Daily Times

LAHORE: As many as 17 Turkish families belonging to Pak-Turk schools in the city, after the abduction of former director of school Mesut Kacmaz along with his family, are under a threat of their forced deportation from Pakistan despite having a valid stay order, a legal cover of the Lahore High Court (LHC), and the United Nations’ asylum certificate.

The families along with the Pakistani staff members and pupils of all six Pak-Turk schools running in the city held a huge press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Friday evening and urged the government to take notice of the abduction of their colleague and ex-principal Mesut Kacmaz, his wife Meral Kacmaz and their daughters Huma Kacmaz and Huda Kacmaz.

The Turkish families with heavy tears and fear on their faces were carrying placards saying that they would not allow a contempt of court. They demanded early recovery of the Kacmaz family. Some Turkish speakers, including ex-vice principal Fatima Tasun, her daughter Navin Tasun, Saadullah, Fatir Avcu, Hilal Baris and Pakistani national and sitting vice principal of Pak-Turk School Asifa Irfan, also addressed the press conference.

The Turkish families told journalists that Mesut and his family members were kidnapped by some 20 people in Punjab Police uniforms from the family’s residence in Wapda Town in the wee hours of Wednesday (September 27). They alleged that other families were also being forced by ‘unidentified persons’ to leave the country.

They told the media that the same people also kidnapped a Turkish teacher of the school named Fatir Avcu along with Mesut, but the teacher was released after interrogation. They said that the Pakistani government had cancelled their visas last year in November to deport them but the LHC gave a stay order against the decision, as they had received a UNHCR protection with the asylum certificate. They also said that when they had a legal cover of the LHC than how could they be deported forcefully. They said that they would not allow anyone to violate the law. They said that they had a stay order that was valid until October 16, 2017. They also said that the abduction of Mesut was a clear contempt of court and they had filed a petition in the court as well as the UNHCR in this regard. They said that the LHC had sought a reply from the government on October 7, the next hearing of the case.

When asked why the visas of Turkish families-cum-teaching staff related to the Pak-Turk schools were cancelled, they informed that the schools were linked with Fatehullah Gulen, a US-based cleric accused of plotting attempted coup in Turkey. They claimed tha the Turkish government had already detained their relatives there, so they did not want to go back to their hometown, as they had a strong fear of arrest there.

Published in Daily Times, September 30^th 2017.