Date: 19980722
Docket: IMM-4124-97
BETWEEN:
IQBAL ANSAR
also known as ANSAR IQBAL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
CAMPBELL, J.:
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the CRDD, dated September 15, 1997, wherein the applicant was found not to be a Convention refugee.
[2] The CRDD found the applicant to be a credible witness and, as a result, there is no dispute that the applicant had both objective and subjective grounds to fear persecution on the basis of his political opinion prior to fleeing Pakistan. The
following facts are uncontested.
[3] The applicant comes from a politically active family with its alliance to the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). He became a member in 1986 and took an active role in the PML campaigns for November 1988 and 1990 where both of his party candidates won. The PML won the 1990 election and formed the government. The claimant worked for the welfare of the people and received development funds for his area. The claimant was appointed vice-president of Dolta Nagar PML unit in June 1993.
[4] The claimant worked for the PML election campaign in the 1993 elections, but both PML candidates from his area and the Pakistan People's Party (PPL) formed the government. The PPP started vengeful activites against the PML leaders and activists. They threatened the applicant to stop his political activity and join the PPP which he refused to do.
[5] In August 1994, PPP gangsters beat and injured the applicant and he reported the incident to the police. No action was taken against the PPP and the applicant continued to work for his political party.
[6] In June 1995, he involved himself with the party's call and strikes. He joined a party rally and was beaten by the police as a result.
[7] In January 1996, the police beat and illegally detained him for one day because he attended a political rally and transported some of the PML supporters to the rally. Four to five thousand people attended and were attacked by a few dozen PPP gangsters with police backing. The PPP hooligans also attacked his house, beat his wife and children and set his two vans on fire.
[8] In the third week of May, 1996, the applicant attended another political protest rally which was attended by 40,000 people. After the rally, the PPP came looking for the applicant at his home and at his relatives' houses.
[9] The applicant contacted his party leader who advised him that the government had already involved them in different cases and they could not help him. They suggested that he leave the country. The applicant went into hiding until an agent was able to arrange for his trip to the United States. On August 26, 1996, the applicant finally landed in Montreal where immediately claimed refugee status.
[10] The primary issue before the CRDD was whether state protection would be available to the applicant if he were to return to Pakistan. The primary in-country change which raised this issue to prominence was the February, 1997 election which placed the PML in power. In finding that this change would produce state protection for the applicant, the CRDD stated as follows:
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In the case before us, counsel and the claimant referred to news articles reporting attacks on PML activities and others since the February elections. Without diminishing the level of violence in Pakistan today, there is no evidence before the panel that the present government is not making serious attempts to deal with it and thus to protect its citizens, including those featured in the news articles. Nor, in the panel's opinion, has the level of violence in Pakistan resulted in a complete breakdown of the state apparatus...In addition, while the principal claimant testified that he had in the past been specifically targeted as a PML activist by the PPP, if he were to return to Pakistan today he would do so as a local leader of the governing PML. Given the fact that in Pakistan provincial governments control the police and paramilitary forces when they are assisting in law and order operations, and the overwhelming majority won by the PML in Punjab Provincial Assembly, the panel concludes, in the absence of any clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, that protection would be available to a local leader of the ruling PML such as the claimant, if he were to return to Punjab today to deal with the charges laid against him. He has testified that he has faith in the judiciary. |
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[11] The applicant's position is that the CRDD's finding that state protection would be available is made without regard for the evidence produced by the applicant that, even after the election, he was still being persecuted by the police. Indeed, the CRDD found that "recent news from home indicates that the police are still looking for him [the applicant] and that PPP supporters contine to threaten his family". The evidence which postdates the February, 1997 election, and which supports his finding, is important and is as follows:
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a) A letter dated June 18, 1997 from Ch. Asjad Javaid Ghurial, Advocate, informing that criminal cases are pending against the applicant in the Pakistan District Court, and that the applicant is wanted by the police. The letter enclosed a copy of a non-bailable warrants issued by the Court. The letter further advised the applicant that the Court had proclaimed him an absconder, and local police are searching for him and have raided his house. The lawyer strictly advised the applicant not to return. |
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b) A letter from Ch. Rasheed Ahmad Khatana, Vice President of Tehsil Katana dated June 30, 1997 advising the applicant not to return and stating that the police are searching for him. |
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c) A letter from the applicant's father dated June 27, 1997 advising that the applicant that the police are still coming looking for him and threatening his family. |
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[12] The CRDD did not find that the above quoted evidence should not be accepted as true.
[13] The applicant also argues that the Board's finding that "protection would be available to a local leader of the ruling PML" is sheer speculation, and, thus, constitutes a reviewable error.
[14] I agree with both arguments made by the applicant. The evidence is that up to the February, 1997 election, the applicant was persecuted by the police as an agent of the state. As a result of this persecution the applicant fled. The government changed as a result of the election, but the police persecution continued. On the date of the hearing before the CRDD, which was only 5 months after the election, there was no evidence tendered to support the finding that, because the applicant was a member of the party newly brought to power, he would by that fact alone, receive state protection. Indeed, the unrefuted evidence is precisely to the contrary.
[15] I find, therefore, that the CRDD's decision was made without regard to the evidence. Accordingly, I set the decision aside and refer this matter to a differently constituted panel for redetermination.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
Judge
Calgary, Alberta
July 22, 1998
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
Date: 19980722
Docket: IMM-4124-97
BETWEEN:
IQBAL ANSAR
also known as ANSAR IQBAL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS ON THE RECORD
COURT FILE NO.: IMM-4124-97
STYLE OF CAUSE: IQBAL ANSAR v. THE MINISTER OF
CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: CALGARY, Alberta
DATE OF HEARING: July 22, 1998
REASONS FOR ORDER OF CAMPBELL, J.
DATED: July 22, 1998
APPEARANCES:
Mr. Birjinder Mangat for the Applicant
Mr. Randy Benson for the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Mr. Birjinder Mangat
Calgary, Alberta for the Applicant
George Thomson
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario for the Respondent
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