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I regret that I have been unable to update OP readers as to the progress of my campaign. Before I do that, I wish to share my campaign letter addressed to the Brown government and the opposition parties in the UK. A copy of the letter written to one of the opposition parties- the Liberal Democrats is produced verbatim as below:

Dear Hon Nick Clegg MP, Hon David Howarth MP, Hon Chris Huhne MP, Hon John Hemming MP

I write to you today as the founder of the Free Pakistani Students Campaign and as a British Pakistani.

I am urgently writing to you to seek your support in lending your voice for the twelve Pakistani students recently released without charge so that they are not deported under the lie of national security. I appeal to you as you are a respected member of Parliament and hope you agree that it will be an injustice to deport Pakistani citizens who have not been even charged let alone gone through a detailed legal process to prove their crime.

I am sure you can appreciate what a nasty precedent it would set and indeed its horrendous impact within the British Pakistani community need not even be stated. The attachment included in this email includes a press release that includes the legal points, further the adverse social ramifications vis a vis community relations with the Pakistani community are explored and deserve immediate attention.

I appreciate that Lord Carlile of Berriew QC will look at the case as part of his ongoing role as independent reviewer of terrorism laws, indeed this is proof that the case is deserving of your attention and support. Furthermore the case also brings to the fore the ongoing debate on terrorism laws especially with regards to foreign nationals and I quote verbatim Dominic Casciani of the BBC Home Affairs team who says that:

‘if someone is arrested on suspicion of a crime, they either end up in the dock or walking out of the police station a free man. But for foreign nationals accused of crime there is a third way – being sent directly for immigration removal. The home secretary has considerable powers to deport foreign nationals whose presence is not conducive to the public good – and she doesn’t need hard criminal evidence to go ahead. The cases will go to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, effectively a national security tribunal. It can hear evidence in secret – which means that intelligence assessments with no weight in a criminal trial can be used to ban someone from the UK . That means that we’re unlikely to ever hear the full story – and if the men lose, the security services can say they acted appropriately. It boils down to the difference between whatever the secret intelligence police and security services believed they had uncovered and the lack of evidence that the men were doing anything illegal’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8012838.stm

As a British Pakistani I can vouch for the anger in the community here and in Pakistan and ask of you to raise your voice in parliament be it via motions and debates and in the media so that the students are not deported and can continue with their studies in the UK, for justice must prevail.

This key issue has been raised with a Cabinet Minister and with the Home Office through the good offices of MP’s including Dr Lynne Jones and Clare Short. However it has yet to yield any positive results and I write today to you to ask for your personal support for the cause and indeed your party’s support in this key matter.

The Liberal Democrats have always believed in the rule of law, liberty and justice for all and I hope you will see this key issue within that context and raise your voice in support of the Pakistani students release. The issue will also serve as a test case for the Liberal Democrats commitment to community cohesion not only in words but in actions as the Pakistani community are currently seething at the obvious double standards.

As I said in the press release it seems Operation Pathway has become Operation Persecute Pakistanis and it is time for the Liberal Democrats to make its views clear on the issue and support the rule of law and justice above all else, that is all Pakistanis in Britain ask for.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience for more information.

Yours faithfully

Mr Wasim Arif

In addition I share my campaign letter or attachment as discussed in the above commentary:

The ‘Free the Pakistani Students’ campaign led by Wasim Arif seeks the release of the ten Pakistani students who are under detention and to be deported from the UK on national security grounds. It seems that ‘Operation Pathway’ has become ‘Operation Persecute Pakistanis’ given that all ten Pakistani national students were released without charge, yet all have not been allowed to resume their studies. Worse the students have been detained awaiting deportation on a pack of lies it stands to reason given that the police did not charge a single student.

A press release issued by a lawyer for the students Amjad Malik sets out the background and legal position, and is shown below:

Press Note: Detained Pakistani Students at Manchester

I was asked by Pakistan High Commisison to represent 4 out of 10 Pakistani national students currently detained at Manchester prison who are threatened of deportation on national security grounds.

