Aspiring deaf solicitor fights deportation to Pakistan

A partially deaf man's ambition of qualifying as a solicitor is in doubt as he fights deportation to Pakistan.

Nasir Abdullah of Beechwood Road, Luton, is involved in what could be his most important case - opposing his deportation by the Home Office and saving his hearing - before he even qualifies into the profession.

Despite being in the UK for more than nine years and gaining his master's in law degree, Abdullah has found himself in the Birmingham Immigration and Asylum Tribunal appealing against a Home Office decision.

The tribunal was told he was on course to qualify in law but that he needed medical rehabilitation in this country following an implant to improve his hearing.

Abdullah said he feared his hearing would not improve if he were deported, and that he would become permanently deaf because hospitals in Pakistan did not have the same up-to-date equipment in the UK.

The tribunal was told his hearing had not yet progressed as well as expected following the implant and that he needed further treatment in the UK for it to be successful.

The wannabe lawyer said his surgeon told him he needed another two years in this country to continue with the treatment because he had only between 10 and 15 per cent hearing.

The surgeon was also said to have recommended the authorities to allow him to stay for follow-up sessions.

Abdullah told the tribunal that his father was a solicitor in Pakistan and that he had made enquiries which revealed that similar treatment for implants in Pakistan was not carried out. He also warned he would find getting a job difficult in his native country.

A family friend said: 'To deport Nasir would be a terrible blow to his plans to qualify as a solicitor. He and his wife and young child would find it difficult to re-adapt in Pakistan after so long in the UK. He is a good man and well respected in Luton.'

A Home Office official questioned Abdullah's comments about the difference standards of medical treatment in Pakistan compared with the UK.

'There is no evidence that the medical treatment in Pakistan would be less efficient that in the UK,' she said. 'The child is young enough to adapt herself in Pakistan and the Home Office sees no reason to change its decision.'

The tribunal was told that Abdullah had come to the UK on student's visa which had expired.

A request by his legal representative for a press restriction on his name because of the child was rejected by tribunal judge Michael Hall.

He said he would make a decision at a later date about whether Abdullah should be deported. Abdullah declined to comment about his employment.

Peter Swingler is a freelance journalist