy", was released from prison in late June or early July 2026 after serving roughly 14 years of a 22-year sentence for multiple rapes and sexual offences against girls, some as young as 12. Yet Pakistan will not accept his deportation. And the UK has just confirmed a £153 million three-year aid package to that country.
This is not abstract policy failure. It is a direct signal that the protection of British girls and the enforcement of our borders sit below other considerations. Ahmed was convicted in 2012 of 30 child rape offences among others. He arrived in the UK from Pakistan in 1967, was later stripped of British citizenship, but Islamabad now claims he renounced Pakistani nationality and was raised here. UK officials insist he retains it and that no proper renunciation ever took place.
Deportation is currently blocked under section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971, a provision designed to protect certain long-term Commonwealth residents. The government says it is in talks with Pakistan and is looking at amending that Act or rushing emergency legislation to remove foreign national offenders convicted of serious crimes. Yet those talks have dragged on for about a year with little visible progress.
Pakistan has gone further. According to The Times of India, Islamabad has told the UK it must extradite named political dissidents living in Britain, including Shahzad Akbar, Adil Raja and Altaf Hussain, before it will accept Ahmed’s removal. The leverage runs only one way.
Despite this impasse, as GB News reported the UK government approved the £153 million aid package anyway. Spread over three years, it equates to £51 million annually. The money is said to support charities and organisations rather than the Pakistani government directly, with aims around stability and migration prevention. Those stated goals now look hollow to many watching convicted abusers walk free here while taxpayers foot the bill abroad.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has called for suspension of bilateral aid to Pakistan and visa sanctions on Pakistani nationals until the country accepts Ahmed and other convicted offenders. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has gone further, stating plainly that there should be no foreign aid and no visas for Pakistan until it accepts the deportation of Shabir Ahmed.