They are being deported on grounds of posing threat to national security of UK as being concerned in islamic extremist activities and for the reason that they were investigated under terrorism Act 2000 since 8 april 2009. Though no charges were brought under criminal proceedings and on 21 April, they were released from criminal invetigation to UK Border Agency who initiated immigration deportation proceedings.

If they choose to appeal their deportation orders, they will have a free standing right of appeal before ‘Special Immigration Appeals Commission’ which was set up under SIAC Act 1997.

I can confirm that legal team along with Pakistani Consul General Mr. Masroor Junejo and Welfare Attache Mr. Amir Nisar Ch met all detained students at Manchester namely; Mr. Shoiab Khan, Abdul Wahab Khan, Tariq Ur Rehman and Abid Naseer who all are well and instructed Amjad Malik, a Supreme Court Solicitor-Advocate and life member of SCBA (Pakistan) to file their appeals which have been lodged with the required court with effect from 28 April 2009.

Appeals are lodged on the grounds that:

a. That appellants are racially discriminated being Pakistani nationals and being Muslims; and That it would be against appellant’s rights under ECHR for UK to remove or deport the appellant from the United Kingdom because of that decision under the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (Art.3,5,6, 8,9,10,14);

b. That the appellant appeals to SIAC on the following general grounds;That Home Secretary has not put forward any concrete evidence in her contention that the appellants are a threat to ‘national security’ of the UK; and or even if there is any reason to support that contention, the proper course of action would be to charge the appellant and brought them before the court of law in a criminal proceedings, but such proceedings has never been ensued and no charges were put forward by the CPS; Therefore it is appellants case on the limited information available to their defence that there is no evidence to support any charges and the arrest, detention and continuing incarceration is unlawful, and unreasonable; and without any substance;

c. That the appellant has been subjected to a one sided media trial at that time appellants were incommunicado without a lawyer, consulate access and without a phone call to their family;

d. That, in the circumstances appellant feels that they have been made a scapegoat and immigration decision is but an effort to avoid answers to questions on the failure of the operation ‘pathway’ in order to divert attention from their innocence as the appellant feel that they are ‘innocent’ until ‘proven guilty’ by a court of law.

First hearing of all 10 students appeal is likely to be set in first 2 weeks of May.

All 4 students are kept in highly secure ‘category A’ at Manchester prison on the orders of UK Border Agency.

Our first priority was to ensure that their appeals are lodged in time. Further matters of their case progress & strategy will be decided in next week by a panel of eminent lawyers in consultation with all stake holders including their bail application(s) which are likely to be heard in the 2nd week of May 09.

Amjad Malik
Solicitor-Advocate
Manchester

The ‘Free the Pakistani Students’ campaign has one demand that the Pakistani students are released and allowed to continue their studies. Furthermore it is our view that in the best interests of good community relations and more importantly good old British justice and fair play it is requested that the students are either released or charged to face a court of law. The present position of the UK government smacks of a disdain for fair play and justice and is not conducive to good community relations with a Pakistani community that increasingly feels under pressure nationally and internationally.

In terms of success, I am pleased to report that in a short space of time I can report the following:

• A meeting with a Cabinet Minister on the issue was held who promised to pass on my concerns to the Home Secterary Jacqui Smith.

• Dr Lynne Jones MP wrote to the Home Office Minister Phil Woolas MP on the issue in support of my stance after I sent her my campaign letter.

• Clare Short MP wrote to the Home Office on the issue in support of my stance after I sent her my campaign letter.

• John Hemming MP and other MP’s signed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons asking for the Pakistani students release.

The campaign continues and it is hoped a further meeting with the Cabinet minister can be arranged. However the current MP expenses issue is dominating the political scene and hence it is difficult to generate public and parliamentary support on the issue, but I will carry on until we succeed.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 @ 4:46 pm on the category Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.