Rukhsar Ahmed, a former state minister of Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir who is on UK police bail over allegations of child rape and human trafficking, has returned to politics. Although the investigation into the allegations is ongoing, he has been elected a member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir assembly in the recent legislative election, British newspaper The Guardian reported.
After losing his seat in 2021, Rukhsar Ahmed was out of the assembly for about five years. In the election held in July this year, he won as a candidate of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Rukhsar was previously a member of the Azad Kashmir assembly from 2006 to 2011 and from 2016 to 2021, serving as a minister several times.
Rukhsar Ahmed, 62, was arrested at Manchester airport by Greater Manchester Police in July 2024. He is accused of having been a member of a notorious grooming gang linked to the rape and trafficking of underage girls at a childcare centre in the Rusholme area of Manchester in the 1990s.
He was questioned over the allegations and later released on police bail. Last month, he was due to report to a police station in Manchester under his bail conditions but did not appear. His lawyers said he had been unable to travel by air because of illness.
At the same time, however, various photos posted on social media showed him actively taking part in election campaigning in the Mirpur area of Pakistan.
The Guardian reported that Greater Manchester Police had, in 2024, applied for a strict ban on Rukhsar’s foreign travel, but that the court did not grant the application at the time. Rukhsar Ahmed has more than 17,000 followers on social media. He was also seen in the Rusholme area of Manchester in May this year. He once owned a restaurant called “Gujjar Palace” near Manchester’s popular “Curry Mile” area.
Investigators have questioned him on the basis of complaints by at least two women, who say Rukhsar Ahmed was involved in raping and trafficking them when they were underage. The allegations date from the early 1990s, when Rukhsar was about 20 years old.
Police said the investigation was still ongoing and that he could be asked to report again within the next six weeks. If he does not appear, an arrest warrant could be issued against him, and extradition proceedings could begin to bring him back to Britain if needed — which could create diplomatic complications between the two countries.
A senior PML-N Azad Kashmir leader said he had known Rukhsar Ahmed for more than two decades but had not previously known of the serious allegations of rape and trafficking against him. “We had only heard that he was linked to some groups in Manchester in the 1990s. But I personally had no idea that there were such serious allegations against him,” he said. Rukhsar Ahmed did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment on the allegations.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report