LONDON: A former Pakistani state minister, arrested on sexual assault charges relating to young girls in the UK, contested and won an election in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) while on police bail, according to a British media report published on Wednesday.
Rukhsar Ahmed, 62, was arrested at Manchester Airport in 2024 on suspicion of rape and trafficking children in care as part of a grooming gang scandal, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Last week, he was reportedly “re-elected” in the so-called legislative assembly in PoK, after being out of office for five years.
Ahmed was expected to report to the Greater Manchester Police last month under his bail conditions, but reportedly failed to comply.
The British police reportedly wanted to restrict Ahmed’s ability to travel abroad as part of his bail conditions, but a court rejected the tougher measures two years ago.
Ahmed is affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – the party to which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif belongs. He headed several ministries over time from 2006 until he lost his seat in 2021.
The politician was recently pictured on social media campaigning at various "election gatherings" in PoK’s Mirpur.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Ahmed shared images of his meeting with federal minister Amir Muqam.
“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 newspaper report said.
It further said: “Detectives questioned Ahmed in July 2024 about allegations from at least two women who claimed that Ahmed was involved in raping and trafficking them when they were young girls.”
“It is understood that detectives learned about Ahmed’s involvement in Pakistani politics when he was in custody for questioning,” it added.
The ongoing investigation against Ahmed, who is also a businessman, 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.
The newspaper reported that Ahmed is expected to answer police bail in the next six weeks in Manchester, failing which police could issue a warrant for his arrest or take steps to extradite him
The Greater Manchester Police told PTI, "There is nothing we would say on this", and declined to issue any statement at this stage.