The voices of the detained

By Kali Goldstone - posted Wednesday, 9 November 2011

Kali Goldstone

Kali Goldstone is a human rights lawyer who has worked with refugees, IDPs, immigrants and vulnerable groups for the last ten years in Australia, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the US. She has advocated on issues relating to gender persecution and the legal, social and policy concerns relating to fundamental human rights violations. She has a Masters of Laws from the University of Michigan and is currently completing a Masters of Journalism at UTS.

For four days, sixty male Afghan Hazara asylum seekers stood on the roof of Darwin Detention Centre, with signs made of bed sheets declaring: "We are human like you," and "We came here for peace and safety." On their shirts were written: "Will I be free one day?" and "Awaiting for your help."

While the government, advocacy and anti-immigration groups have been very vocal in the mainstream media regarding asylum issues, it is rare that we hear from the asylum seekers themselves.

During the standoff at Darwin Detention Centre, which began at 1:30am on 24th of July this year, I was contacted by a group of Hazara refugees who asked me to pass on this message to the "people of Australia - Please come and get us out of the cage."

The Afghan Hazara asylum seekers protesting on the roof told me that their protest against long delays had been "finished forcibly," at 4:30pm on 27th July. The protesters, aged 22 to 50 years old, included hunger strikers and some were self-harming.

Some of the protesters were receiving specialist torture and trauma counselling. They were concerned about being moved away from Darwin and the effect their protest would have on their refugee claims, or, in the case of those whose refugee claims had been approved, their security assessments.

On the fourth day of protests, the Hazara asylum seekers told me that "Serco officers [were] locking the protesters door[s] and collecting their properties. All the doors are now locked." The protesters were "frustrated" and felt "the officials [at] every moment threatening them."

They communicated with me about their concerns: "We respect the Immigration. We respect the people of Australia, and the Government of Australia. We came here and believed in [the] Australian people, that they of course [will] protect us."

Verse two of Australia's national anthem, Advance Australia Fair proclaims:

"For those who've come across the seas

We've boundless plains to share;

With courage let us all combine

To Advance Australia Fair."

"For those who've come across the seas," is Australia living up to its proclamation to "share" its "boundless plains" and has it the "courage [to] let us all combine?"

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently declared "asylum seekers would receive better protections in Malaysia under the Gillard government's proposed transfer deal, than being held in indefinite mandatory detention in Australia."

Australia ''would fall well short of the human rights criteria demanded of Malaysia under the deal signed in July," the UNHCR's regional representative, Richard Towle, told a parliamentary inquiry.

The Hazara protesters in Darwin mirrored this reaction: They were seeking "justice and fair process." They emphasised that their "protest [was] peaceful and very humble" - they "just wanted their voices heard."

Australia's mandatory detention policy does not permit asylum seekers to work or live in the community, while in Malaysia they would have these rights. Australia also forbids them the right to lawful stay, and punishes those that arrive by boat.

''In the context of the Malaysian arrangements, the assurances of legal stay and community-based reception for all transferees can be seen as a more positive protection environment that protracted - and in some cases indefinite - detention that many face here in Australia, provided the assurances are carefully monitored,'' said Mr. Towle.

How ironic.

Most advocates remained opposed to the Malaysia refugee swap deal, citing the lack of basic legal protections for refugees and asylum seekers, given that Malaysia is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.

RCOA chief executive officer Paul Power suggests, "the recent High Court decision provided the Gillard Government with the perfect opportunity to move on from the myopic and destructive national political debate about asylum seekers.

It's time our political leaders admitted what Australians increasingly are realising – that genuine solutions to the needs of refugees cannot be found through more hardline domestic measures against victims of persecution."

Among the 147 nations that have signed the Refugee Convention, Australia is one of the few countries that support a policy of indefinite mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive without visas.

"Detention is currently being used as the only option available, instead of a last resort for entire categories of asylum seekers," says Mr Power.

