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• The Karim Family: Happier Times

THIS is the first time I have written to any paper, but I feel so disgusted about the treatment of the Karim family that I must voice my opinion.

They are being sent back to a country where it is well-known that churches are burned down and Christians persecuted. Clearly they are being made an example of when many Pakistani Muslims are here illegally.

They come here to visit family and disappear into the community - not to mention the hundreds of thousands of East Europeans who are here, many who will not go back, changing the ethnic make-up of our country.

The floodgates of our immigration system are clearly wide open, something akin to a gaping hole on the bottom of a ship. Tipping a tiny cup of water overboard will not make a difference!

The Karims integrated well and were law-abiding. The only mistake was to play it fair and not be part of a politically correct minority group.

The Pendle family deported to Pakistan at the weekend after their appeal for asylum in this country was rejected by the Government have thanked the thousands of local people who supported their fight to remain in the UK.

And as phone calls continued to flood into them in Karachi from Pendle, Mr. Nigel Karim told us in an exclusive interview: "We cannot thank all the people who fought for us enough. Please pass on our sincere thanks to them - and tell them to keep on calling us and supporting us." As we reported last week, Mr. Karim, his wife Pearl and their children Calvin and Crystal were detained by immigration officials after the Home Office had refused to accept their plea that as Christians, they would face religious persecution if sent back to Pakistan.

They were initially taken to a detention centre in Scotland and from there, were moved to another centre close to Heathrow Airport from where, despite an 11th hour bid by their legal team to have the deportation overruled, they were flown out to Karachi on Saturday night.

And the failure of immigration officials to provide the family with identification documents led to problems when their plane touched down.

The family was taken into custody and held for several hours until their identities could be proved.

Mr. Karim said: "Because we did not have the correct papers, we could not prove who we were and I had to contact my previous boss to vouch for us. He has also found us accommodation with a Christian family where we will be able to stay for a while, but what the long-term future holds for us, I cannot say.

"There is no electricity, but we are keeping our heads up and all the calls we receive from Pendle are a great help. Please keep them coming."

Coun. Ann Kerrigan, a leading figure in the family's fight to stay here, said she had spoken to Mrs. Karim shortly before they left country.

"She said that she felt God had a plan for her and although she did not yet know what it was, she was happy to accept this. She also said she was tired of constantly waiting for the door bell to go and wonder when immigration would next come for them."

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice wrote two letters to Home Office Minister Liam Byrne on Thursday and Friday of last week on behalf of the family.

In one, he enclosed an email from the Rev. Shafique Kanwal which described the situations facing Christians in Pakistan.

In his reply, Mr. Byrne said: "These issues have already been considered in some detail by the Border and Immigration Agency, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and the High Court.

"The alleged difficulties that Mr. Karim and his family are likely to face on their return to Pakistan are entirely speculative.

"Officials from the BIA are not prepared to accept this as compelling evidence that the family are in genuine need of international protection. I agree with this decision. The BIA sent a copy of the final decision letter to Mr. Karim's current solicitor on June 27th and I am satisfied that they have had sufficient time to consider it.

"I would also remind you that the Karim family have fully exhausted all their appeal rights as well as making an unsuccessful judicial review application. The family have clearly had ample opportunities to present their case. As this case has been extensively reviewed by the appellate appropriate authorities and by Ministers, I am not prepared to delay the removal of this family any longer even if further correspondence is received."

I am writing this blog in the office of the school chaplain at Fisher More before going to celebrate with a school community that is grieving. In the rooms next-door people are making cards and writing messages for Calvin and Crystal. All around the parish and beyond there are feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, pain, and disbelief.

Their legal representatives said that there would be no more appeals; this then brought to an end their struggle to remain here in the UK.

The family have been returned to Pakistan. May God watch over them.

Having heard today that the Karims are set to be deported, I would like to say how heartbreaking the news was. After all that has been done to prevent their deportation, still the Home Office are blind to see the real truth behind the matter, and that truly defies belief.

Even though it is becoming increasingly difficult now, I still say as I have done previously that the fight for true justice will go on: just look at the incredible amount of support and national and regional news coverage that has been published and broadcast.

I hope that the Home Office will open their eyes and see what they're doing; they say that "we only return those who the asylum decision making and independent appeals processes have found do not need international protection and who can therefore return safely" but they are absolutely failing to accept that the thousands of people who are in support of this family are actually believing facts and truth about the situation. Heaven forbid that the only time they will finally believe the Karims' case is when one of the family gets killed.

The Karims will always have the support of the thousands who have been with them from the start. We will stand resolute and continue hoping, praying and persevering that the Karims will be able to stay in Nelson for good. In the end, the power of our hope, prayer and perseverance is all that we have and the Home Office cannot take that away from us. It will triumph in the end.

All the very best of luck Nigel, Pearl, Crystal and Calvin!

As the Webmaster for this website I have throughout the Karims' ordeal kept silent, as I feel that impartiality and balance are important roles of any editor.

However now that we have almost reached the end of this journey with their now uncertain future, I would just like to say a few words:

I have only known the family for just over a year or so but from the few times I have met and spoken with them I have found them to be a most pleasant family. I feel that whilst the outcome was perhaps always inevitable, as the government values targets and statistics above ALL else. It is still a battle that was worth fighting and that, if there were any sort of justice, should have been won.

It is a great shame that people of such warmth and decency are being cast aside whilst there are so many who though born here, we would be glad to get rid of!

Whatever the future holds for them and wherever they find themselves, I really hope that they have happy and trouble free lives.

We want to inform you all that Liam Byrne MP, Home Office Minister for Immigration and Asylum, has refused the case on compassionate grounds as well. We received a letter from the Minister yesterday.

I just wanted to ask you to please pray for us at this time.

1. Download a video clip from 'BBC Heaven & Earth' - 15/04/2007 - 8:27 Mins (.wmv 33.4MB)

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• Karim Family: BBC Heaven & Earth - 15/04/2007