2023 RLLR 208
Citation: 2023 RLLR 208
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 13, 2023
Panel: Uchenna Okoronkwo
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Jeffrey Nadler
Country: Pakistan
RPD Number: TC3-37102
Associated RPD Number(s): N/A
ATIP Number: A-2024-01010
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: I am ready to decide this matter now. Today’s date is 13th of December, 2023. This is the decision of the Refugee Protection Division for the following claimant, XXXX unknown, file number TC3-37102, a XXXX-year-old man. You are claiming to be a citizen of Pakistan and seeking refugee protection in Canada pursuant to section 96 and 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. I have considered your testimony and the other evidence in this case, and I am ready to render a decision in this matter orally. A written decision will be sent to you shortly and maybe amended for spelling and grammar purposes.
DETERMINATION
[2] Having considered all of the evidence adduced in this matter, I find that you are a Convention refugee on the basis of your imputed political opinion and religion. My reasons are as follows.
ALLEGATIONS
[3] Your allegations are fully set out in your Basis of Claim form filed at Exhibit 2 and amended under Exhibit 4 of the consolidated list of documents. There is no need to repeat them here in detail. In summary, you allege that you are a secular and democratic-minded Pakistani fearing persecution at the hands of the Pakistani Taliban on the basis of your imputed political opinion and religion. You further describe that due to your expressed secular views, the Pakistan Taliban collaborated with the police to falsely accuse you of blasphemy against Islam, and that the Taliban targeted and kidnapped you for extortion in XXXX 2022 after you refused to support them and refused to make financial donations to the Taliban, and you opposed the collection of donations from other people in your community of Swat city in Pakistan.
[4] You allege that you are fearful that if you are returned to Pakistan, you would be killed, and that there is neither state protection nor internal flight alternative existing for you in that country.
Identity
[5] Your personal and national identities as a citizen of Pakistan have both been established on a balance of probabilities by your testimony and copies of your Pakistani passport, national identity card, driver’s licence and family registration certificate filed at Exhibits 1 and 4 of the consolidated list of documents.
Nexus
[6] I find that there is a link between the persecution you fear in Pakistan and imputed political opinion and religion, which are two (2) of the five (5) enumerated Convention grounds for a refugee claim. Therefore, I have assessed your claim under section 96 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, IRPA.
Credibility
[7] Credibility was a key issue in this claim. The court ruled in Maldonado v Canada that the sworn testimony of the claimant is presumed to be true unless there is valid reason to doubt its truthfulness. In terms of your general credibility, I found you to be a credible witness. You testified in a straightforward manner. There were no material inconsistencies or omissions or contradictions between your testimony and the other evidence in this case that were not reasonably explained. Your testimony was also consistent with the other evidence on the central aspect your claim. Therefore, I believe what you have alleged in your Basis of Claim form and oral testimony. I find that you are a credible witness with respect to your allegation that you are a devoted and (inaudible) Sunni Muslim who holds and preached secular religious views, which you embarked from your western exposure as a XXXX for many countries across the world.
[8] You testified that you have been a XXXX for about XXXX years and that you actively opposed the extremist views of such groups like the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalists who forbid the education of girls and the deployment of women in the corporate world or the economy in your country. It was your credible testimony that you (inaudible) secular inclinations and the opposition to the public donation of money to the Taliban cause in your community attracted the attention of an ex-Taliban member and imam who, in XXXX 2022, asked you to make donations to the Taliban and to his mosque. You described that your refusal to comply with the demands of the imam and your insistence on your secular beliefs made the imam threaten to report you to the Taliban, and that he did report you to the Taliban fundamentalists who accused you of spreading anti-Islamic sentiments, opposing the Taliban agenda, and speaking against the jihad. You described that because you did not adhere to the warnings from the imam and the Taliban, you faced a number of attacks on your life, including on XXXX XXXX 2022, during which the Taliban fundamentalists ambushed and kidnapped you on your way from your farm. You said that you were taken to an unknown location where you were tortured for the reasons that you have committed blasphemy against Islam due to your work with the westerners in the ship and other infidels who are non-Muslims, and they pronounced that as a punishment for you under Islam.