"It applies for a length of time well beyond what is necessary to meet identity, health and security checks. Without legislated time limits, immigration detention remains indefinite, often with serious consequences for the wellbeing and mental health of detainees," Mr Power said.

But none of this is new. And yet, nothing seems to change.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASCR) claims that, "the detention system in Australia is broken," - fragmented like the attitudes of the Australian people that once underpinned the spirit of Advance Australia Fair.

The recent Four Corners program exposed how Australia's current detention policy is damaging people's mental health and detention provides a re-traumatising environment.

"The fact is that detention makes people sick, it destroys the spirit and destroys the fabric of Australia through fear," says Pamela Curr, Campaign Coordinator at the ASCR.

She believes that "this is particularly the case for long term, indefinite, arbitrary detention, which is what we have in Australia."

The Hazaras protesting in Darwin detention centre have been there for more than a year, and some up to 22 months.

"We see the fences and the situation which makes the people so much disappointed. We now became fed up [with these] daily circumstances. We now want to be free. We now want to be in the community with others," said the Hazara detainees.

Some of them have been waiting for their Independent Merits Review (IMR) outcomes for over six months.

Many of them have been waiting for their security clearance to be issued, after their successful claim for asylum, so that they can be released into the community. There is no time limit or timeframe by which ASIO needs to deliver an answer on an applicant's security clearance.

"Many people in Darwin Detention Centre are not just asylum seekers, they are now genuine refugees as determined by the Australian government and they are just waiting on health and security checks. They sit and languish for up to 18 months for ASIO to make a determination," says Ms Curr.

ASIO revealed to Lateline that the security checks now take an average of 66 days to complete. The Greens say that some detainees have been waiting for security checks for 18 months, with their children also detained.

According to the ASCR, there are currently:

· 5597 people in immigration detention;

· 2035 people have been held for longer than a year in detention;

· 600 people in detention are stateless with no country for return;

· 42 people face indefinite detention with no reason given as a result of unpublicized decisions; and

· 1591 are refugees waiting for security checks

ASIO has said that, "it is not a requirement under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 that irregular maritime arrivals remain in detention during the security assessment process."

Article 1FA of the Refugee Convention is a safeguard provision under which those who have committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity cannot claim refugee status.

"This is inherent in Australia's refugee process," notes Ms Curr. Consequently, there are already built in security protections in our legislation to weed out those not deserving of refugee status or who may be a security threat. The ASIO checks, while undoubtedly necessary, are an added form of protection.

"The costs of detention are escalating, both in the deteriorating mental health of asylum seekers and the exorbitant cost to taxpayers," says Mr Power.

In Darwin Detention Centre, Ms Curr says, "there are now 37 people, who have been found to be refugees and therefore cannot be returned to their country of origin, but who ASIO has decided are a security threat."

These genuine refugees cannot be released from detention and have been "condemned to a life of long-term, indefinite detention in Australia," says Ms Curr.

Asylum seekers who have been interviewed by ASIO were told that they were not allowed to discuss the content of their interviews. Some sought legal advice on this issue and it has been found that many of the "interviews had nothing to do with what happened in the country of origin," says Ms Curr.

ASIO was allegedly asking questions about how the refugees arrived in Australia and about people smugglers. Ms Curr asks, "How relevant is this? Isn't ASIO supposed to investigate the security threat of the person not the way they arrived to Australia."

"The Government talks endlessly about the 'people smugglers' business model' without ever acknowledging that this business model is built on the lack of effective protection of asylum seekers and refugees in many parts of South-East Asia and South Asia," Mr Power said.

Mr Power notes that, "while refugees and asylum seekers continue to live under constant threat of harassment, violence and arrest in countries where they fled to escape persecution, the need to move on to a safer country such as Australia will remain."

These are the people who ask Australians to "please keep us in your prayer and in your kind consideration. We need your love, your sympathy, your support."

