'Rashid deported to Pakistan'

2006-05-11 22:20

Cape Town - The South African government denied assertions that it had deported illegal Pakistani immigrant Khalid Mahmood Rashid "to a destination any other than his home country".

Suggestions to the contrary were "totally irresponsible," home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Thursday, adding: "We have nothing to hide as government".

Rashid's lawyer, Zehir Omar, has taken the government to court to try and establish the whereabouts of his client, who he claims has disappeared.

Mapisa-Nqakula told reporters that Rashid was deported to Pakistan last November.

The government had no duty, she added, to keep track of illegal immigrants it deports once they've crossed the border.

But the government had the information Omar required, and would provide it if he followed "proper processes".

The minister accused Omar of acting unprofessionally by raising the issue in the public domain while it was before a court of law, and inflaming the emotions of Muslim citizens in the process.

- SAPA