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11 Tahir V Canada
11 Tahir V Canada
TAHIR HUSSAIN KHAN V CANADA NARRATES THAT HE HAS BEEN ARRESTED AND
Communication No. 15/1994 |15 Nov 1994 | SUBJECTED TO TORTURE AT LEAST 2 TIMES
Torture One of his arrests he narrates to have been hung from
Canada doesn’t believe in Risk the ceiling by the hand with a rope and is badly beaten.
For a week he was maltreated (cold showers, sleep
Communication Submitted by: Tahir Hussain Khan deprivation, being placed on ice-blocks).
Alleged Victim: (same)
Concerned: Canada TAHIR CLAIMS CANADA DID NOT LOOK INTO HIS
ALLEGATIONS AND CLAIM WHEN THEY DENIED
FACTS REFUGEE STATUS
TAHIR PAKISTANI Tahir claims that the Canadian authorities did not
Tahir Hussain Khan a citizen of Pakistan, currently address the facts he provided in their decision to not
residing in Canada claims that he is a victim of torture recognize him as a refugee.
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by
Canada. NARRATION OF FEAR OF RISK OF TAHIR
LEFT PAKISTAN REQUESTED THAT CANADA Tahir claims that he cannot return to Pakistan, because
CONSIDER HIM AS REFUGEE he risks persecution and attacks on his life; that he will
He left Pakistan when he was 27 years old and arrived be immediately arrested at the airport, be detained and
in Canada on August 15, 1990 and requested a tortured. He points to reports by Amnesty International
residence permit on the ground that he was a refugee. and Asia Watch and claims that evidence exists of
systematic torture by Pakistani authorities. He attaches
CANADA: NOPE, NOT A REFUGEE a supporting affidavit by a human rights lawyer, who
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada after testifies that demonstrations organized by the Baltistan
hearing, concluded that Tahir was not a refugee within Student Federation have been repressed by Pakistani
the meaning of the Refugee Convention. Tahir’s request authorities and that its leaders are at risk of being
to be allowed to stay in Canada for humanitarian arrested or killed. He also attaches a copy of a letter,
reasons was refused by the immigration authorities on dated 15 August 1994, from the Baltistan Student
May 10, 1994. And his removal from Canada to Pakistan Federation, in which the author is advised to remain in
was ordered to be effectuated on July 17, 1994. Canada, since the circumstances under which an arrest
warrant was issued against him are still prevailing.
POLITICAL LIFE OF TAHIR
CANADA’S EXPLANATION
TAHIR PART OF A FEDERATION (ACTIVIST)
It is said that Tahir is a professional cricket player and PROCESS OF DETERMINATION REFUGEE STATUS
is an active member of the Baltisan Student Federation Canada explains that the refugee determination process
and supports the Baltisan movement to join Kashmir. is composed of 2 separate oral hearings both held
before independent, quasi-judicial administrative
The Baltistan Student Federation is associated with the tribunals. On both hearings , the claimants has the right
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. The Baltistan to be represented by counsel of their choice, and is
area is historically part of Kashmir but currently afforded opportunity to present evidence, cross-
claimed by Pakistan as part of Pakistan. He claims that examine witnesses and make representations. If the
Pakistan has denied the inhabitants of Baltistan panel thinks that there exists possible basis for success
their full political rights and that the area is in the claim for refugee status, the claim proceeds to the
completely militarized. The Pakistani authorities second hearing before the Refugee Division of the
violently repress the movement for civil rights and Immigration and Refugee Board. In the second hearing,
independence and individual activists are persecuted. the panel examines whether the claimant met the
In this context, Tahir states that a friend and co-activist definition of ‘Convention refugee’. Claim would succeed
was assassinated in August 1992. if either of the panel is satisfied.
Canada submits that although the human rights FACTORS CONSIDERED BY THE COMMITTEE TO
situation in Pakistan is of concern, this does not mean DETERMINE RISK
that a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass The existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant
violations of human rights exists. While evidence or mass violations of human rights. The existence of a
confirms that the author has various scars, but that consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations
there is no indication that these scars are the result of of human rights in a country does not as such constitute
torture or that they could have been caused by other a sufficient ground for determining that a person would
events in the author's life, such as his sports career. be in danger of being subjected to torture upon his
CHAN GOMASCO OF SITO BERDE
(11)TORTURE || HR LAW ||MM
return to that country; additional grounds must exist
that indicate that the individual concerned would
be personally at risk. Similarly, the absence of a
consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights
does not mean that a person cannot be considered to be
in danger of being subjected to torture in his specific
circumstances.