Mr Ullah and family.

A young Bangladeshi girl, who has not seen her mother for three years, was sobbing her heart out at a detention centre near London airport yesterday as she waited for news of whether she would be free to see her Burnley family, or deported.
The girl, 18 year old Asfun Nessa Khatun, arrived at the airport on Friday with her father, Mr. Mafiz Ullah, intending to come to Burnley to look after her sick mother and new born twins. But when she arrived, immigration officers refused to grant her a visa to visit her family for a few months, and she was detained.

Mr. Ullah flew to Bangladesh last week to collect his daughter, following the birth of the twins. His wife Zolekha is in very bad health, and needs her daughter to look after her. Now he is desperately worried about his daughter's safety if she is deported. He said "The village where she lives in Bangladesh is 300 miles from the airport. She has never left the village before, and will have to travel back on her own. The situation in Bangladesh is very uncertain, and it is not safe for a young girl to be on her own." Mr Ullah has sought the help of Councillor Rafiq Malik, who has asked Burnley MP Mr. Dan Jones to appeal to the Home Office on the family's behalf.

Mr. Malik said "The problem is that the immigration officers suspect Asfun has come to stay. This is not so. She already has a return ticket to go back to Bangladesh. She only wants to stay for five or six months to look after her mother.
At first we were told she would be deported on Tuesday, but she rang to say she didn't know what was happening. Mr Ullah's community has raised £2,500 for her bail and we hope she will be able to come to Burnley for a short time, even if she is not allowed to stay." A spokesman for the Home Office said the girl had arrived on December 27th and was being detained at London Airport. He said she was refused entry into the country because she had indicated she wanted to stay permanently with her family, and had no entry certificate. She then applied to stay for six months, but the Home Office was not satisfied her application was genuine. He said she would be detained until a decision had been made.