DEMAND HELP FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS SUFFERING INHUMANE TREATMENT IN BANGKOK!

DISCRIMINATION AND INHUMANE TREATMENT OF ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM PAKISTAN. PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT IS INVOLVED!

I want to tell you about my friends, Atif & Samina They had to flee their home, their families and everything they loved because their lives were threatened. They refused to deny Christ and embrace Islam, therefore, they cannot live in their homeland ever again or their lives will be taken. What a tragic way for a young newly married couple to start their lives together. But they would have it no other way. They know that Jesus is more precious than anything this world could ever give them. But they are suffering for it. They are away from the murderers, but they still have persecutors of another sort. These are they who want to take advantage of their unfortunate situation and bleed them for every penny they may have, and even worse, money they do not have, or else they are imprisoned. They live in the city of Bangkok Thailand.. Bangkok doesn’t care what the UNHCR says about the legal rights of asylum seekers who hold papers from their organization. In Bangkok’s opinion, asylum seekers are illegals and they will treat them as they wish. They don’t particularly have a love for Christians either. The majority there are Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist or Muslim. There is a small Christian and Jewish presence in Thailand.

When a Pakistani Christian flees, Bangkok is an easy place to get to, but they are not told that it is an impossible place to stay in. They land in Bangkok only to find out that their visa is only good for three months. It will then have to be purchased again, at astronomical prices that go up on a whim. They are also told that they cannot work and their children cannot go to school while they are there. The ONLY way to stay there is to satisfy them with a steady stream of income, and this income has to come from “thin air”. The UNHCR does not provide Bangkok citizens any benefits. Bangkok did not sign the treaty for asylum seekers in 1951, so I guess they see that as a way out of helping these people with medical care, housing, or food, or ANYTHING. To add insult to injury, the UNHCR, for some reason, puts these Pakistani people on the list as the LAST ones they will try to find placement for. The discrimination is blatant but not explained. Other nationalities and other religious preferences get priority over placement no matter how long they have or have not been there.

Recently the Immigration department announced that is is refusing to issue any visas for anyone. This went into effect just prior to the expiration of Samina’s visa, which was October 10th. She cannot purchase a visa with any amount of money. In fact, while they were at the Immigration Agent’s office, they witnessed a young couple coming out of the agent’s office, after being denied a visa due the to new ruling, and there were Immigration officers waiting for them to exit the building without their visa. They were arrested immediately. If these people can pay the fine requested of them by the officers they will have the privilege of being sent to a detention center, a place that is unfit for human existence and breeds disease and death. However, if they cannot pay the fine they are stripped naked and shackled and put in prison with hard core criminals, indefinitely. They have no representation and no hope of ever getting out. The Immigration police frequently go on “asylum seeker hunts” with a vengeance. They choose apartment buildings and kick in doors. Samina and Atif recently had such a scare but they were not seen as they were hiding in a corner in their apartment.
This is the fate of nearly 7,000 Christian Pakistanis. They live in fear 24/7. They never have a moment of feeling safe, and no hope of establishing a place for their family to be raised. These people are given UNHCR appointments that are 2 to 3 years in the future. Many times they are denied placement on their first appointment, frequently because their interpreters are often Muslims who hate them for being Christian. There is no honest communication to the UNHCR, So these people go back to living in their small room with sometimes two or three families for lack of funds. They have to go to work illegally and they are often caught & imprisoned indefinitely.

This is the life of the Christian who managed to escape death by his/her tormentors in Pakistan. I don’t think the alternative is any better than death.

These people are discriminated against constantly because of Muslim hatred and politics. The Pakistani government influences Thailand by telling lies about their treatment in Pakistan. For more information and news of recent arrests see The Farrukh Saif Foundation:

http://www.farrukhsaif.com/the-unjust-and-cruel-detention-of-pakistani-christian-asylum-seekers-in-bangkok/