A Church of Scotland minister has started a petition stop two teenage brothers being deported to Pakistan.

Somer and Areeb Umeed fled Pakistan with their parents Maqsood Bakhsh and Parveen in 2012 because they said christians are persecuted and are seeking asylum in Glasgow

Rev Linda Pollock from Possilpark Parish Church said she hoped the voices of ordinary people would persuade Home Secretary Sajid Javid that it would be a big mistake to remove the brothers aged 15 and 13 from their home in Glasgow and send them back to a “foreign” country.

She added that the brothers should be nurtured and not placed in an “unbearable situation where they are publicly begging for life”.

She said the UK Government has repeatedly turned them down, largely because officials do not believe they would be at risk in a Muslim country where blasphemy carries the death penalty.

Ms Pollock, said: “I started this petition because the boys have no other options.

“They have exhausted all avenues of appeal to the Home Office for the right to stay here and I fear for their lives.”

a fellow school pupil at Springburn Academy has also started a petition

They are pupils at Springburn Academy where teachers say they are popular, hardworking and highly academic with bright futures ahead of them.

Amy Brown, who is in the sixth year at the school, has also started a petition to help the boys and 2,159 people have signed it so far.

She said: “The reason why we decided to help Somer and Areeb was due to the impact they have had on our school, their friends and the Springburn community.

“There are always stories about those who are being threatened with deportation but it was a shock when a family in our community was faced with that.

“That was when I and many others decided that we couldn’t sit back and watch a family that has lived here for more than six years and made Scotland their home be taken away.”