Pakistani MP on bail for grooming gangs

[Opinion. Further to the grooming gangs in the UK, this MP now 62, has been charged for trafficking when he was in his 20s. He’s lived in the UK for decades so he likely has British citizenship. Even if he can’t be brought to court in the UK, withdrawing his citizenship would be int’l shaming. Interesting he comes from Mirpur the area where the majority of those accused in rape gangs come from.]

Former Pakistani minister on bail over alleged child rape in 1990s Manchester

Exclusive: Rukhsar Ahmed was re-elected as an MP in Pakistan last week despite being on police bail in the UK

Shah Meer Baloch, Josh Halliday, Raphael Boyd and Rajeev Syal

The Guardian: 5 Aug 2026

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/05/former-pakistani-minister-arrested-alleged-child-rape-1990s-manchester

A former Pakistani state minister was arrested two years ago on suspicion of raping vulnerable young girls in Manchester in the 1990s, the Guardian can reveal.

Rukhsar Ahmed, who was re-elected as an MP in Pakistan last week after five years out of office, is on police bail in the UK after his arrest in July 2024 on suspicion of rape and trafficking children in care as part of a grooming gang.

Ahmed was arrested at Manchester airport on 18 July 2024 in relation to past child sexual abuse allegations linked to the Rusholme area of the city, where he lived for many years.

The ongoing investigation relates to allegations from several women about sexual abuse of children at care homes in the early 1990s, when Ahmed was in his late 20s.