[van-announce] Stop the Deportation of Bilquees and Imran!

[Ivan D.]

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF BILQUEES AND IMRAN:



Join a Fire This Time presence of protest and opposition 

to detention and deportation:



Tuesday August 19, 12noon @ the corner of Georgia and Homer (at the Vancouver Public Library)

Thursday August 21, 12noon @ the corner of Georgia and Homer (at the Vancouver Public Library)



Bilquees Fatima is a 63-year-old Pakistani refugee who fled Pakistan with her teenage son, Imran Hussain, in 2001 after the murder of her husband. Racial and religious violence has swept through Pakistan, targeting Shia Muslims like Bilquees and Imran. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have clearly documented the threat that exists for Shia Muslims and particularly women. Bilquees and Imran came to Canada seeking asylum from this terror and this very real danger to their lives.



Bilquees and Imran have been in detention in Montreal since March of this year. The Canadian Government has declared Bilquees a "flight risk" and plan to hold her in detention until she is deported to the US because she has said that she will not return to Pakistan as she fears for her life. Since being in detention, Bilquees' health has severely deteriorated. She suffers from a serious heart condition, is wheelchair-bound and has diabetes. She cannot survive without dialysis three times a week. Her son has reported over phone interviews from detention that her feet have swelled to the point of bleeding from increased blood pressure. Not only is she remaining in detention, immigration is planning to deport her to the US where she has not been accepted as a refugee and where there is no promise of medical treatment. CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) plan to shirk responsibility for her deportation to Pakistan by sending her to the US, but the trip to the US would certainly be
 only a stopover en route to Pakistan.



It is unlikely that Bilquees would survive the difficult trip to Pakistan. If she was to land in Pakistan, her fears are well founded that she would be captured and killed by Lashkar-e-Jangvi thugs before leaving the airport. At the foundation of the case is the question of whether or not Bilquees and Imran are "valid" refugees. It has been established that they are targeted in Pakistan on the basis of their religion, that they cannot rely on the government of Pakistan to protect them and that the immediate threat of violence against them is real. The Canadian government must understand that the deportation of this elderly woman and her teenage son is unjust, unwarranted and malicious. Bilquees and Imran are being deported to the US rather than directly to Pakistan to cover the brutality of this deportation and to absolve Citizenship and Immigration Canada of responsibility for sending her to her certain death.



We demand that Immigration Canada immediately release the family from detention and resume their medical and welfare allowance. We further demand that they be given full status in Canada on humanitarian grounds.



On Tuesday August 19 and Thursday August 21, Fire This Time will be protesting this detention and deportation with a display and information table at the corner of Georgia and Homer at noon. In the Library tower at this location is an Immigration office that is used for detentions and deportations of refugees, immigrants and non-status people. FTT invites you to join our presence of protest and opposition against this detention and to stop this deportation. 

Fire This Time is acting in solidarity with the Action Committee of Pakistani Refugees and No One is Illegal in Montreal against the racist attacks on Refugees and non-status people all across this country. 




The demands of the Action Committee for Pakistani Refugees and FTT:




   That the deportation of rejected Pakistani claimants to either Pakistan or the United States be stopped immediately; 




   That all Pakistani refugee claimants be granted full and regularized status in Canada, 




   That all rejected cases must be given a second chance to apply again and have a fair hearing 




END ALL DETENTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS!

REGULARIZATION FOR NON-STATUS PALESTINIANS, ALGERIANS, CHINESE AND ALL PEOPLE!

OPEN THE BORDERS TO ALL ASYLUM SEEKERS!



In Solidarity;

Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice

www.fire-this-time.org 

info at fire-this-time.org

PO Box 21607 

Vancouver BC 

V5L 5G3

Phone / fax: 604-322-1764





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