HARASSMENT OF PAKISTANI REFUGEES IN THAILAND

Motion Text

That this House expresses concern about reports that over 100 Pakistani refugees, including 30 children, have recently been rounded up by Thai police and taken to detention centres; notes that Thai Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan has issued an instruction to the Thai Immigration Bureau to detain all foreigners without visas, stating that they will be deported within a month; further expresses concern that refugees risk significant persecution, and possibly violence, if they are returned to Pakistan, particularly those from Christian, Ahmadi and other religious minority backgrounds; and calls on the Government to make representations to its Thai counterparts to prevent the deportation of those refugees at risk of persecution in Pakistan.