A £6,000 bounty is being offered in Pakistan for the death of a Nelson asylum seeker, it is claimed.

Nigel Karim, 53, his wife Pearl, 44, and two children, of Bakerhouse Road, Nelson, said the chilling message showed why they could not return to the city of Karachi even though they have been ordered to leave East Lancashire.

And Pendle MP Gordon Prentice backed their case and said the government must now reverse its decision to deport the family in the face of such "compelling" evidence.

Mr Prentice revealed during a debate in the House of Commons that the poster of Mr Karim next to a set of gallows and an amount of 500,000 Indian Rupeess, about £6,000, has been put up in Karachi.

He also told how a family cousin had been murdered, Mr Karim's son threatened with kidnap and his mother had been forced to move through the city to avoid persecution.

Mr Karim said he had been terrified to learn of the bounty. He said: "It is chilling to think there is something like this in my home town. When I think about it the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. How can I go back when there are people there who want me dead?"

The Karims and their children Crystal, 14 and Calvin, 12, fled to the UK five years ago and fear they will be killed because of their Christianity if they return to Pakistan.

Their case has won massive support from the local community, including the children's school Fisher More (corr) High, the family's place of worship Christ Church, local councillors, the Bishop of Blackburn, and 3,000 residents who signed a petition demanding they are allowed to stay in this country.

The family's case - currently going thorugh a judicial review after two appeals for asylum were turned down - was raised by Mr Prentice in a late-night parliamentary debate, described by the MP as the family's "last chance" to get permission to stay.

Mr Prentice said the poster was just part of the evidence that the Karims, who fled to the UK in 2001, would face persecution if they were deported back to Pakistan.

He said: "I believe that the Karims will be danger if they go back.

"That is the difference between me and ministers.

"I believe that the Karims' case is compelling and that new information that they provided relating to their plight was not properly considered.

"The Karims are well-educated people, and they put a thousand times more into the community than they take out.

"One of the many letters to me describes the two children as polite, extremely well behaved and always eager to learn. Both children are in the top streams for all subjects at their school.

"I very much hope that the minister will listen to the chorus of voices and let my constituents, the Karims, stay in the United Kingdom."

And a spokesman for Amnesty Intenational, the human rights group, said: "We are very concerned that the government of Pakistan does not protect the members of religious minorities. We believe that in the last year 72 people have been arrested and charged because of the blasphemy laws, and that includes Christians."

However, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department Joan Ryan said: "The Karim family have been through the appeal process, and their case was considered at length by the adjudicator.

"However, the appeal was dismissed in a very detailed and carefully reasoned determination that was by no means unsympathetic.

"After the appeal was unsuccessful, the family submitted extensive grounds when seeking permission to appeal to the tribunal.

"The tribunal carefully considered those grounds but decided that they did not undermine the conclusions of the adjudicator, and permission to appeal was refused.

"The asylum and immigration tribunal is an independent body established by Parliament to adjudicate on such matters, and except in the most compelling circumstances Ministers would not normally intervene."