Speaking in Committee Room 15, House of Commons on the afternoon of Tuesday 28 April with HE Wajid Shamsul Hasan the High Commissioner for Pakistan, Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, Mohammad Sarwar MP and other leading British Pakistanis at a meeting entitled “Justice for Pakistani Students” organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Third World Solidarity chaired by Councillor Mushtaq Lasharie, Keith Best, Chief Executive of IAS, said that the value of Pakistani students to the UK is great and should not be jeopardised.

“Over 10,000 students come to the UK every year from Pakistan and contribute about £100m in their fees and value to the British economy. When they return they act as informal ambassadors for Britain if their time here has been productive and they have been welcomed. Yet security issues, the recession, elements of xenophobia and the increasing attention to the highly politicised subject of immigration as we approach a general election mean that often their experience is not a happy one. Any bad experience can damage the desire of other students to come here when, overall, they contribute more than £8.5m to the British economy every year.

“For the last full year for which figures are available there were more than 28,000 applications by students from Pakistan but only 11,500 were granted – meaning that almost 18,000 were refused: a refusal rate of 64%. Although we have won many of those cases on appeal this is no longer an option. Sadly, many students are refused because they have put themselves into the hands of unscrupulous travel agents or advisers who suggest that they make fraudulent applications or sell them forged education certificates. This will mean an automatic refusal and probably a ban on coming to the UK as well as being passed over to the local police for prosecution. The reason IAS has set up its own offices in Karachi, Lahore and Mirpur is because we wanted to offer Pakistanis who wish to come to the UK a competent and honest service and help with applications. Under the new Points Based System for students (Tier 4) there is no longer a right of appeal against a refusal which means that the application must be perfect.

“It is inappropriate to comment on the ten Pakistani students who were arrested on alleged terrorism charges save that if there is substance to the allegations against them they should be charged and face trial. It would be a denial of justice and cause damage to the UK’s reputation abroad if they are deported without substantive allegations being proved (in such circumstances they would also face a ten year ban from returning to the UK). "

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