Hussain

MEMORANDUM *

Applicants for asylum, Irshad Hussain, his wife Nuzhat Bukhari, and their two children, appeal the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) final order affirming the *849 Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of their petition for asylum and withholding of deportation. We reverse.

Hussain, the principal petitioner, was a dentist practicing in Lahore, Pakistan, from 1958 until 1995, when he and his family entered the United States as visitors. In their claim for asylum, Hussain asserted that they left Pakistan because, in the years between 1991 and 1995, they became victims of systematic persecution at the hands of fundamentalist extremists whom the government made no effort to control. In addition to abuse by uncontrolled bands of religious zealots, Hussain was subjected to frequent police harassment based on complaints lodged against him by his tormentors. There was clear and convincing evidence that the threats and abuse of the family were based on the doctor’s willingness to furnish professional care to members of disfavored religious minorities at a time when the community was hostile toward nonconforming persons whose lack of religious zeal and practice did not meet with…