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Pakistan: Treatment of failed refugee claimants in Pakistan, including whether failed Pakistani refugee claimants are interviewed and detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) upon their return to Pakistan; whether there have been any amendments to the Passport Act 1974 and Emigration Ordinance 1979, and their application by Pakistani immigration and customs officials

Additional information to that found in PAK100044 (26 May 2005), which is provided below, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

United Press International (UPI) reported that in August 2002, Nasir Ali Mubarak, a Pakistani man detained on immigration charges in the United States, who was married to an American woman and who was deported to Pakistan, was "detained for many days at an unknown location" (20 Nov. 2002). In April 2004, UPI reported that in addition to the 1,682 Pakistanis who had by that time been deported from the United States to Pakistan, another 65 Pakistanis were scheduled to be deported that month "mainly for immigration violations" (13 Apr. 2004). The article noted that "detainees have been arrested upon arrival by Pakistani immigration officials" (UPI 13 Apr. 2004). However, according to 24 May 2005 correspondence from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), "[f]ailed Pakistani refugee claimants are not usually detained."

In January 2005, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that "[a] high-profile asylum-seeking family who were deported from Australia after a five-year battle arrived safely in Pakistan but have since disappeared" (4 Jan. 2005).

Other reports of interviews, detentions or disappearances of failed Pakistani refugee claimants upon their return to Pakistan during the period covered by this Response could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In 16 May 2005 correspondence to the Research Directorate, a Karachi-based lawyer indicated that in the period covered by this Response, no amendments have been made to the Passport Act 1974 or to the Emigration Ordinance 1979. This information was corroborated in 24 May 2005 correspondence to the Research Directorate from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France-Presse (AFP). 4 January 2005. "AFP: Pakistani Officials Says Asylum-Seeking Family from Australia 'Disappeared'." (Dialog)

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Lahore. 24 May 2005. Correspondence.

Lawyer, Karachi. 16 May 2005. Correspondence.

United Press International (UPI). 13 April 2004. Anwar Iqbal. "65 Pakistani Nationals Deported." (Dialog).
_____. 20 November 2000. "87 Pakistanis Deported Wednesday." (Dialog)

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Attempts to reach a Pakistani human rights journalist, a professor of law at the University of Warwick and officials at the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education [Australia], the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Washington, DC, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the Human Rights Group of Pakistan (HRGP) and the Refugee & Immigration Legal Centre [Australia] were unsuccessful. Officials at the Pakistan High Commision in Ottawa, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ottawa and the Refugee Health Centre [Australia] were unable to provide information.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International (AI), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Directorate General Immigration and Passports (Pakistan), European Country of Origin Information Network (ecoi.net), Federal Investigation Agency (Pakistan), Freedom House, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), International Crisis Group, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Refugees International, South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), United Kingdom (UK) Border Agency, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).

Topics: Rejected asylum seekers,