Former Pakistani Government Minister Arrested on Suspicion of Child Rape in Manchester
Roksar Ahmad, a former Pakistani government minister, was arrested in the UK on suspicion of sexual offenses committed in the 1990s. Despite the ongoing investigation, he fled the country and refuses to return for questioning.
A legal and diplomatic drama is shaking the UK and Pakistan: Roksar Ahmad, a former member of parliament and minister in the Pakistani government, was arrested in the UK in July 2024 on suspicion of committing serious sexual offenses, including rape and trafficking of vulnerable children in Manchester during the 1990s. However, he was released by a judge's decision, fled back to Pakistan, and refuses to appear for questioning, according to an investigation published today in the British Guardian.
Ahmad, who was re-elected just last week to the parliament of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region on behalf of the ruling PML-N party of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was arrested at Manchester Airport in July 2024, more than 30 years after the acts attributed to him were committed. The police investigation focuses on complaints from several women who were minors in social welfare institutions in the Rusholme neighborhood at the time Ahmad was in his 20s. Investigators discovered his senior political status in Pakistan only while he was in custody.
Claimed he was "too sick to fly" — and was documented at election celebrations
According to the investigation, the Manchester police then requested to impose strict travel restrictions on Ahmad to prevent him from leaving the UK, but a judge rejected the request and allowed his release on bail with only light conditions.
The affair became complicated when Ahmad was required to appear at a police station in Manchester last month for further questioning, but avoided arriving, claiming he was "too sick to board a flight." However, at the same time, among other things on Facebook, where Ahmad has 17,000 followers, photos were circulated of him conducting a vigorous election campaign, marching in the streets, and participating in mass events in northern Pakistan.
62-year-old Ahmad, representing the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was a minister in various state governments from 2006 until he lost his seat in 2021. Since then, he was out of politics until he returned last week to be a member of the parliament of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region.
According to the Guardian, Ahmad is well known in the Manchester area, where he lived for many years and was the owner of the "Gujar Palace" restaurant. One friend of the businessman even said that people traveled hundreds of kilometers to see the former minister, given his role in Pakistani politics.
A senior member of his party noted to the Guardian that he had heard rumors about the businessman's "membership in various groups in Manchester" in the 90s, but did not know about serious suspicions such as membership in rape gangs.
Sources in the British law enforcement system told the Guardian that if Ahmad does not appear for questioning in the coming weeks, the police are expected to issue an international arrest warrant against him and work for his extradition - a move that could trigger a sharp diplomatic crisis with Pakistan.
The new revelations come amid growing tension between the countries, after Pakistan recently refused a British request to deport to its territory Shabir Ahmad (73), a leader of a Rochdale sex gang who was released from a British prison after serving a 14-year sentence for dozens of rape offenses against minors.
"Grooming Gangs," as they were originally called, were organized sex gangs, many of them with ties to specific communities in cities like Manchester, Rochdale, and Rotherham, that targeted young girls and children from vulnerable populations and shelters.
The gangs, mostly led by Pakistani immigrants, operated mainly from the 80s until the early 2000s. The victims were groomed, drugged, trafficked, and subjected to ongoing gang rapes - with ongoing failure by welfare authorities and the police, who refrained from intervening for many years. This is an open wound in the kingdom that refuses to heal, after more and more horror stories have been exposed in recent years, revealing the scale of the failure and abandonment.
