1823104 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for protection visas by two applicants who are citizens of Pakistan. The applicants claimed they feared serious harm from a local criminal gang, the [Family B] Group, in Punjab Province, Pakistan. They also initially claimed persecution due to the first applicant's Ahmadi heritage, though this claim was later abandoned. The Federal Circuit Court remitted the matter for redetermination by the Tribunal.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicants held a well-founded fear of persecution for one of the five convention reasons, or whether there were substantial grounds for believing that their removal from Australia would result in a real risk of significant harm. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the applicants' claims of harm were linked to their religion or membership in a particular social group, and whether the alleged harm was sufficiently serious and likely to occur upon return to Pakistan.

The Tribunal found that the applicants had not established a well-founded fear of persecution based on the first applicant's Ahmadi heritage. The Tribunal accepted the first applicant's evidence that he was not a practicing Ahmadi, was perceived as a Sunni Muslim, and had not been targeted by the [Family B] Group due to his faith. Instead, the Tribunal found that the applicants' claims of harm stemmed from their involvement in a conflict with the [Family B] Group, which was a criminal gang involved in extortion and violence. The Tribunal noted that the first applicant had been targeted for extortion as a successful businessman, and later implicated in a murder investigation due to his reporting of a robbery by the gang. The Tribunal also considered the second applicant's family's involvement with a rival gang and the subsequent violence, but concluded that the applicants had not demonstrated a real risk of persecution on convention grounds.

Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that either applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) or (aa) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). As they did not satisfy these criteria, they were also unable to satisfy the criteria under section 36(2)(b) or (c). The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicants protection visas.