§ 2.53 p.m.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the person whose Home Office reference is K310933/5 was first interviewed in connection with his application for asylum: why no decision has yet been made; and what are the factors being taken into consideration regarding the human rights situation in Pakistan when evaluating claims for asylum from citizens of that country.
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, the subject of Home Office file K310933 was interviewed on 8th June 1981 in connection with his application for asylum in the United Kingdom. All relevant factors are taken into account when considering a claim for asylum and, although all applications are considered case by case in the light of their individual circumstances, there are occasions when a group of applications must be considered together. Several Pakistanis of the same persuasion as the subject of the noble Lord's Question have applied for asylum here, and I hope that we will be in a position to resolve these applications in the very near future.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, will the Minister confirm that the initial interview with this person took place in April 1981 and not in June, as he has just said? Is it not scandalous that it should take more than two years to process an application for asylum from whatever country the person may come, bearing in mind that he has all the disadvantages of an unsettled status in that he cannot look for a job, settle down or begin to make a new life in any other way? Will the noble Lord kindly deal with the third part of my Question? What factors are being taken into consideration regarding the human rights situation in Pakistan in evaluating these claims for asylum? I ask this bearing in mind that in Pakistan recently laws have been promulgated which increase the so-called Islamic penalties, which make the evidence of a woman equivalent to half that of a man and which have excited the wrath of the bar associations up and down the country, leading to the detention of many distinguished lawyers and politicians? Are these factors taken into account in looking at the claims for asylum of people from that country?
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, the interview—which is what the noble Lord asked me about—was on 8th June, according to the advice I am given. As to the disadvantages of being the subject of an unresolved claim to asylum, I should point out that the individual in question is at liberty and is not held in custody, in case any of your Lordships should be under a misapprehension about that. The considerations which my honourable friend has in mind when resolving these issues extend to a list longer than that of the subordinate clauses with which the noble Lord furnished his third supplementary question. In this case, the circumstances of his release from imprisonment in Pakistan, which resulted from the hijacking of a civil aircraft in the course of which one 8 passenger was murdered, mean that his is a case of particular delicacy which must be scrutinised with very great care.
Lord Belhaven and StentonMy Lords, would the fact that Pakistan has taken in something like 1½ million refugees from Afghanistan influence Her Majesty's Government's view on the stand for human rights in Pakistan?
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, the principal consideration which subsumes all others is that of Article 1 of the United Nations Convention of 1951 relating to the status of refugees and whether or not an applicant has a well-founded fear of persecution on various grounds, including that of, in this case, political opinion.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, will the Minister agree that there is no question of the people whose freedom was secured by the hijack to which he refers having been in any way concerned with the commission of that terrorist offence, and that this is proved by the fact that the Home Office has granted asylum to other persons who were also liberated as a result of that hijack? Is it not because we like to keep in the good books of General Zia that we are making life so difficult for these particular applicants? Is not the attitude of the United Kingdom to violations of human rights generally across the world conditioned by the stance of the Government concerned in the struggle between the super-powers?
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, the noble Lord is right that, I think, three members of this group have in fact received clearance. He is wrong in the assumption that every case is equally simple to resolve. I can however tell him that we hope to resolve the remaining cases very soon.