Teenage brothers from Glasgow win seven-year deportation fight

Two teenage brothers who have fought against deportation for seven years are to be allowed to stay in Scotland.

Somer and Areeb Umeed Bakhsh have argued that their lives would be in danger if they were sent back to Pakistan from their home in Glasgow.

The Home Office has now given them and their parents "limited leave to remain" in the UK until February 2022.

Campaigners hope it will be "the beginning of the end" of their struggle to stay permanently.

The boys, now aged 16 and 14, fled Pakistan with their Christian parents Parveen and Maqsood in 2012 after Islamic extremists threatened to kill their father.

Supporters backing the brothers' case have included the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

A petition calling on the Home Office not to deport the boys was signed by more than 88,000 people.

Somer, who got four As and a B in his Highers and wants to be an astrophysicist, said he was" really happy that we now have the freedom to stay in the country we love".

The Springburn Academy pupil added: "I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders because the threat of deportation was always in the back of my mind.

"Scotland is my home, I have grown up here, all my friends are here and I feel like a Scottish boy.

"I am very thankful to everyone who has supported my family and the people who signed the petitions - we could not have got to this point without you.

"But I am disappointed that we will have to apply to the Home Office for an extension in just two-and-a-half years."

His brother Areeb said he was "overwhelmed" by the news.

"It has been very stressful but Glasgow is such a lovely place, everyone is so welcoming and my friends at school have always been there for me," he added.

"They will be really happy to hear the news and I am looking forward to a degree of normality."

The family's Church of Scotland minister, Rev Linda Pollock, has led the campaign to stop them being deported to Pakistan where blasphemy carries the death penalty.

She said: "I am relieved and feel deep joy that this decision has been made because these youngsters have been living in a psychological prison and in bondage for too long.

"They are brave, inspirational, compassionate, intelligent, well-rounded boys who have experienced sorrow and heartache.

"But through all of this they have maintained their dignity and integrity which has not been easy."