Online Opinion

Lure of Afghan mining bonanza sparks rivalries

By Claire Truscott (AFP) –

KABUL — Beneath the din of machine-gun fire reverberating through Afghanistan's embattled valleys, a quieter competition for eventual control of the country's mineral riches is getting underway.
More than $1 trillion worth of minerals is the potential prize for those brave enough to sign contracts and start mining in the hope of claiming the spoils of a peace that Afghans hope will one day follow the Taliban insurgency.
While an end to the fighting seems remote for now, mining lots are being quickly parcelled out among Afghanistan's resource-hungry neighbours, potentially sparking a new "Great Game" for control of its battle-worn ground.
According to mining ministry documents seen by AFP, Afghanistan is planning to sell extraction rights for up to five mines every year until the departure of the last foreign combat troops in 2014 -- a rattling pace, say experts.
With the war's Western backers pushing economic solutions to end the decade-long conflict, the tussle for future influence in Afghanistan is becoming a regional contest, experts say.
China, flush with foreign exchange reserves and undeterred by the hazards of frontier capitalism, bought the first tendered oil and copper concessions, leading the list of Afghanistan's neighbours bidding for the mines so far.
The huge Aynak mine south of Kabul, to which China won extraction rights in 2007, could yield over 11 million tonnes of copper, according to Soviet-era data and a newer study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
And India looks set to win the biggest consignment yet if its consortium pips Iran's bid for the two-billion-tonne Hajigak iron ore mine in central Bamiyan province. A decision is due to be announced in the coming days.
"Everyone's rushing," said deputy minister of mines Nasir Durrani, estimating the Hajigak deal could be worth up to $6 billion to the government.
Staff at his ministry are busy pulling together Powerpoint presentations to inform and woo potential investors, and President Hamid Karzai urged Australia to invest in Afghanistan's minerals when Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited Kabul last week.
Future deals on offer include several oil blocks, more copper and iron mines, and deposits of gold and lapis luzuli.
Citing aerial studies, the USGS says that the war-scarred country sits on more than $1 trillion worth of minerals, though some experts speculate that rough figure could be three times higher.
One US mining expert predicted the combined payout from the Aynak and Hajigak mines could earn the hard-up Afghan treasury half a billion dollars a year -- a significant boon to its foreign aid-dependent economy -- but not until 2016 at the earliest.
It is also heavily contingent on solving a legion of security and infrastructure conundrums in a country that so far has just 75 kilometres (47 miles) of railway on its northern border, and scant power and water supplies.
"We want to connect all of Afghanistan to all its neighbours by railroad," said Durrani, mapping an ambitious course.
He said two feasibility studies are being carried out for rail projects that would skate a path through Afghanistan's rocky and dangerous lands.
The first, to be financed by the Metallurgical Corporation of China, would run a line from the Pakistani border to the Aynak mine -- which it owns -- and on to Kabul, and link the Hajigak project to the capital and up to the Uzbek frontier.
The second rail route, being looked at by the Asian Development Bank, would head south to Iran, from where mineral supplies could be shipped to India.
The Hajigak iron ore is likely to be sold on to China, but getting it there could spark up rivalries between nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan.
Islamabad is extremely wary of any increase in New Delhi's influence in Afghanistan.
"The concern is if the Indians win (Hajigak) that the obvious route would be through Pakistan. So I don't know how they work that out," said one US official.
The United States in particular is pressing for a New Silk Road plan for Afghanistan, which aims to open up trading links across South and Central Asia and revive Afghanistan's long-dormant status as a continental hub.
Facing economic pains and disillusioned voters at home, the Afghan war's Western backers are pressing economic solutions to help end the conflict.
But so far, the risks have outweighed the potential gains for most Western companies, apart from one small gold mine in northwestern Badghis province backed by financial services giant JP Morgan.
Industry watchers warn of the hazards in a country where corruption is endemic.
Mining allocations have so far been carried out under the supervision of American experts and a host of institutions set up to monitor the awarding and development of the concessions.
Durrani insisted this made corruption "impossible, impossible, impossible". He added: "We are committed to transparency. We are committed to best practice."
Experience with the Chinese-owned copper mine has exposed both predictable and surprising problems.
Mine clearance and legal disputes with land squatters delayed the project -- as did the discovery of ancient archaeological finds at the site. Commercial production is now expected one year late, in 2013.
Regional investors are undeterred.
"India -- they realise the potential here but they have geopolitical issues," said the US official, referring to the strains with Pakistan.
"But the Chinese could come in early and often. They already have Aynak and oil. I wouldn't be surprised to see them bidding on everything."

