Pakistani-origin British Member of Parliament Nazir Ahmed was facing expulsion from the House of Lords for breaching the Code of Conduct when he offered his resignation on the 14th of November. Ahmed who was born in Mirpur city in the Mirpur district of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is under illegal occupation of Pakistan, is charged for failing to act on his personal honour.
“Lord Ahmed resigned from the House of Lords on 14 November but the report, which was agreed by the committee and seen by Lord Ahmed before that date, recommends that he should have been expelled,” the nine member conduct committee said.
Nazir Ahmed who is a member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom was found to have used his position to sexually exploited a woman named Tahira Zaman under the pretext of helping her. Zaman was reportedly put in contact with Ahmed to assist her to make a complaint to the Metropolitan Police regarding exploitation by a faith healer.
Ahmed offered to help her but used his position as a member of House of Lords to sexually assault her on March 2, 2017, lying to her about his intentions to help her in filing a complaint with the Metropolitan Police regarding the faith healer and emotionally and sexually exploiting her despite knowing that she was vulnerable.
The Commissioner for Standards who conducted investigation into the allegation against Ahmed noted, “I find that Lord Ahmed exploited Ms Zaman emotionally and sexually even though he knew she was receiving treatment for anxiety and depression. This exacerbates the seriousness of his breaches of the Code”. Recommending the sanction of expulsion of Ahmed from the house the Commissioner further noted that that Ahmed persistently gave deliberately inaccurate and misleading accounts to conceal his behaviour towards Zaman and failed to co-operate with the investigation.
Ahmed had made an appeal to the House of Lords Conduct Committee against the findings of the Commissioner and recommended sanction. Upholding the findings of the Commissioner, the Committee noted that Ahmed did not show any remorse or take any responsibility for any aspect of his conduct towards Zaman. The Committee headed by Lord Menace and comprising of four external members dismissed Ahmed’s appeal. The report of the Committee will now be put for approval before the House on November 19 without a debate.
Ahmed’s India Hatred
During the 69th Republic Day celebrations at the office of High Commission of India, Ahmed had organised a ‘Black day’ protest in which Indian flags were torn by hand and shredded under foot by Pakistani protesters. Ahmed had also hired five private billboard vans showing ‘Free Kashmir’ ‘Free Khalistan’, ‘Free Assam’, ‘Free Nagaland’ and ‘Free Manipur’.
Lord Nazir Ahmed who was appointed to the House of Lords by former Birtish PM Tony Blair has a tainted track-record. He was suspended from the Labour Party after several controversies. He was awarded a jail term in relation to a fatal car crash in 2007. He had termed his prison sentence, which was later reduced to a court of appeal, a ‘Jewish conspiracy’.
In 2018, it was reported that Nazir Ahmed had backed an anti-India campaign by Kashmiri and Sikh separatists during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom.
