Pakistan

Pakistani-British Lord admits illegally smuggling two-year-old boy into the UK

Lord Hussain has claimed the, boy who was born in Pakistan, had the right to British citizenship as he was his 'son'

Web Desk March 09, 2015

Lord Hussain, pictured with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. PHOTO: DAILY MAIL

Pakistani-British Liberal Democrat Qurban Hussain admitted he illegally smuggled a two-year-old boy into the UK by claiming he was his son.

Lord Hussain, who was made a life peer as Baron Hussain, lied to the British High Commission in Islamabad about the child’s true parentage after his poverty-stricken Kashmiri parents begged his wife to adopt the boy, according to the Daily Mail.

The Sunday Mirror revealed Lord Hussain told officials the boy, who was born in Pakistan in 1990, had the right to British citizenship as he was the father.

“I know now it is illegal. I realise it was legally wrong but morally it was the right thing to do,” he told the Mirror.

The boy, now 23, was flown to the UK at the age of two and given a British passport soon after.

“The child’s mother begged my wife to take him. You have never seen levels of poverty like this family lived in.”

He added his ‘son’ is a university graduate and he and his wife are ‘very proud’ of him.

PHOTO: DAILY MAIL
Lord Hussain, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s diversity adviser, said he and his wife had ‘adopted’ the child to save him from a life of poverty, but had never filed the correct paperwork.

Ironically, Lord Hussain’s first act in Parliament was to discuss immigration and the risks of breaching immigration law.

The 58-year-old from Luton will now be investigated by the police under the 1971 Immigration Act.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said the party is looking into the matter.

As per rules, peers can be suspended but not excluded from the House of Lords unless they have a conviction for an offence that carries a jail sentence of a year or more.

Lord Hussain became a prominent figure in the Liberal Democrats after Clegg approached him to represent the party in the Upper House and was made a life peer in January 2011.

The deputy prime minister recently vowed to remain tough on immigration after dramatically admitting he was wrong to offer amnesty to illegal immigrants in 2013.

COMMENTS (5)

Bob | 9 years ago | Reply It's an act of morality! Lord Hussain has gained nothing from this nor will he ever apart from verbal abuse and judgment. He helped a child in deep poverty and that should be taken into account. 20 years ago such 'crimes' were evident in all people - not just 'Pakistanis'. The whole concept is outrageous. What he did was not wrong but in fact the way he went about it was and I'm pretty sure of all people he now understands that,however that does not give anybody the right to have a say in what has happened. He helped someone - you say he's a disgrace to the British government? I could note a few people who actually are. People who weren't trying to help a deprived child who probably wouldn't have survived too the age of 5 but in fact hurting others. There's always a bigger picture,just a shame half of the people in this world choose to be blind towards it.

Bewildered | 9 years ago | Reply @Siraj Ahmed: Two years old as domestic help? Really?

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Luciferous | 9 years ago | Reply You can take a man out of Pakistan but can't take Pakistani mentality out of him! The justification would be that he was doing for a nobel cause! He should be stripped of his peerage since he clearly has committed a crime regardless of motive! Some "Lord!"

Lahore wala | 9 years ago | Reply If this man never filed adoption papers for twenty years, than he is an outright liar. See, he could not file adoption papers, since he claimed he was the boy's biological father. This man need to be deported out of England. And sent back to his village in Punjab.

Siraj Ahmed | 9 years ago | Reply The fact is this boy was used by his family as a domestic help for 20 years. This lord has ashamed us all Pakistanis in UK. He should resign for lying and breaking of the immigration law.

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