[9] When I asked you, you credibly testified that your abductors demanded a sum of XXXX XXXX XXXX USA dollars, and that you promised to pay them within two (1) weeks to get them to temporarily release you, and that you fled the country aboard the ship cruise to Europe in XXXX 2022, but you made your way to Canada and claimed refugee protection in XXXX 2022. You testified that after your arrival in Canada, your wife informed you that the Taliban extremists, as well as the police, separately visited your home in XXXX of 2023. You explained that you were informed that while the Taliban members inquired of you and vandalized your home because you failed to pay the kidnap sum, the police came to arrest you based on blasphemy complaints filed by the imam against you. You continued in your testimony, and you testified that the Taliban has vowed to find and kill you anywhere in Pakistan, and the police now seeks to arrest you for the offence of blasphemy. You expressed your fear that you would be killed by your agent of persecution if you are forcefully returned to Pakistan.
Supporting Documents
[10] The core aspects of your claim and testimony were also corroborated by your personal documentation, which was entered into evidence under Exhibits 4 and 6 of the consolidated list of documents. These documents include your employment related documents, including your employment agreement, your seafarer’s identity and letter from your maritime employers, which all go to support your claim that you were a XXXX who was targeted for extortion by your agent of persecution based on their belief that you were in possession of foreign currency and because you were perceived to be anti-Islamic adherent. Also in evidence are translated copies of fatwa for blasphemy dated XXXX XXXX, 2022 and issued against you by a religious scholar which expelled you from Islam and ordered all Muslims to kill you because you committed the sin of blasphemy against Islam by insulting the Islamic religion. There is also a translated copy of police complaint filed by the imam of a mosque in Swat district for fatwa filed at XXXX police station Swat. It is dated XXXX XXXX, 2022, which accuses you of provoking people against Islam by derogating Islam, jihad, and mosque, and requested for you to be punished.
[11] You also furnished the Board with two (2) duly attested affidavits of support from your wife and another one (1) from your friend, both of whom have consistently expressed their restrictive or personal knowledge of the problems you faced in Pakistan. In her affidavit dated XXXX XXXX, 2023, your wife stated that since you fled Pakistan, Taliban members have visited your home three (3) times, including in XXXX 2022 and XXXX 2023, in search of you, as well as the police, which also visited in XXXX 2023, gave her a copy of blasphemy complaint filed against you by the imam and summoned you for interrogations. In his own affidavit, your friend stated that he was present when the imam threatened you in XXXX 2022 for your refusal to support the Taliban and that the imam has continued to incite his religious followers to kill you if you were ever found in Pakistan.
[12] I have considered and found no concerns regarding the genuineness of the documentary evidence you provided in support of your claim. They are consistent with your assertions, your profile, your work profile, as well as the problems you told me you faced at the hands of your agents of persecution which you have told me about. I accept and attach weight to these documents. Based upon the totality of the oral and documentary evidence, and based on a balance of probabilities, I find that you have established a subjective fear of persecution in Pakistan on a forward-facing basis at the hands of the Taliban extremists on the basis of imputed political opinion and religious views, which they perceive to be un-Islamic.
Objective Basis
[13] Your allegations are generally consistent with the available objective evidence about conditions in Pakistan. Exhibit 3, which is the National Documentation Package, NDP, for Pakistan corroborates your fear of persecution at the hands of the Taliban as a result of your secular views and refusal to support them financially. While NDP Item 7.8 indicates that Taliban operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and uses the Afghanistan-Pakistan borders region as a safe haven, Item 1.13 states that insisted that the Taliban and its affiliated networks remain a greater security threat to Pakistan. The same objective sources under NDP Item 7.8 further report that the estimated number of Taliban operatives is between 30,000 and 35,000, and that their targets for attack include state institutions, NGOs that promotes obscenity, and the communities of nonbelievers who are seen as guilty of insulting Islam. While there are some indications that the Taliban are declining in 2018, NDP Item 7.19 indicates that there were signs of resurgence, especially in the start of 2021.
[14] The evidence before me establishes that the Taliban targets non-believers or those seen as insulting Islam like the claimant before me. Given the claimant’s profile as a Muslim with western beliefs, his speech against Taliban interpretation of Islam, his open refusal to support the Taliban, his attempts to stop other persons from donating money towards the Taliban cause, and his subsequent police report against the pro-Taliban imam, I find that it is credible that the Taliban perceived the claimant as an opponent or someone acting against Islam. Under Exhibit 6, your Counsel also provided country condition documents which speak about the growing of militant attacks linked to Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, as well as their attacks across the country. The documents submitted by your Counsel also speaks about the return of fighters and the Pakistan’s fear of a repeat of the Taliban carnage of the past.
