APL chair Barrister Amjad Mlaik welcomes the report
The UK Border Agency has been warned by John Vine, the independent chief inspector of UKBAit may be discriminating unlawfully against Pakistanis applying for British visas and in favour of applicants from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai. Guardian
Barrister Amjad Malik, who has started a campaign to highlight the discrimination against Pakistani immigrants from the platform of Association of Pakistani Lawyers welcomed the report and has said that the memorandum between Pakistan and Britain is flawed as there are around a million waiting to be regularised in UK and deportation of only Pakistanis without due process will be discriminatory and against the basic human rights of those individuals some of whom are seeking protection under the Geneva Convention 1951 and ECHR 1950.
See Links about Report:
Old Links about MOU:
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/oct2010-daily/28-10-2010/europe/euro5.gif
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2010-daily/03-11-2010/euro.htm
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No Pakistani living legally in the UK to be deported: Rahman Malik
Nov 03 The recent Memorandum of Understanding between
Pakistan and the United Kingdom on extradition does not cover those
Pakistanis living legally in Britain.
Speaking at a hurriedly called news conference at the Pakistan High
Commission on Wednesday, Federal Interior Minister Rahman Malik said
the understanding reached with his British counterpart Theresa May on
her recent visit to Pakistan cover only those Pakistanis who have
landed in Britain illegally.
He said through this understanding Pakistan will accept only 120 its
nationals deported by the UK authorities and only after they have been
cleared by the Pakistan High Commission.
Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan was also
present on the occasion.
Mr.Malik assured the Pakistani community in the UK that they need not
to worry if they have been living legally in Britain. He was
questioned on reports that those Pakistanis reporting at the desired
reporting centres established by the UK Border Agency are being
deported to Pakistan without due process.
The Minister further said the Government has taken the illegal
migration of Pakistanis very seriously and has established a task
force under his personal supervision to tackle this issue and take
action against those involved in human trafficking.
He also denied that this MOU with British authorities also include
exchange of criminals. The Minister further mentioned that Pakistani
authorities recently seized some 90,000 national identity cards which
were purportedly to be used by human smugglers.
The Federal Minister also referred to his five-hour one on one meeting
with MQM Chief Altaf Hussain last night and expressed his satisfaction
at the outcome. He said MQM has always supported the Government at
crucial stages and being a coalition partner, the Government has been
grateful for this co-operation both at the centre and in Sindh.
Mr.Malik said their discussion centred on the political situation in
Pakistan and the challenges facing the Government with particular
focus on the recent happening in Karachi.
The Minister said the Government was determined to establish its writ
and has taken a number of steps to ensure peace in the southern port
city. He attributed the situation in Karachi to a combination of
various factors relating to sectarianism, ethnicity, extremism and
religious. He also mentioned the activities of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.
However, the interior Minister pointed out that many of the target
killing could not be termed as such and authorities found that some of
those killed were due to personal animosity and domestic issue. He
said Baluch leader Habib Jalib of BNP was slained because of family
feud and the media had term his death as ‘target killing’.
Later, the Minister visited the NADRA and MRP (Machine Readable
Passport) section within the premises of the Chancery and suggested
some improvement for the benefit of the people.
Our reservation on ‘MOU’ remains valid , the document must be made public, MOU raises more questions than answers; Barrister Amjad Malik, Chair APL
Association of Pakistani Lawyers, a team of Pakistani origin lawyers, Solicitors, Barristers, Judges in the UK in response to Press conference of Dr Rehman Malik hs confirmed that Our reservation on ‘MOU’ between Pakistan and UK remains, and the said document must be made public. Earlier on 27 October APL took a serious note of the announcement of British Home Secretary Rt. Hon Theresa May and her Pakistani counterpart Dr. Rehman Malik agreeing to deport all illegal Pakistani immigrants to Pakistan.
APL objects this development and is of the view that the statement does not address the concerns of the lawyer community as those lawfully here do not need to fear from the governmental agreements but the feared are those who are in backlog and are wanting to be regularised some of whom are wanted by state and fear torture upon return and it is not clear that all those Pakistani Immigrants in the ‘backlog’ free of risks of further detention and imminent removal and this memorandum is flawed as there are around a million waiting to be regularised in UK and deportation and or removal of only Pakistanis without due process will be discriminatory and against the basic human rights of those individuals some of whom are seeking protection under the Geneva Convention 1951 and ECHR 1950.Both Govts cannot deny individuals a right of international protection, fair trial and due process which benefitted in the past the current Interior Minister, both premiers and is currently aiding the former military dictator as that is the beauty of British law and judicial system to protect people who fear persecution for their long held belief or reasons of race , colour, nationality or political association and or unfair trial, torture & ill treatment in their country of origin.
Association of Pakistani Lawyers is of the view that the people who are still working under the carpet in UK , the Government must address the issue of current backlog consisting of existing failed asylum seekers, overstayers, and families with children living in Britain to regularise them rather than removing them. Migration watch earlier estimated the figure of around 870,000 people and though the Home Office accepts a lesser number being economical with the truth. Dr Rehman Malik must impress his British counterpart for regularisation of those immigrants not their arrests, detention, repatriation, and threats of prosecution. APL fears that MOU may not promote illegal actions and torture is not outsourced and Pakistan may not directly or indirectly use torture to extract information on behalf of third parties as has allegedly happened in the case of British permanent resident Bin Yam Mohammed & Rangzeb Ahmed over which Courts have criticised Pakistani Govt, and intelligence community.
Chair APL Barrister Amjad Malik reiterated that APL welcomes the forthcoming task force tackling human trafficking, as well as intelligence sharing mechanism to combat terrorism but we object to deportations of many thousand Pakistanis as we have been a supporting the idea that the current Home Secretary should consult with all stakeholders & chalk out a strategy to bring all those in the Immigration record who have long been working in our black economy as slaves.
APL looks forward a statement from both British Premier David Cameron and Pakistani Prime Minister ensuring that any changes to the immigration system will operate in a fair, transparent and judicious manner, while protecting and promoting the competitive position of successful UK businesses and compliance with basic human rights of the individuals duly protected by the Geneva Convention 1951 and European Convention on Human Rights 1950.
Barrister Amjad Malik
Chair & Members of the Executive
Association of Pakistani Lawyers (UK)
Office Address
149a DRAKE STREET, ROCHDALE, UK, OL11 1EF, UNITED KINGDOM
TEL: 00 44 1706 346 011
FAX: 00 44 1706 346012
MOBILE: 00 44 7770 983308
EMAIL: APLRochdale@aol.com
Wednesday, 03 November 2010
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2010-daily/03-11-2010/euro.htm