LONDON: Pakistan has warned it could stop taking back illegal migrants if Britain tries to force it to accept the grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed, according to an exclusive report published in The Daily Telegraph.
Senior Pakistan government officials told The Telegraph they had provided Britain with “gold standard” co-operation in helping it to return nearly 1,500 rejected asylum seekers, visa overstayers and immigration offenders to Pakistan in the past year.
But they said Britain’s insistence that Pakistan should take back Shabir Ahmed following his release from a 22-year jail sentence for 30 child rape offences was jeopardising these agreements as well as wider collaboration on intelligence, security and organised crime.
It is understood Pakistani officials are particularly aggrieved at suggestions by government sources that the UK is prepared to impose sanctions, including visa bans on Pakistanis seeking to come to the UK and withholding foreign aid, if Pakistan continues to refuse to take Ahmed back.
It comes as Andy Burnham is seeking to increase the deportation of foreign offenders as part of efforts to create more space in overcrowded prisons and reduce the need for the early release of more criminals. There were 306 Pakistanis held in UK jails as of June 30.
Ahmed, 73, was freed from prison last month after serving 14 years of his 22-year sentence. Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has announced she will change 50-year-old immigration laws to close a loophole that prevented the Home Office from deporting Ahmed even though he has been stripped of his British citizenship.
Pakistan, however, is refusing to take him back, saying that he has renounced his Pakistani citizenship, has spent virtually his entire life in the UK and is therefore Britain’s responsibility.
One senior Pakistani official told The Telegraph: “Britain’s continued pressure over the Shabir Ahmed case appears to be driven by domestic political pressures rather than by an appreciation of the legal and diplomatic complexities involved. This risks undermining broader bilateral cooperation.
“We believe that the relations between the two countries should not be jeopardised because of political challenges facing the UK government at home. Let’s not play politics with each other’s security and be honest.
“Pakistan has consistently worked closely with successive UK governments, not only by accepting the return of failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders after they had exhausted all legal avenues to remain in Britain, but also by going beyond its treaty obligations to facilitate the return or handover of individuals wanted by UK authorities in criminal cases,” said a second official.
“The UK government has repeatedly told us it’s gold standard cooperation.”
He said Pakistan’s cooperation had extended beyond immigration to sustained collaboration on intelligence, security and organised crime, often in support of UK national security interests.
But he warned: “These relations could be affected in all areas if the issue of Shabir Ahmed was forced upon Pakistan. It cannot be one way traffic.”
Pakistan maintains there is no specific agreement between the two countries requiring Pakistan to take back sex offenders such as Ahmed. But it says it has, nonetheless, expanded co-operation with the UK on overall returns of illegal migrants to Pakistan.
Its officials pointed to data showing the number of Pakistani nationals returned to Pakistan was up 24% year on year from 1,158 to 1,437 in 2025-26.
This included a 74 per cent rise in returns of failed asylum seekers from 279 to 486, and an 8% rise in non-asylum returns including foreign offenders and visa overstayers from 879 to 951.
A third official said it was “unfortunate” the government was seeking to return Ahmed, who was “very much the UK’s internal problem”.
“He is a 75-year-old man who has lived for more than 60 years in Britain,” he said. “He is, for all practical purposes, a product of British society. It is therefore difficult to understand why the UK expects Pakistan to take responsibility for someone who was raised, lived and committed his crimes in Britain, instead of addressing the matter within its own jurisdiction.”
The officials urged the UK government to adopt what they described as a more sensible and pragmatic approach, warning that allowing a single case to overshadow decades of close cooperation between the two countries would serve neither country’s interests and risk further straining bilateral relations.
Separately, officials shared data with Geo News showing the level of cooperation.
Another official, quoting data, said: “The latest annual figures show cooperation has increased further. In the year ending March 2026, the UK returned 1,437 Pakistani nationals, compared with 1,158 in the previous 12-month period, representing a 24.09% increase. The most significant rise was in asylum-related returns, which increased by 74.19%, from 279 to 486 people. Non-asylum-related returns, including immigration offenders such as visa overstayers and foreign national offenders, also rose by 8.19%, from 879 to 951. We have helped the UK govt like no other government. That’s why our cooperation is appreciated behind the closed doors.”
Pakistan also accepted two UK charter flights carrying returnees during 2025, in May and August, as part of Britain’s removals programme, data shows.
Geo and The Telegraph have seen the evidence where the UK Home Office has called this cooperation a “gold standard”.
One official said the figures demonstrate Islamabad’s commitment to working with Britain on migration and wider law enforcement issues.
The senior official argued that Pakistan’s cooperation has extended far beyond immigration matters and has included sustained collaboration on intelligence, security and organised crime, often in support of UK national security interests. He, however, warned: “These relations could be affected in all areas if the issue of Shabir Ahmed was forced upon Pakistan. It cannot be one-way traffic.”
