CA7 on Pakistan, PML-N: Mustafa v. Holder

"Ghulam Mustafa and his family seek review of a  decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals in which the  Board affirmed the  immigration judge’s denial of their applications for asylum and withholding of removal.  Mustafa, a citizen of Pakistan and member of the Nawaz faction of the Pakistani Muslim League political party  (“PML-N”), filed an application for asylum and withholding of removal on the basis that he  fears if he were to return  to Pakistan, he would be targeted for having cooperated with the opposition government  under General Pervez Musharraf by providing information about  the financial affairs of his former employer, who is also  a former Pakistani  Senator.  In  affirming the immigration  judge’s denial of the application, the  Board explained that  Mustafa could not establish a fear of  future persecution on account of  a protected statutory ground.  Instead, the Board concluded that  the threats and attacks  Mustafa had experienced before coming to the  United States were motivated solely by a personal dispute between Mustafa and his former boss and that he had not  shown that the current government would persecute him on account of his membership in the PML-N.  We grant the Mustafa family’s petition for review and remand the case for further proceedings because the  conclusion that Mustafa’s attackers were motivated solely by a desire for personal revenge is unsupported by substantial evidence in the record." - Mustafa v. Holder, Feb. 11, 2013.  [Hats off to Kenneth Y. Geman and Ronald H. Ng!]