Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) - A group of 85 displaced people from Pakistan have been taken into custody by immigration in Bangkok, according to a statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission received by Fides. The group includes 38 women and 38 children, 26 of them under the age of ten, as well as infants, pregnant women, sick and elderly. 17 of them have been officially recognized by the United Nations as refugees. The raid was organized by the Thai authorities as they attempt to repatriate the refugees in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The detention centre that hosts them is notoriously overcrowded and unhygienic. The members of this group are persecuted in Pakistan for religious reasons They live in very precarious conditions, without any income, surviving with the help of the Jesuit Refugee Service. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 21/12/2010)
