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Updated November 18th, 2020 at 09:31 IST

Anti-India UK neta Lord Nazir Ahmed retires even as House of Lords recommends expulsion

Lord Nazir Ahmed has announced retirement from the House of Lords, the Upper House of UK Parliament even as he faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

Reported by: Jay Pandya
Pakistan
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Lord Nazir Ahmed has announced his retirement from the House of Lords, the Upper House of the United Kingdom's Parliament, at a time when he also faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. British-Pakistani Nazir resigned on November 14 but a House of Lords Conduct Committee has also recommended that he should have been expelled. The 63-year-old politician, with links to Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, was behind several anti-India protests over the years.

'Exploiting the complainant emotionally and...'

"...Lord Ahmed breached the Code of Conduct by failing to act on his personal honour in the discharge of his parliamentary activities by agreeing to use his position as a member of the House to help a member of the public but then; sexually assaulting the complainant, lying to the complainant about his intentions to help her with a complaint to the Metropolitan Police regarding exploitation by a faith healer, exploiting the complainant emotionally and sexually despite knowing she was vulnerable," stated the committee's report.

He had appealed to the Lords' Conduct Committee against the findings of the independent House of Lords Commissioner for Standards that he breached the parliamentary Code of Conduct. The nine-member Conduct Committee, which is chaired by Lord Jonathan Mance and includes four external members, dismissed Ahmed's appeal against both the finding of breaches of the Code of Conduct and recommended the sanction of his expulsion from the House.

Nazir Ahmed's anti-India views

According to ANI, "he did not deny that a sexual relationship had taken place" but refused to accept that he was in breach of the Code of Conduct. Lord Nazir Ahmed is not new to controversies. He has been a consistent critic of the Indian government's policies, particularly with reference to Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been a supporter of Khalistani groups. During Republic Day in 2018, Nazir Ahmed organised a protest outside the Indian High Commission in London to highlight the claim that minorities in India were not safe.

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Though Lord Nazir's tainted credentials are well known, the Pakistani media is covering up his ouster as voluntary retirement. Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat even called him "Pakistan's Kashmir campaigner in the UK." Ahmed, a former Labour Party member who sat as an independent peer in the Lords, separately faces a trial in a court in northern England related to sexual assault allegations, which is scheduled for next year.

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Published November 18th, 2020 at 09:31 IST

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