CAT/C/55/D/512/2012 3.5 The complainant submits translations or copies of the following documentation in support of his claims: a judgment dated 6 December 2003 granting the complainant’s exwife’s claim for dissolution of marriage; a police report filed in Lahore, Pakistan, by N.A. in 2005, concerning an attack on his son, who the complainant states is his nephew; a police report filed in Lahore concerning what the complainant refers to as the triple murder of his cousin, her son and her brother’s daughter in 2009; an affidavit dated 16 August 2011 from M.M., who states he is the complainant’s cousin and generally supports the complainant’s allegations concerning the threat he faces from political rivals and his in-laws; and an affidavit dated 16 August 2011 from K.M., who states he is the President of the Pakistan Canada Cultural Equation of Manitoba and a longtime friend of the complainant and claims that the complainant will face grave danger if he returns to Pakistan, due to his membership in the PPP and his conversion to the Shia faith. 1 State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits 4.1 On 9 January 2013, the State party submitted its observations on admissibility and the merits of the communication. The State party adds certain facts concerning the complainant’s refugee status applications. It notes that the complainant’s refugee claim in the United States was rejected in 1993, and that the complainant alleges that the reason for which the claim was rejected was that the political situation in Pakistan was improving. The complainant also claims that he had been advised not to raise a risk of persecution based on religious belief in his asylum application in the United States and that therefore the United States officials had considered only his claim of persecution on account of his political beliefs. The complainant remained unlawfully in the United States until March 2003, when he came to Canada. The complainant’s refugee claim in Canada was deemed abandoned on 22 April 2004, after he failed to confirm his readiness to appear for his refugee hearing and further failed to appear at a hearing in the abandonment proceedings. 4.2 The State party considers that the communication is inadmissible due to the failure by the complainant to exhaust domestic remedies, because he never enquired into or applied for a reopening of his abandoned refugee claim. The refugee claim would have afforded him an oral hearing on the merits of his claim for protection. The complainant has also had 10 years to apply for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds (H&C), and has not done so. 4.3 The State party further considers that the communication is inadmissible because it is manifestly unfounded. The complainant has not substantiated that he is at personal risk of torture or other serious harm in Pakistan. He has not provided any independent evidence to substantiate his allegations of police mistreatment 20 years ago. He claims to fear harm as a supporter of the PPP, which is currently in power in Pakistan. Current country reports on Pakistan do not suggest that he would face a personal risk of torture at the hands of religious extremists, either as a supporter of the PPP or as a convert to Shiism. Concerning his claims of a risk of harm from religious extremists, he has not substantiated that he would be personally targeted by extremist groups on account of his Shia faith. A quarter of the population in Pakistan belongs to the Shia faith, and while there have been some attacks by extremist Sunni groups against Shia gatherings, religious sites and practitioners in recent years, a significant portion of this violence appears to have been against Hazara Shias. 2 1 2 The complainant also provides various newspaper articles and reports relating to honour killings, sectarian violence, and killings for blasphemy in Pakistan. The State party cites United States Department of State, 2011 International Religious Freedom Report: Pakistan, pp. 1 and 22, available from www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2011/; Human Rights Watch, World Report 2012: Pakistan; Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2012: The State of the World’s Human Rights, p. 262 ff. 5