[15] In the light of the foregoing and considering the presumption of truthfulness, and my finding that you are a credible witness, I further find on a balance of probabilities that you have established that you are of a particular profile that attracted the attention of the Pakistan Taliban, which put you at risk in Pakistan. As such, I find that there is sufficient, credible, and trustworthy evidence to conclude that there is more than a mere possibility of persecution against the claimant should he returned to Pakistan. Since the foregoing objective evidence confirmed that individuals like you are targeted by Taliban extremists and based on your customer experience and the documentary evidence cited above, on the balance of probabilities, I conclude that this claimant has established a well-founded fear of persecution in Pakistan, which is supported by objective evidence.
State Protection
[16] In all refugee claims, states are presumed to be capable of protecting their own citizens, except in situations where the state is in a complete breakdown. To rebut the presumption of state protection, the government has to provide clear and convincing evidence of the state’s inability or unwillingness to protect its citizens. However, a claimant need not exhaust all avenues of recourse where the stat agent is part of his agent of persecution. In this case, the claimant has established that the pro-Taliban imam had collaborated with the police to falsely accuse him of blasphemy, following which the police issued a summons against him and searched for him up to the month of XXXX 2023. In view of this credible evidence, the Panel is of the view that there is clear and convincing evidence before the Panel which suggests that the state is part of the claimant’s agent of persecution and are unwilling to protect him. Furthermore, NDP Item 10.1 indicates that there is a high level of corruption among policemen in Pakistan, therefore inhibiting their ability to provide adequate protection to people who seek it.
[17] A recent response to information request in the NDP regarding police corruption stated that police are ranked as one (1) of the most corrupt institutions in Pakistan. This objective source attributed this state of affairs in part to the poor working conditions and economic difficulty that leave the police force under-resourced, and in larger cities police are forced to live in slums on the periphery of the city, which exposes them to criminal influences in their neighbourhood. Consequently, I am satisfied in this case that the presumption of state protection is rebutted on a balance of probabilities. State protection will not be available to you should you seek it again in Pakistan.
Internal Flight Alternative
[18] I have also considered whether a viable internal flight alternative exists for you in Pakistan. I have earlier suggested the city of Hyderabad as a location where you could internally relocate to for safety. This proposal was discussed during the hearing. There are two (2) prongs to the IFA test, and both must be met for a viable internal flight alternative. In essence, the prongs are whether a proposed IFA is safe, and the second is whether a proposed IFA is reasonable. In order to determine whether an internal flight alternative exists, I must assess whether there is any location in Pakistan in which you would not face a serious possibility of persecution, and whether it would be reasonable to expect you to move there. However, the evidence before me demonstrates, on a balance of probabilities, that the agent of persecution in this case, which is the Taliban, has the means and motivation to target the claimant anywhere in Pakistan.
[19] NDP Item 7.8 further report that the Taliban is headquartered in the Southern Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas. However, it has spread its network into other Pakistan provinces and has established structures and local groups. Furthermore, the same NDP sources say the Taliban is well organized. It has systems and procedures in place to run its activities, including a consultative body, a seniority list of leaders, a promotion policy, a system of election, media policy, code of discipline, as well as policies and strategies to carry out insurgency and terrorism. The group is said to have increased operations against civilians and security forces in the northwest, and there has been an increase in incidents of extortion and kidnapping for ransom carried out by cells in the major cities, including Islamabad, Karachi, and Hyderabad. Attacks have increased since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. One (1) source indicates that criminal groups can track and retaliate against individuals through their extensive network of informants. I refer to NDP Item 7.30. Other sources confirm that militant attacks can occur anywhere, according to NDP Item 1.13.
[20] You have credibility testified and furnished the documentary evidence indicating the Taliban have continued to seek you out in Pakistan since you fled through your family, including in XXXX 2023. I find that the evidence before me establishes, on a balance of probabilities, the Taliban is an organized network and that their network exists throughout Pakistan, through which they are capable of tracking down any person of interest to them throughout the country. So I find that there is a serious possibility that the Taliban has the means and motivation to locate this claimant anywhere in Pakistan. With respect to the first prong on the IFA test, I find that you would be facing a serious possibility of prosecution should you relocate, because the objective documentation supports your credible evidence that you would face persecution anywhere in Pakistan. According to the circumstances of your case, I find that there is no viable internal flight alternative available for you in Pakistan on a balance of probabilities. Since the IFA test has failed on the first prong, I see no need to proceed to the second prong of the analysis.
CONCLUSION
[21] Based upon the totality of the evidence before me, I conclude on a balance of probabilities that you face a serious possibility of persecution anywhere in Pakistan without adequate protection or an internal flight alternative. I find you to be a Convention refugee on the basis of your religion and imputed political opinion pursuant to section 96 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Therefore, I accept your claim. That concludes the hearing today.
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