London: On Friday (February 4), former UK Parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment on charges of child sexual abuse. The Pakistani origin politician was convicted last month for attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 11 in the 1970s.
Lord Nazir Ahmed was found guilty of one count of buggery and two counts of attempted rape. While reading out his sentence, Justice Lavender remarked, “Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects on the girl and the boy, who have lived with what you did to them for between 46 and 53 years. Their statements express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected their lives in so many different and damaging ways.”
During the trial, the jury had also found that Ahmed’s brothers Farouq (71) and Tariq (66) had also sexually assaulted the male victim, whom the former Parliamentarian had abused. However, they were deemed unfit to stand trial.
Although the victims have expressed satisfaction over the sentencing, the male victim has called for stripping the former Labour Party leader of his peerage (title of Lord Ahmed of Rotherham). “I’m happy in that he got a lengthy custodial sentence, but not happy he is still called a lord and everything that goes with it. It cannot be right that people are still referring to him honourable Lord Ahmed – he’s a paedophile, there is nothing honourable about that at all.”
It must be mentioned that Lord Nazir Ahmed cannot technically be stripped of his peerage, owing to a legal anomaly and the UK government needs to amend the law to facilitate such a thing. The male victim also read out a personal statement about the impact of the sexual abuse committed by ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed and his 2 brothers.
“I buried the abuse and carried it with me on my own for years and years. I feel shame because of what these men did to me. This is not about revenge, this is about justice,” he remarked. The male victim said that the abuse left him traumatised and he could not show affection to his own children.
The female victim narrated, “An overwhelming feeling of shame remained with me throughout my childhood and early adult years. It was a burden I was made to carry, and it silenced me for many years. It is now time for me to pass that burden to him – the paedophile who I know feels no personal shame.” She added that the 5 years’ sentence would prevent Lord Nazir Ahmed from ‘raping children for a while.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, the face of the anti-India campaign and Kashmiri separatists in the UK, was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and later moved to the UK. Nazir has been in the vanguard of a nasty anti-India campaign, giving venomous remarks against India over the Kashmir conflict on numerous occasions. He’s also been a vocal supporter of separatist Khalistani organisations.
During the 69th Republic Day celebrations at the office of the High Commission of India in 2018, Ahmed organised a ‘Black day’ protest in which Pakistani protesters tore Indian flags by hand and shredded them underfoot. Ahmed had also hired five private billboard vans with slogans such as ‘Free Kashmir,’ ‘Free Khalistan,’ ‘Free Assam,’ ‘Free Nagaland,’ and ‘Free Manipur.’
In August 2018, he was one of the key speakers at the contentious ‘Khalistani Referendum 2020’ event in London’s Trafalgar Square. Many Indians, however, gathered to hold a counter-protest and show their open support for India’s sovereignty. During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom in 2018, it was reported that Nazir Ahmed supported an anti-India campaign by Kashmiri and Sikh separatists.
According to reports, some British Sikhs and Kashmiri separatists planned an anti-India campaign in the UK during Prime Minister Modi’s April 2018 visit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Lord Nazir is reported to have funded the protest.