Did anyone other than the family who sought asylum corroborate their story?

Dear Editor,

In response to my letter on the Guyanese family refugee saga, Stabroek News correctly noted that the primary responsibility for investigating the family’s claims of intimidation lay with the police force. This is indeed correct. There is no disputing the fact that the police’s response or lack of left a lot to be desired.

However, the questions surrounding the validity of the family’s story remain. In last Tuesday’s letter, the attorney representing the family very strongly reasserted his client’s case and told us how thoroughly the Canadian refugee board investigates each and every case.

Yet in a subsequent letter to the media, he pointedly refused to answer any of the questions I had posed to him. And now, in Sunday’s edition, Mr Selwyn Pieters, wrote a letter that completely contradicts Mr Balwant Persaud. In his letter, Mr Pieters, a lawyer who once acted as a counsel to refugee claimants, clearly indicates that the refugee process is not subject to rigorous and thorough investigation, and is more an art than a science.

Perhaps Mr Persaud would like to revise his earlier claims about the Canadian refugee board. And I still await his answers to my questions. But for the sake of simplicity let me reduce the questions to one basic query: – Was there anyone who was able to corroborate any part of this family’s story, besides the family members themselves?

Yours faithfully,

Shane Ithaca