Gulamhusen Gulammustufa Shaikh (centre) was going through deportation however is now in a position to stay in New Zealand together with his daughter Anisha Shaikh (left) and son Asif Shaikh (proper).
Gulamhusen Gulammustufa Shaikh (centre) was going through deportation however is now in a position to stay in New Zealand together with his daughter Anisha Shaikh (left) and son Asif Shaikh (proper).
An aged overstayer from India has been desperately preventing deportation so he can present emotional help to his son, who’s a survivor of the Christchurch mosque terror assaults.
Gulamhusen Gulammustufa Shaikh, a 77-year-old widower, launched an enchantment with the Immigration and Safety Tribunal New Zealand after his customer visa expired in November final 12 months.
Now, the tribunal has dominated his case was one with distinctive circumstances and he could stay within the nation together with his household.
Shaikh’s daughter, Anisha Shaikh advised the Herald it was an enormous aid for the household.
“He’s so previous,” she stated. “There’s nobody in India to take care of my father.”
In flip, she stated her brother, Asif Shaikh, was affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction following the 2019 terror assaults and their father was “his strongest power”.
“Since a child, he has been near my father, and so him being here’s a optimistic help for him.”
The tribunal’s just lately launched determination acknowledged Anisha got here to New Zealand in 2012 and went on to turn into a citizen.
In 2017, Gulamhusen’s spouse died, and the next 12 months, he and Asif flew to New Zealand for 13 days on customer visas.
Later in 2018, Asif returned by himself to dwell in Christchurch, the place he was enrolled in tertiary research.
On March 15, 2019, he was at one of many metropolis’s mosques when a gunman arrived and opened fireplace.
The Immigration and Safety Tribunal heard Gulamhusen Gulammustufa Shaikh’s enchantment to stay within the nation. Picture / Inventory Picture 123rf
Anisha stated her brother had survived by hiding in a nook behind quite a few useless our bodies and injured associates.
“He ready himself to get shot and saved saying his ultimate prayers till he realised that the shooter had left the location.”
Fifty-one folks died throughout or after the terrorist assault carried out at two mosques by Australian Brenton Tarrant.
Following the capturing, Asif briefly returned to India earlier than relocating to New Zealand together with his spouse and their two youngsters in February 2020.
They grew to become residents beneath the Christchurch Response (2019) class and settled in Auckland, the place Anisha lives.
Gulamhusen additionally got here to New Zealand together with his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, however he was solely in a position to safe a customer visa.
His go to was prolonged, nevertheless, as worldwide borders closed through the Covid-19 pandemic and his newest visa expired in November final 12 months.
Since that point, he has been residing unlawfully in New Zealand and was accountable for deportation.
In January, he lodged an enchantment with the tribunal.
His lawyer Arran Hunt argued there have been distinctive circumstances of a humanitarian nature in Gulamhusen’s case that allowed him to stay within the nation.
He has sturdy private ties to his household and will present Asif with the help he wanted, Hunt, who specialises in immigration legislation, advised the tribunal.
Gulamhusen was partially blind, struggled to correctly take care of himself and wouldn’t be secure in India, he additional submitted.
“He owns a house in India, nevertheless it requires restore, with falling ceilings, a crumbling roof and no water provide due to a broken water connection.
“The atmosphere round his dwelling will not be secure as he has restricted imaginative and prescient, there are not any pavements and the streets are slim.”
Gulamhusen’s solely household in India was his brother, who couldn’t help him.
The Indian authorities offers little help to its aged, with a month-to-month pension that’s the equal of NZD$12 and subsidies on some gadgets, Hunt stated.
He submitted it might be unjust or unduly harsh for Gulamhusen to be deported.
If he returned to India, it was unlikely he can be granted one other customer visa in New Zealand, given he had overstayed, and he could “by no means see his household once more”.
After contemplating the submissions and quite a few paperwork offered, together with images of Gulamhusen’s dwelling in India, the tribunal dominated his case met the “excessive threshold required” for distinctive circumstances of a humanitarian nature.
“It’s within the pursuits of household unity for the appellant to stay in New Zealand, the place he might proceed to be a central determine within the lives of his shut household and supply extra help to his son, who suffered trauma from his presence within the mosque assaults,” the tribunal acknowledged in its determination.
The tribunal was additionally happy it might be unjust or unduly harsh for him to be deported, and that it was not opposite to the general public curiosity if he completely remained in New Zealand.
Accordingly, Gulamhusen’s enchantment was allowed and he was granted a resident visa.
Coping with the prospect of their father being deported was worrying for the Shaikh household – each emotionally and financially, Anisha stated.
She stated it was a blessing in disguise when the borders closed as a consequence of Covid.
Now, after a troublesome few years, the household was trying ahead to being collectively with out the lingering concern they may sooner or later be separated.
“It’s a really huge aid for our household,” she advised the Herald, referring to the enchantment consequence.
“He [Gulamhusen] could be very happy, too.”
Immigration insurance policies such because the one affecting Gulamhusen have been a sizzling subject over the weekend as Nationwide, Act and Labour unveiled their insurance policies on the problem forward of subsequent month’s basic election.
All equally centered on increasing the power of oldsters and grandparents to go to household and keep in New Zealand.
