Pakistan responds to asylum plea of a Baloch girl Karima Mehrab in Canada
Monitoring Desk: Pakistani authorities have strongly rejected claims of a Baloch girl who secretively reached Canada and applied for asylum claiming that her life was in danger in Pakistan.
A Baloch girl namely Karima Mehrab secretively reached Canada in 2015 and applied for her asylum on the pretext that her life was in danger in Pakistan and she reached Canada with the help of Canadian officials. She claimed that she was (is) a member of Baloch Students Organization (BSO)— an organization that is banned in Pakistan because of its involvement in terrorism related activities.
Reaching western countries and seeking asylums on the pretext of human right abuse is a common practice for Pakistanis and is also being encouraged by western countries by providing asylum to such people. However, this time Pakistani authorities did not sleep over such incident and this time asylum case was not left unattended. An official of Pakistani High Commission in Ottawa strongly rejected the claims of Karima Mehrab and contested her claims in Canadian media.
Asylum plea of Karima Mehrab is facing an inadmissibility order by the Canada Border Services Agency because BSO is a terrorist outfit in Pakistan and its links with Indian intelligence agency RAW to destabilise Pakistan are an open secret after the arrest of RAW agent Yadev in Baluchistan this year. Yadev in his video statement candidly accepted his links with BLA and explained how India was trying to destabilise Pakistan through terrorist outfits like BLA. BSO is a component of BLA outfit therefore banned in Pakistan.
Mehrab claimed that her life was in danger in Pakistan and she arrived in Canada in November 2015 after spending one year in hiding. Mehrab indicated in her claim statement that Canadian government officials helped her to reach Canada.
Her case is before tribunal therefore Canadian border officials are not commenting on the inadmissibility order against her.
Responding to her claims Nadeem Kiani, the press minister at Pakistani High Commission in Ottawa said that allegations leveled by Mehrab (were) are unfounded and fabricated.
He categorically rejected her claims that Baloch students were denied right of education or free movement.
Responding to questions of Canadian media outlet “The Star”, Kiani maintained that Pakistan has (had) a democratic government along with a free and vibrant press and people like Mehrab tried to abuse their country just to get asylums in Canada.
He contested her claims of being harassed in Pakistan and said:
“We have not heard these (accusations) in Pakistan. It is unfortunate that these people seek asylum in Canada on the grounds of atrocities. They are just not true. There are no such situations.”
He also contested BBC list of most influential women and said that BBC was (is) simply misguided when naming Mehrab as “inspirational and influential.
Getting Canadian visa for a Pakistani is too difficult since 9/11 but Karima Mehran got Canadian visa without going through process of Police verification and other basic and normal procedures Canadian authorities demand from all visa applicants in Pakistan.
Some circles in Islamabad claim that Indian intelligence agency RAW managed her travel to Canada and also managed to place her name in BBC 100 Women 2016—a list of World’s 100 most “inspirational and influential” women in 2016.
“Canada will become a land of opportunities for terrorists and groups those wish to destabilise Pakistan if asylums are being granted to such people like Mehrab”, responded a senior journalist Agha Iqrar Haroon when asked to comment over the case of Mehrab.
Haroon maintained that travelling western countries like Canada is too difficult for a common Pakistanis and Canada demands a long list of documents if someone wishes to travel to Canada but people like Mehrab can get visa secretively and reach Canada to seek asylum if they dare to fabricate stories against their own countries.
