AN ANXIOUS mum today pleaded to be allowed to stay in Glasgow with her three young children.
AN ANXIOUS mum today pleaded to be allowed to stay in Glasgow with her three young children.
Humaira Quadoos, and daughters Waieeba, 8, Maida, 6, and Mahnoor, 3, have been detained and face being deported to Pakistan tonight.
Humaira - who came to Glasgow from Edinburgh just five weeks ago after fleeing her husband, who she claims was abusive - fears her and the girls' lives will be in danger.
They moved into a flat in Scotstoun, where they have been welcomed and befriended by the community.
Humaira fears there will be a backlash from people in Pakistan after her brother, a strict Muslim who lives in Lahore, accused her of bringing shame on the family by leaving her husband.
She is begging immigration officials to let her and the girls stay in Glasgow.
Supporters say the family's case has been decided too hastily amid a new drive by the Home Office to step up deportations of failed asylum seekers.
It's thought there have been as many as six forcible removals from Scotland in one week.
Cat Storrie, a case worker for the Unity Centre in Ibrox, which supports Scotland's asylum community, said: "This family have endured a terrible trauma. The way they have been treated by the system is appalling.
"Mrs Quadoos came to Scotland with her children to be with her husband. She claims he was abusive towards both her and the children and they had to leave.
"They came to Glasgow to start a new life, only to have their application rejected. We don't think their case has been given proper consideration.
"How can the Home Office send her back there when she is frightened of her own family?
"Her husband is now back in Pakistan too."
She said the centre had received calls from Scotstoun residents concerned about the fate of their new neighbours.
Humaira and her daughters were detained last Wednesday during a routine sign-on at Govan immigration offices.
They have been locked up for nearly a week and are now in London before being flown to Lahore tonight. But hopes are high a last-minute legal challenge will succeed.
Last Thursday a family of Turkish asylum seekers were saved from deportation and allowed to return to Glasgow, pending a judicial review of their case.
A Home Office spokeswoman denied stepping up the deportation rate of failed asylum seekers in Scotland.
But she admitted: "There is a continuing drive to remove failed asylum seekers from Scotland as quickly as possible, as well as from the rest of the UK."
