Instead Zahid, his mum Abida Parveen, dad Mohamed Ahmed, elder brother Tahir and his little sister Nimrah, will be sat in the back of a blacked out Home Office van being driven from Dungavel Detention Centre to Tinsley House Removals Centre close to Gatwick Airport.

At 4.30 on Friday afternoon, Zahid and his family were detained when they went to report at the Home Office in Festival Court, Brand Street, Glasgow. It was completly unexpected.

The family are due to be put on a flight to Pakistan at 10.00am on Wednesday 25th April.

In a strong Glaswegian accent, Zahid urged people at the Unity Centre to contact his guidance teacher at All Saints School to apologise on his behalf that he wouldn't be there for his exam. "Please do anything you can to help us" he asked.

Zahid and his father have been in Glasgow for five years after they were forced to flee Lahore when their father, an electrician who owned a shop selling electrical items, refused to pay off local gangsters and shot one of the gang demanding money. The family were re-united in 2005 when Abida, Tahir and Nimrah joined them after the gang attempted to kidnap Nimrah and Abida faced problems as a single woman in Pakistan.

The detention of this family has alarmed and angered many - especially as it goes against a recently agreed 'memorandum of understanding' between the Scottish Executive and the Home Office that information about health, welfare and education would be taken into account in decisions about planned removals. This 'protocol' - finally agreed after several years of negotiation between the Executive and the Home Office - was widely understood to prevent families being detained and removed especially if any children in the family were due to sit exams.

It is crucial that in the week before elections for the Scottish Parliament on 3rd May that the Home Office is not allowed to ride rough-shod over hard-won agreements.

On March 20th this year Hugh Henry, Scottish Minister for Education and Young People urged the Home Office to review the cases of children involved who were well integrated into and contribute positively within local schools and communities.

On 29th March this year in the last session of the Scottish Parliament before its dissolution for the election, Jack McConnell, First Minister of Scotland, stated that as a result of the protocol he wanted to ensure that the many families with children who have grown up here and regard themselves as Scots, whose contribution to Scottish schools has been admirable and successful, would be allowed to stay.

Tahir, studying Computing at Glasgow Nautical College, Zahid, in the middle of his Standard grade exams and little Nimrah, still at Primary school, are exactly one of these families.

Their lawyer has submitted a fresh application to the Home Office. It is still not clear whether this will be enough to stop the family being forced back to Pakistan. Please take urgent action to help this family.

URGENT ACTION
Fax Liam Byrne, Minister for Immigration, using the model fax attached, which you can copy/amend/write your own (please include Abida Parveen's full name and Home Office Reference number: A1170466) Fax: 0207 035 4745 (+ 44 207 035 4745 from outside the UK)

Please fax Jack McConnell First Minister at his constituency office on 01698 30360 or phone on 01698 303040 urging him to take immediate action on this matter.

Please fax Hugh Henry, Minister for Education and Young People at his constituency office on 0141 848 7384 or phone 0141 848 7361.

You may also wish to fax Kit Wyeth of the Children Rights Team at the Scottish Executive on 0131 244 0978.