Aziza Zafari
On October 1st, 2011, at 10 am, more than a thousand Hazara people came together to walk from Victoria Square, Adelaide, to Parliament House for a protest demonstration. Everyone was crying with one voice “Where is Humanity?” “Why should lives of innocent people be taken from them?”
The aim of this protest was to cry out for those innocent people who have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan by unknown groups of terrorists under the names of Kochigara and Taliban.
At 10.45 Bismillah Rezayee, the first speaker announced the purpose of coming together for this protest. He reported that in the past years many innocent people have been killed in Pakistan. He asked the crowd to remain silent in order to allow everyone to hear the speeches clearly and also asked them to sign their names on the long banner to show their love and compassion for the people who had been killed. This banner will go to UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) requesting help from them and to demonstrate how, on this day of protest, over a thousand people came together to weep for their families and friends who were innocent victims of violence and persecution in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Jawed Rezyat, the next speaker, spoke about the killing of Hazaras in Pakistan. He declared this to be a deliberate and selective attack on the Hazaras who are constantly targeted by a number of people to be killed and removed from within and outside the country.
Next, Marzia Mohammadi emphasised how crucial it is for us to protest and cry out with one voice for our people as we are all human beings who know what it is to feel pain ourselves and should learn to share each other’s burdens.
Eqbal Safari, a student of international studies and law, then talked about certain human rights which have been grossly ignored.
Finally all the people who had joined the protest signed the banner which will go to The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The protest ended at 12.30pm in front of Parliament House.
Following the protest on 2nd of October 2011, from 2PM to 4PM a funeral was held in “Wali Asr Mosque” for those who have been killed in Pakistan.
Madeleine Kingston
As a Melbourne citizen with the interests of the Hazaras and others who are oppressed at heart, I attended the Melbourne event in heavy rain where some 2000+ mostly Hazara people came to express their concern about their fellow-countrymen. They wish everyone to know they care about those left behind; those facing ongoing persecution, discrimination torture and genocide for no reason other than their ethnic and religious differences. The differences are significant because of Mongolian-like features, which readily set them apart from other Afghans or Pakistanis.
My personal connection with and respect for the #Hazara community is something I greatly value. I have been able to observe the extraordinary sense of connectedness and community spirit; resilience and adaptability of the Hazara community, in addition to their adaptability. I have always found the Hazara people to be friendly, hospitable and peace-loving.
It was a great privilege for me to be invited to this event in Melbourne and to support the Hazara cause. Without reservation I recommend the #Hazara people to the rest of the world. Without reservation I urge consideration of their special qualities of resilience, determination, collective and individual motivation.
While the inhuman execution of the innocent civilians are carried out in Afghanistan, the champions of democracy, including the USA, Great Britain, all the Western powers and the so-called civilized institutions such as the United Nations remains as spectators on the side.
[source: http://www.hazara.net/taliban/taliban.html%5D
Please also see:
http://www.hazara.net.taliban/fitwa/fitwa.html
http://www.hazara.net/downloads/Massacre_of_Hazaras_in_Afghanistan.pdf
http://bit.ly/iVnIVQ
http://www.hazara.net/persecution/pak-persecution.html
http://tribune.com.pk/story/221968/how-the-police-is-failing-the-people-of-karachi/
http://bit.ly/noeIiU; http://bit.ly/pgbpjd
Wahhabist jihadi terror networks Al-Qaida affiliates responsible ongoing #EthnicCleansing #Hazaras http://bit.ly/noeIiU;
See Sep20 Mastung/Luk-Pass area near Quetta provincial capital of Balochistan.; #Genocide
Yet Australian authorities alleged independent merits reviews #asylee claims #Hazaras #Afghans certain all in the mind. They maintain it is safe to return and place under asylees unacceptable pressure to accept â??voluntary repatriationâ?? whilst also considering involuntary measures for allegedly â??failedâ?? asylum seekers.
Any supposition or policy by any country including Australia that seeks to make a finding that the #Hazaras, wherever born or normally reside are subjected to anything less than systematic persecution, torture or genocide is mistaken and either grossly misinformed or indulging in political gaming.
I am appalled and dismayed by proposals to expel #Hazaras and others in a similar position of minority ethnic and religious persecution, without assessment to third countries without any policies, legal provisions or international Treaties in place and demonstrable political will to adhere to such in practical terms.
I add my support to those of many others for the Hazara people and to their personal pleas, crystalized today to respect their right to freedom from persecution, torture and genocide. wherever their ethnic background and/or religious sect is poorly tolerated.
It is misinformed to suggest that first country of asylum, including neighbouring countries like Iran and Pakistan are safe for #Hazaras wherever they were born or tried to escape to.
Likewise many South-East Asian countries have no tolerance for the #Hazara people because of their ethnic and religious sect background. They were in fact originally Buddhist.
The Opposition Liberal Party in Australia is pushing for amendments to the Migration Act 1958 that will substantially mimic the #MalaysianSolution proposal by the ruling minority Party Executive in the face of opposition. These matters are before Parliament and the debate will be resumed on 11 October.
Whilst the Liberals wish to limit otherwise unfettered Ministerial discretion to send #asylum (asylum seekers) to any third country for processing if they are signatories to the UNConvention, this is insufficient protection with domestic laws and political will to uphold the spirit and intent of these provisions. In theory this will include Afghanistan and Iran the source of a high proportion of legitimate refugees. Many have already been returned to persecution and even death.
The Labour Party through its Executive proposes the #MalaysianSolution as a severe and inappropriate deterrence measure, using unassessed #asylees as meat-hanger examples to deter further boat arrivals seeking asylum.
Both political parties are seeking dumping grounds for asylum seekers and to wash their hands of responsibilities. The #PacificSolution (#Nauru, PNG) never did work, and Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) can only exacerbated risk of sea journeys. The #TurningBoatsBack component of the past and proposed Liberal Party package was what kept numbers down, as well as fluctuating country conditions, but Indonesia will no longer accept boat returns.
This leaves the persecuted at continuing risk. My arguments and pleas apply as much to other persecuted groups.
I am here to raise as much awareness as I can, since I reject outright the political gaming undertaken by Australiaâ??s political parties, both seeking to escape from their international obligations to those seeking asylum on their shores under the terms of their obligations. It is not enough to merely be a signatory to the #UNConvention 1951; its associated 1967Protocol (147 countries between them); or other Treaties without the political will to embrace the spirit and the letter.
After all Afghanistan and Iran are signatories to the #UNRefugeeConvention, but there is much evidence this instrument holds any meaning to these countries. Whilst Pakistan accepts many refugees, there is much evidence that the Shia- #Hazaras and others of the Shia sect are severely discriminated against and that there is a trend towards genocide that must be exposed and addressed by the international community at large.
The #UN appears to be doing little to stem the daily abuses and senseless killings. I feel it is more than time for the entire international community to be mobilized, though I do not believe that reciprocal violence is the answer.
Madeleine Kingston
Victoria Australia
(skylark100AU1 Twitter)