http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=c045bc85-f122-423e-bcad-8cc6f2f20031

Judge orders deportation of Pakistani party chief

Stewart Bell
National Post

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The head of the Quebec branch of a Pakistani political party is facing deportation after the Federal Court of Canada ruled he belonged to an organization that committed terrorism.

The judge upheld the deportation of Mohammed Kashif Omer, a resident of Montreal, on the grounds he is a member of the Mothaidda Quami Movement, or MQM.

It is the second time this year Canadian courts have ruled the MQM party meets the legal definition of a terrorist organization.

Mr. Omer is one of dozens of Pakistanis whom Canadian immigration authorities are trying to deport because of their involvement in the MQM.

Despite being blamed for the kidnapping, torture and murder of its political rivals in Pakistan, the MQM has opened a Canadian branch called MQM-Canada.

Members of the group have worked on Conservative election campaigns, met Prime Minister Stephen Harper and recently hosted a conference in Calgary.

Conservative MP Art Hanger spoke at the June 8-10 MQM Canada convention, which was attended by several Pakistanis who are being deported for their alleged involvement in terrorism. Mr. Hanger said he did not support the group. Conservative MLA Shiraz Shariff also attended. He said yesterday he was unaware Canadian courts had deemed the MQM a terrorist organization. “Why are we as a nation then allowing them to have a congregation here?” he said.

Among the speakers at the convention was Mr. Omer, who presented a report on the “achievements and future strategy” of the Montreal office of MQM, according to the group’s Web Site.

Mr. Omer has no immigration status in Canada. A Canada Border Services Agency spokesman, Erik Paradis, said the court ruling means that the deportation order against Mr. Omer is now in effect.

The MQM is a Pakistani political party that is part of President Pervez Musharraf’s ruling coalition. The Canadian MQM branch has never been accused of illegal activities but in Pakistan the party has been blamed for widespread violence, most recently in May when gunfights between the MQM and anti-government demonstrators left more than 40 dead.

MQM officials deny any role in attacks and say they are victims of misinformation spread by Pakistani authorities. Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee has been looking into complaints from MQM members that immigration authorities have unfairly branded them as terrorists.

Mr. Omer came to Canada in 1998 and was granted refugee status but in 2005 immigration officials said he could not remain in Canada “because he knowingly and for a long period of time belonged to an organization that has engaged in terrorism.”

In Pakistan, Mr. Omer had been a member of the MQM and its student wing from 1987 to 1998. He denied any involvement with the MQM in Canada but eventually acknowledged he was in charge of the MQM’s Quebec office.

The Immigration and Refugee Board said “Mr. Omer’s reasons for trying to hide that, in Canada, he is responsible for the Montreal section of the MQM-Canada lead me to believe that he knew that his party was committing many violent acts.”

He appealed the decision to the Federal Court, arguing that the MQM is not a terrorist organization and that the violence was committed by rogue elements in the party, but the court was not convinced.

sbell@nationalpost.com

© National Post 2007

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CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

It is incredible that this is being allowed to happen. But then, the MQM gundas have always had their way.

I dont want you all to even believe on what I said but thing is karachi is beyond its full capacity to support people and cant support more people, now no more jobs are available in karachi, business are getting closed down, earning of people are becoming lower every day, karachi is no longer a busy market anymore and law and order condition and neglectful behavior of law enforcement agencies are other reasons……people who came from other province(especially NWFP/pukhtunkwa) are bringing weapons and drugs with them, karachi dont have any industry of weapon manufacture(except for army) tell me where all these arms and ammunition are coming to karachi???…..in order to support more people karachi required master planning and also the implementation of that planning and today we dont even have better transport system available and city which is 6 times smaller then karachi(Dubai) has already launched their metro train service only because their shaikh have no one else to feed except dubai but on the other hand karachi is feeding whole pakistan……we have to plan housing schemes which doesnot even fulfill demands of locals…..we have to plan law and order which is in worse condition….we have to develop more friendly business environment which has been ruined by recent activities and all these required money as ell as dedication…..we have the dedication but we dont have money….

@*RhyMe*

I know how many people are entering punjab and here you are comparing whole province with a city and if you even have fair comparison then let me tell you the how many people entered karachi in the past…

Muhajirs-after creation of Pakistan 50 million(3 times the capacity of karachi) muhajir(along with my family) were dumped in karachi as it was new capital of pakistan

Beharis and Bangalis/Burmese-after saperation of Bangladesh many beharis and Bangalis left the Bangladesh as they supported Pakistan this should have been a collective responsibilty of whole pakistan to accept them but guess what in the end they were dumped in orangi town and machar calony and their no. are 2 million beharis and over 1 million Bangalis/Burmese(their exact no. are unknown because most are illegals)

Afghans-during afghan war in 1980s 1.8 million refugees came to pakistan and after filling the capacity of NWFP and Balochistan to settle afghans and after making few colonies of them in punjab still left over 1 million unsettled all of them were dumped to karachi along with weapons and drugs in areas like Sohrab goth, safora goth, banarus chowk(grabing land of barsatti nala), Lusbella and other suburbs.

even today sindhi land grabbers have also start grabbing lands of Sachal goth, malir, shah faisal colony and in other areas( i dont bother them because karachi is a part of sindh but my concern is criminal elements are also there)

dont even bother counting them because these figures are still much lower then what it should be…and yes karachi got huge problem people living in karachi because most people came to settle here since 80s along with sindhi land grabber are living in illegally garbed land through land mafia and using all our utilities illegally as well and we are paying a burden of huge Bills of KESC(recovering losses from illegal use of electricity in karachi), SSGC,PTCL, KWSB to get those utilities and most of them are illetrate and belongs to rural areas and have no ideas about environment of big cities and because opportunities of earning money in karachi is getting lower so they are now trying to earn money through crime…so these are the problems of karachi and I dont think such a situations are there in any city of punjab

Karachi is Sindh and Its Pakistan,every one has right to come to karachi and if you have problem then please you ppl can go back to your ancestral lands.The indigenous people doesn’t need your license to come or not to Karachi,because they are true owners of KARACHI.You are objecting against the arrival of outsiders,but tighten ur seat belt,and remember,its we Sindhis who welcomed you millions of immigrants with open arms in 1947,in whole Pakistan,we gave you the piece of cake,the land and resources,but today you are killing innocent Sndhis,Pushtoons and balochs in Karachi and also playing conspiracies against SINDH and Pakistan as whole.We didn’t welcome you to come to colonize us or unleash terror on indigenous ppl,we welcome you on good faith,but its such an unfortunate that you are conspiring against the indigenous Sindhis in particular and rest of Pakistanis as whole.Remember notorious past clashes of MQM with Punjabis,Pushtoons,SIndhis,even with own urdu speaking class and now balochis.Who else your MQM have not clashed in KARACHI???

Please woke up,stay in your limits,Pakistan is for all of us.Whole Pakistan is united against any Mafia wing which has bad plans against our motherland.

“Newcomers” are enter Punjab(the largest Province) almost everyday and no one can stop them from entering as its their right,being the citizen of the country…Karachi got problems from ppl living in karachi not from the outsiders…this tactic of blaming the whole world for every wrong in karachi(to hide the truth) has become very old now…please come up with something new now…