Sisters spat: Mystery surrounds expulsion of missionaries

Matter has been dropped by everyone, including expelled nuns

ISLAMABAD:

Months after three Pilipino nuns were expelled on interior ministry orders, the case seems to have been buried by everyone involved, including the missionaries themselves. But mystery still surrounds why the government showed them the door in the first place.

In June, the interior ministry told three missionaries — Sister Miraflor Aclan Bahan, Sister Delia Coyoca Rubio and Sister Elizabeth Umail Siguenza — that extensions to their visas had been cancelled and that they must leave the country.

The nuns, who were working at a Catholic school in H-8/4 Islamabad, had unsuccessfully challenged the interior ministry’s decision in the Islamabad High Court.

Almost four months on, it is still unclear what had prompted the expulsions.

Ministry officials, parents and media reports suggest that one of the employees at the convent school had been charged with child molestation a few days ahead of the expulsion order.

Others had apparently lodged complaints with the interior ministry that Muslim students were being mistreated. The complaints had prompted an investigation from intelligence agencies.

“There were serious allegations against the discriminatory attitude of nuns towards Muslims in the school, which would violate the terms of their visas,” explained one interior ministry official.

A legal adviser for the nuns claimed that the issue was born from a personal rift between the school management and the interior minister’s wife, who used to teach at the school between three to four years ago.

Don’t dig up the dead

Officials familiar with the case said that the way the expulsion took place would suggest that the orders came from the top.

Most officials whom The Express Tribune spoke with were still reluctant to speak directly on the issue, saying that the issue was now over as the school administration had tendered a written apology. “It is a dead issue now. It is better to leave it,” said another official.

“The school administration submitted a written apology after they lost the case in the court,” said the official, adding that “It vindicated our stance and we do not want to comment on it any further.”

In the apology letter, available with The Express Tribune, the school said it realised its error in directly approaching the high court instead of going to the ministry first.

“We regret the steps taken by us for the restoration of the visas of the RVM sisters,” the school administrator wrote in the letter.” We understand that according to the law, we should have filed a review appeal with the interior ministry instead of directly approaching the court,” adds the apology, issued in August.

Rana Abid Nazir, who advised the school and the nuns on legal matters, defended the work of the missionaries, while also saying that his clients did not wish to pursue the matter further and that the Roman Catholic Diocese and Diocesan Board of Education had withdrawn their case from the Islamabad High Court.

The Philippines embassy did not offer any comment, claiming that the matter was sub judice.

Questionable procedures

While officials remain tight-lipped on why the measure was needed, questions have been raised on how the ministry actually went about expelling the nuns.

“We know this case could have been reviewed, but the state acted against three individuals, who, according to the country’s top security czar, were involved in anti-states activities,” a senior official at the interior ministry said on the condition of anonymity.

“Frankly, we could not find any solid reasons for their expulsion,” the official said, while hinting that they were afraid of invoking the interior minister’s wrath by bringing it up.

Interior ministry officials explained that the decision was lawfully taken under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act of 1946 and Article 3.3 of the Foreigners Order of 1951. “Granting a visa is an exclusive prerogative of the federal government, and the state has the right to grant or deny a visa to anyone,” they said.

Asked about the allegations against the interior minister’s wife, the official refuted them.

“If that were the case, their visas would have been cancelled a long time ago,” he said, further explaining that if the allegations were true, the visas would have been cancelled instead of being extended after Nisar was appointed interior minister in May 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2015.