A convicted child rapist at the centre of Britain's notorious Rochdale grooming gang scandal has become the focus of an extraordinary diplomatic standoff after Pakistan reportedly demanded that the United Kingdom hand over Pakistani political dissidents living in Britain if it wants Islamabad to accept his deportation.

The UK government is facing a fresh hurdle in its bid to deport Shabir Ahmed, one of the ringleaders of the Rochdale child grooming gang, after Pakistan reportedly refused to…

Rochdale gang leader Shabir Ahmed, 73, was released from HMP Leeds on Thursday after serving just 14 years of the 22-year sentence handed to him in 2012 for the crime of 30 child…