WE are not short of examples of why Scotland should be in charge of its own immigration policy but the recent treatment by the Home Office of the Bakhsh family is a particularly shocking display of inhumanity.
Here is a model family, respected in their community in Glasgow, described by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as a credit to the country.
Maqsood Bakhsh brought his family to Scotland after receiving death threats from Islamic extremists. Although the family had moved around their homeland they feared they were no longer safe in Pakistan.
They had good reason to believe this was the case. Those responsible for the deaths of two Christians in Faisalabad in 210 believed Bakhsh was in league with the victims.
Yet the Home Office believes the family would be safe in another part of Pakistan and has ruled they must return.
It’s not only the First Minister who has appealed to them to change their minds. Eighteen leading religious leaders have asked that the deportation be stopped. They include 13 former Moderators of the Church of Scotland, as well as the present Moderator and representatives of other churches.
More than 88,000 people have signed a petition asking that the family be given the right to stay.
Yet yesterday the Home Office was sticking to its oft-repeated mantra that every asylum case is “assessed on its own merits”.
That’s simply not good enough. Of course, if we were an independent country we would not need to heed inhuman instructions by the Home Office.
But before that day dawns we need to demand a far greater say in deciding who is able to live in our country. The Home Office is simply not fit to bear full responsibility for such decisions.
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