Hazara campaigner fights deportation from Britain

Hazara United Movement founder's application for asylum had been rejected in 2012

LONDON: Lawyers for a leading activist from Quetta's ehtnic Shia Hazara community made a last-minute plea on Thursday to stop his deportation from Britain.

Liaquat Ali Hazara, 36, told AFP in a phone interview from the detention centre where he is being held in England that his lawyers had applied to cancel the expulsion set for Tuesday.

"I fear they can disappear me from the airport upon my arrival," the ethnic Hazara said, speaking from Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre near Lincoln, central England.

Hazara's minority community in Quetta has been on the receiving end of attacks from the al Qaeda-linked hardline militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It has prompted many Hazaras to travel accompanied by security squads.

"A person like me, who has a raised political and human rights stature, I could be an easy target for them," he feared.

Hazara came to Britain in 2005 to study accountancy. He began his political activities in 2009, founding the Hazara United Movement to draw attention to the plight of his people.

The movement founded by Hazara helped organise debates on the plight of his people at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the British parliament, with testimonies from victims of the violence.

The activist applied for asylum in 2012 after receiving death threats but his application was rejected.

He explained that his previous lawyer had failed to explain to British authorities the dangers he would face in Pakistan.

The Hazara community has faced a number of attacks in recent years. Earlier this month, five people were killed and 25 others were wounded earlier when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Hazara colony in Quetta.