When his appointment to the United Kingdom’s House of Lords was announced in 1998, it was hailed as a historic moment in two countries: the UK and Pakistan. Lord Ahmed Nazir, a Pakistani-origin politician, became the UK’s first Muslim to be appointed as a peer. On Wednesday, he was found guilty of child-sex offenses.

Sheffield Crown Court in the UK found him guilty of two incidents that happened in the 1970s when he made a rape attempt on a minor girl and sexually assaulted another boy. 

Known for his anti-India stance and open support for Kashmiri and Khalistani separatist groups, Nazir's public image took a great hit over the last two decades. He was forced to quit politics last year after allegations surfaced against him of using his official position to seek sexual favors from a woman.

House of Lords was planning to expel him before that he resigned from his post. 

“Lord Ahmed had attempted to rape the girl in the early 1970s when the defendant was aged 16 or 17 but she was much younger. The attack on the boy, who was aged under 11 at the time, also happened during the same period,” reported BBC. 

He was charged in the case along with his two brothers but later his brothers were found unfit to stand trial. In response, Lord Nazir termed the allegations against him "malicious fiction." 

However, the conviction came when two of the victims presented solid proof against him. 

In London, he has been Pakistan's top lobbyist when it came to the Kashmir issues. Reports in Pakistani media say he is extremely close to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was even considering appointing him as the chairman of the Kashmir Committee. 

He participated in Khalistani rallies and even organized protests in front of the Indian Embassy in Landon. 

Nazir isn't new to controversy.  In 2013, the Labor Party had even suspended him following his anti-semitic statement. Later, he resigned from the party. 

Prior to that, in 2009, he was sentenced to three months in prison for dangerous driving when he rammed his car into another car, killing its driver. Years later he termed his accident as a well-planned "Jewish conspiracy." 
 
(SAM)