BPCA Chief says Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in Thailand not satisfactory

BPCA Chairman Wilson Chowdhry recently visited Thailand to gain direct knowledge of the situation of Pakistani Christian refugees there. The BPCA had been aware it is very bad and being there confirmed that reality. He first went to an English speaking church in Bangkok led by Tim Eaddy, where he experienced a wonderful service in a vibrant, multi-racial church. He spoke to Tim Eaddy who reported that although a local group provided a little aid with rent arrears, as well as food, the need was still immense and the church is unable to cope. The Pakistani Christians under his care need assistance to get into long-term accommodation. He had been praying for Western nations to help, since such Christians are living right on the edge, affecting their morale and health. With the limited funds we had available BPCA helped a number of individuals, for instance we gave £100 to a lady so that her mother could have a heart operation. The daughter had just been praying for assistance and a few days later, BPCA were able to step in and provide for this need. Another family with a baby that Wilson met were down to their very last nappy and no money for more, or for their gas and electricity bills. We covered the costs for their gas bill and bought close to 6 months supply of nappies. We paid two months rent for another family and for two months of medication for epilepsy and diabetes. We also supplied food packages for several families.

Because these Christians do not have refugee status, they are not allowed to work, and so have no legal income. They rely on handouts and sporadic illegal work. A lot of them have professional backgrounds - doctors, teachers, lawyers and the like. They go to Thailand because it is the cheapest and easiest country for which to get a tourist visa. Selling all their goods they survive until everything they once had has been lost and then they start to beg or seek help from charities...

Wilson also learned more about the precarious situation of Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in Thailand. The government is getting tired of the huge numbers of refugees, so there is an ongoing police crackdown on 'illegal immigrants' such as these Pakistani Christians. Thailand, as we reported in an earlier article, has not signed up to the UNHCR convention over refugees and Wilson saw the evidence of the police raids including kicked in doors. This has left the Christians absolutely terrified - they are even sometimes afraid to go out and buy food when they can afford it. They can't afford to replace the locks, and, fearful of further raids, they get friends to padlock them in from the outside to give the appearance of being empty, but given the likelihood of fire in these rough, slum-like buildings, they run the grave danger of being trapped and burnt alive. In these waves of arrests over 400 Pakistani Christians were incarcerated. If they are taken to an Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) then, if these impoverished Christians can pay 50,000 baht, about £1000, they can go free and then have a two year pardon period during which they won't be rearrested. The conditions in the IDC are horrific with 150 locked into rooms meant for 100 with just one toilet between them. They can only sleep either standing up, or crouching down. There are still 21 Pakistani Christians in IDC, with a cost of over £20,000 to get them all out. They are forced to wear orange uniforms, and their daily ration is a small amount of rice, and cucumber soup (boiled cucumber in plain water). Papa Thongchai reports that they go in relatively healthy and come out having visibly lost significant amounts of weight and looking malnourished. The stench is horrific and Wilson almost cried when he visited detainees. They are not allowed out unless they are invited out by visitors, so when Wilson and the others visited, the detainees were overjoyed, but their smiles hid the desperation behind them. This is a real humanitarian crisis, and although it was not much, due to our thin resources, each Pakistani Christian was given 100 baht and some food. Wilson said the pain was so great, he wondered which were better off, those who die on the journey, or those who made it here. Much focus has been put on the dangerous nature of the travel from countries with persecution by mainstream media - yet they have failed to grasp the horrors that face those who survive the journey.

Some who are arrested don't go to the IDC, but are taken to the Central jail where they are locked in with hardened criminals - rapists, murderers and the like. The men are stripped naked, their heads are shaved and they are put in shackles that go around their feet and legs, and their arms and hands. The women are not allowed to wear underwear and are forced to jump around to show they have smuggled nothing in internally, men are often in the same room jeering and ogling. The prisoners are fined £4 a day for every day they overstay, and can be rearrested at any time, despite paying these fines. The children of these Pakistani Christian brothers and sisters are locked up with their parents in the Central jail. Those with babies struggle especially, since although nappies and milk are made available, these are only for Thai citizens, not for these innocent asylum seekers. Mothers watch their children suffer and starve, and have to use plastic bags as nappies, unless charities supply the need. In addition, the jailors in both the Central prison and the IDCs can be very brutal.