UK peer brands Afghan pilot’s deportation ordeal ‘totally cruel, appalling’

LONDON: A member of the British House of Lords who fled the Nazis in the build-up to World War II has branded the UK government as “totally cruel” over its treatment of an Afghanistan war hero threatened with deportation.

The Afghan pilot, who fought alongside British troops against the Taliban after the 2001 invasion of his country, arrived in the UK on a small boat, but faces being relocated to Rwanda in east Africa under the government’s controversial asylum policy.

The airman was deemed by officials to have arrived in the country via an illegal route, which he said he was forced to do as there were “no safer legal routes into the country.”

British Labour peer, Alfred Dubs, told the Independent newspaper the fact the pilot faced deportation was “absolutely shocking.”

He said: “If he risked his life for us, how can we possibly not consider giving him safety? The government must think again.”

Dubs urged British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman to “stop hiding behind bureaucracy” and help war veterans in need.

Last week, following a report by the Independent, Sunak told a House of Commons liaison committee that the Home Office would “have a look” at the case, but refused to comment on the pilot’s plight, while officials in Braverman’s department said they could not comment on individual cases while a claim for asylum was being considered.

According to a Times newspaper report on Friday, British defense secretary, Ben Wallace, said the former lieutenant would receive the right to permanently remain in the UK as soon as he applied through the government’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

But Dubs, a campaigner for refugee rights, claimed the pilot’s ordeal had been “terrible” and “not right,” and described the British Conservative Party’s Rwanda policy as “appalling.”

He said: “The strongest possible claim someone can have is that they fought to help British forces, and it’s totally cruel for bureaucracy to stop him from claiming asylum.

“To which country should they flee but Britain – the one country they thought they would be welcome?

“My own story makes it ever more painful, because I’m shocked what we have come to, we’re turning our backs on the basic human rights principles that have characterized this country,” Dubs added.

A recent Home Office statement said: “We remain committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan and so far have brought around 24,500 people impacted by the situation back to the UK.

“We continue to work with like-minded partners and countries neighboring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.”