National Post

Canada and Pakistan in talks over detainee

- By St ewart Bell

TORONTO • High-level talks are taking place between Canada and Pakistan over the fate of a Pakistani terrorist group member who has been detained in an Ontario prison for the past nine months, a federal official said Friday.

Mohammed Aqeeq Ansari was to be deported back to Pakistan on July 14, but his removal was called off at the request of Pakistani authoritie­s, the Canada Border Services Agency official disclosed at a hearing in Toronto.

Although Ansari has a valid Pakistani passport, officials have asked to interview him at their consulate in Toronto. The CBSA said Pakistan was conducting “verificati­ons.” Otherwise, it was unclear why they had halted his return.

“Honestly speaking, I have no idea at all,” said Asghar Ali Golo, the consul general of Pakistan in Toronto. He said he had just returned from Pakistan and was unfamiliar with the case but would be able to answer questions Monday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Pakistani High Commission in Ottawa are now involved, the CBSA said. The head of Canada’s mission in Islamabad was to discuss the issue with Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior on July 27.

“We’re trying to move this along locally, national and internatio­nally. The agency is doing everything it can to get approval to remove Mr. Ansari,” Jessica Lourenco, a CBSA official, told the IRB at a hearing to decide whether he should remain in detention.

A landed immigrant, Ansari has lived in Canada since 2007. He was arrested in Toronto on Oct. 27 on the grounds he was a member of the Pakistani terrorist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and a danger to Canada’s security. The Immigratio­n & Refugee Board upheld the government’s case and ordered Ansari deported. Five days before CBSA officers were scheduled to escort him to Pakistan, his removal was cancelled on the basis of a letter received from the Pakistani consulate.

“Removal was cancelled and Mr. Ansari was notified of that on the 9th of July,” Lourenco said.

On July 13, officials met the Pakistani vice-consul and explained that Ansari could not come to the consulate because he was detained at the Lindsay correction­al centre. They offered to arrange a consular visit there instead. The vice-consul told them the consul general was away until July 17 and that the office would be closed for Ramadan until July 22.

IRB member Karina Henrique ordered Ansari to remain in custody while the problems were sorted out, ruling he was a flight risk and a danger.

She said the delays were solely the fault of the Pakistani government, but she was “cautiously optimistic” there would be progress now the Muslim holidays were over.

Meanwhile, another Pakistani citizen arrested in Toronto in March, Jahanzeb Malik, also remains in Canada awaiting deportatio­n. Malik was caught by an RCMP undercover officer plotting a suicide bombing in the Toronto financial district. One of his stated targets was the U.S. consulate.

A hearing was held Friday to decide whether Malik should remain in custody, pending his deportatio­n, but the IRB banned the press from observing the case or reporting why the proceeding­s have suddenly gone behind closed doors. The National Post challenged the secrecy ruling but the IRB refused to open the hearings to public scrutiny.

Since arriving in Canada, Ansari had returned to Pakistan to visit a cleric who fought “jihad” in Afghanista­n. He also spread the group’s extremist beliefs on the Internet, once commenting beside a photo of the Toronto Scotiabank Tower, “If I only had a plane.”

 ?? Colin Perk el / The Canadian pr ess ?? Jahanzeb Malik, seen in prison in Ontario, is awaiting deportatio­n to Pakistan. The deportatio­n of a second Pakistani, Mohammed Aqeeq Ansari, has been delayed
and is the subject of high-level talks.
Colin Perk el / The Canadian pr ess Jahanzeb Malik, seen in prison in Ontario, is awaiting deportatio­n to Pakistan. The deportatio­n of a second Pakistani, Mohammed Aqeeq Ansari, has been delayed and is the subject of high-level talks.

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