Rochdale groomers could finally be sent back to Pakistan
Ministers are engaged in talks with the Pakistani government to remove a block on the deportations of Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, two of Britain's worst grooming offenders.
Rauf and Khan held dual British-Pakistani citizenship but were stripped of their British nationality after being found guilty of being members of the gang.
A judge ordered both men to be deported to Pakistan nearly a decade ago but both renounced their Pakistani citizenship days before a court appeal against the Home Office order.
They were then able to successfully argue that they would be left 'stateless' if they were deported and despite judges having rejected their appeals on more than two occasions, they have been able to remain in the UK because Pakistan has refused to accept them.
In June, Pakistani government sources indicated to The Telegraph that reinstatement of direct flights between Pakistan and UK could enable 'progress' in the negotiations to take back the two men.
The flights by Pakistani International Airlines have been suspended since 2020 after a plane crash that killed 97 people.
However, the British High Commission said on Wednesday that the UK was lifting the ban following safety improvements by Pakistani authorities.
Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale who has urged ministers to deport to Pakistan several men convicted of grooming children, said: 'This is very welcome news. I know that this decision will have been taken solely on the basis of the safety improvements made by the airline and is not linked to deportations.
'But it indicates exactly the kind of close working relationship we need between the UK and Pakistan to pave the way for the return of Pakistani nationals deported from the UK, including the men convicted for being Rochdale grooming gang members.'
The Rochdale child rapists are the most high profile of those who have exploited 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.
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.
A Pakistan ministry of interior official warned in June that deportation was not 'feasible' while the flights remained banned.
' Accepting such criminals is extremely difficult and there is no room in Pakistani society for such offenders. However, if the UK engages in negotiations with Pakistan on this matter [the flights], progress could be made,' he said.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has been leading discussions with the Pakistanis on the issue backed by Home Office ministers.
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.
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