Yawar's story is very tragic indeed. Soon after leaving Petaro in 2001, he decided to study engineering and was admitted to a program at Karachi.

According to newspapers in Norway, Yawar got involved in problems with other groups in Karachi at the university. In the rivalries that ensued, Yawar was caught by an opposite group who tortured and intimidated him. He was also held by them against his will. After his release, he had to receive psychiatric treatment for trauma due to the violence he had been exposed to.

Fearing for his life, the family sent Yawar to Norway in August 2003 where he sought asylum. He moved to the village of Isebakke in the municipality of Halden, Norway.

In the documents he submitted to the Norwegian immigration authorities, he claimed that his family belonged to the minority Ahmadiyah (Qadiani) community which was targeted, and that is why he was in trouble in Pakistan. Stating this to be the basis for his application for asylum, he submitted documents and letters from his family to try to prove his case.

Yawar's lawyer Trygve Tveter filed the application on his behalf claiming that his parents sent him to Norway for his safety as they feared for his life. Due to this, his education got interrupted.

While the case was in progress with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), he was receiving payments from the government for his food and living expenses as a potential refugee.

However during winter of 2003, his case was rejected by the authorities which determined that he did not qualify and he was asked to leave the country.  And in line with their new regulations, UDI stopped all payments for food to Yawar on 1 March 2004. However, they let him keep his room, pending action by the bailiff who would be responsible for his eviction from the country.

In the meantime, his father at home in Pakistan was desperate and did not want Yawar to come back home again. He wrote to the Norwegian authorities to reconsider the case and let Yawar stay. However, this was not accepted.

With no money, Yawar walked along the roads at night in search of food. It was terrible to witness his state, says a former employee at the UDI reception center at Isebakke outside Halden, where the 19-year old Yawar lived his last days.

Throughout the month of March 2004, he would go out in search for food with no money to buy. He became increasingly ill out of hunger and nothing healthy to eat. He hadn't eaten for many days. Many people saw him walking along the streets of Halden in the evening.

On 30 March, one of the local newspapers (Dagbladet) wrote to the UDI (immigration directorate) seeking help for him and pointing that he should not be allowed to starve to death. But there was no help forthcoming.

He was last seen at the UDI reception on 5 April 2004. He disappeared thereafter.  His body was finally found on 17 May 2004 at Isebakke. He had drowned. There was nothing to indicate that any crime had been committed, and the police concluded that it was a case of suicide. No further investigations were made and the case was closed. See http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/09/06/407508.html for details.

Among his friends in Norway was an Iraqi by the name of Ali who says that "Yawar was always polite and gentle, but I knew he was hurting. When the government stopped giving him money, he became ill. He never got anything to eat."  Ali says that he wanted to help, but Yawar was too proud to ask others for their food, and too nice to steal.

Yawar's death caused a scandal in Norway for the government authorities. Many people - particularly those belonging to the Left - questioned the government's new position of refusing food and shelter to people like Yawar as an inhumane policy. Newspapers like Dagbladet condemned the Christian People's Party government for its policies on asylum which made people like Yawar into "victims".

Yawar's body was transported back to Pakistan and buried at Hyderabad. He was 19 years old when he died.