Paralyzed refugee claimant should go home, key supporter says

One of the key supporters of a paralyzed man who has taken sanctuary at a Sikh temple to avoid deportation now says the failed refugee claimant should go back to India.

Harpal Singh Nagra of the South Asian Human Rights Group said Laibar Singh's options are running out, and the best option forhim may be to return home.

"There are a lot of hospitals. They can treat him. They can look after him and that will be less expensive... and less of a headache, and if he's willing to go then he should go," Nagra told CBC reporter Meera Bains on Wednesday.

Singh himself says he's being pressured to leave, but he is willing to listen to whatever decision community leaders come up with.

"The whole world wants to stay here.... What man says he wants to go?" Singh said. "I want to stay."

Previously Singh's supporters have said that if he is deported to India, he will die because he will not get proper medical care.

Now, the 48-year-old says that after receiving months of acupuncture treatments, his health is improving and he has regained some movement in his arms and can feed himself, but he stillcan't move the lower part of his body.

He is worried he won't receive the same care if returned to India.

Supporters debate Singh's fate

Tempers flared when community leaders and the presidents of Lower Mainland Sikh temples met at a Surrey restaurant on Wednesday evening to discuss Singh's future.

An important deadline is looming for the failed refugee claimant's supporters, who will forfeit a $50,000 bond to border officials on March 3 unless he leaves Canada.

The paralyzed man's supporters put up the money as a guarantee that Singh would be delivered to border officials last year.

But when the temple officials attempted to take Singh to the Vancouver airport on Dec. 11 to turn him over to immigration officers, an estimated 1,000 protesters turned out to block his deportation.

Supporters then took Singh to another temple, the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Surrey, to claim sanctuaryand avoid deportation.

No decision was reached on Wednesday on what the community plans to do with Singh, who is currently living at the temple, where he also receives free medical care, provided by his supporters, for various medical conditions.

His supporters have scheduled another meeting for Saturday to discuss his future.

Appeals turned down

Singh first came to Canada in 2003 on a forged passport. (Under international conventions, it is not illegal for refugee claimants to use falsified travel documents).

Singh initially sought refugee status on the grounds that he would be persecuted by police in Punjab, where officials have accused him of links to separatist militants, but his refugee claim was denied that year.

He suffered a massive stroke three years later that left him a quadriplegic and unable to care for himself. He has since argued that he will die if he is deported to India because he won't be able to get proper medical treatment.

His appeals to stay in Canada were turned down by immigration officials, who ruled Singh couldn't remain because he doesn't have adequate community ties.

He was first scheduled to be deported on July 8, 2007, but sought sanctuary at the Kalgidhar Darbar Sahib Society temple in Abbotsford,B.C.,instead.

The Canada Border Services Agency then arrested Singh on Aug. 13 at an Abbotsford, B.C., hospital, after he left the Sikh temple to seek medical attention.

The CBSA has said that taking sanctuary provides no legal protection to avoid deportation, but they have not entered the temples to deport Singh so far, choosing instead to negotiate with temple leaders for his deportation.