AFP

Killing with impunity; Dawn Editorial

From the Newspaper | Editorial |

BALOCHISTAN`S issues may be many but the state has left a lot to be desired in the handling of these. For many months now, bullet-riddled corpses are being discovered with alarming regularity across the province. The nature of the wounds suggests summary executions. Most recently this month, the bodies of four men shot in the head and chest were found near Turbat, Khuzdar and Pasni. Two of them were members of the banned Baloch Republican Party. Two days later, the body of a journalist, with similar wounds, was found in Hub. He had been missing for two months. It is widely believed that the security forces are involved in these `kill and dump` operations, accused as they are by human rights groups of being behind the scores of `forced disappearances`. Yet the killings continue, for the federal and provincial governments have effectively handed over the security policy in Balochistan to the security forces, while the latter, it seems, have discarded even the semblance of respecting due process.

Though levels of insurgency-related violence have of late declined somewhat, the use of such tactics allegedly by the security forces takes the latter`s operations outside lawful confines and is sure to further fan the separatist flame. There can be no substitute for political solutions to political issues. This holds true on the Baloch front too: any agenda pursued through the barrel of a gun must be condemned. Then, while the security establishment appears to be using the worst tools in its arsenal against the insurgents, it has been unable to contain the sectarian violence that also haunts the province. Communities including Punjabi settlers and Shia Hazaras are being killed with impunity while the security apparatus stands by. The contrast only weakens the image of the state in the public`s view — something the former cannot afford when it is ostensibly trying to elicit support for the federation from Balochistan`s residents. If the situation is to improve, legal measures for countering the insurgency need to be pursued with the same level of enthusiasm that, so far, has only been evident in the state`s perusal of illegal means.

DAWN

Musa College Fashion Show, Nov 04, 2011 SAMAA TV 2/2

The Fashion show is almost in the middle of report;

Mongolia - Afghanistan's Minority Hazara Students Find Peace in Ulaanbaatar

Surveys in Pakistan and Afghanistan aim to deter asylum-seekers

BY: PAUL MALEY, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT From: The Australian November 07, 2011 12:00AM

THE Australian government has conducted more than 6000 one-on-one interviews in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the largest research project on prospective asylum-seekers ever undertaken.

Working through locally engaged contractors, the research -- commissioned by Customs and Border Protection and conducted throughout last year -- profiled would-be asylum-seekers and studied how they obtained information.

The findings were used to run a large public information campaign aimed at deterring asylum-seekers from trying to travel to Australia by boat.

Most of the research was conducted in and around the Pakistani city of Quetta -- a reflection of the fact that most of the Afghan Hazaras coming to Australia by boat do not start their journey in Afghanistan.

In fact, many are the children of Afghan Hazara refugees and have never been to Afghanistan.

The survey investigated literacy levels, demographic information, the degree of internet access and the reach of television and radio around the Afghan-Pakistan border.


"People consume information, predominantly it seems, from family members and community leaders," a government source familiar with the survey's findings told The Australian.

In an effort to "counter-message" the people-smugglers' sales pitch -- that a boat trip to Australia was a "guaranteed migration outcome" -- the government funded radio and television spots in Pakistan, and brochures warning of the dangers, as well as visual advertising.

"We were able to identify a bus that goes up and down the main road in Quetta, so we put advertising material on the bus," the source said.

The research mirrors similar campaigns undertaken in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Details of the contracts published on the government's AusTender website indicate the scale of the project.

One contractor, whom The Australian has agreed not to name so as not to endanger local staff in the field, was paid $397,600 for the survey work.

Another was paid $142,125.

The contractors who carried out the survey were chosen because they were former employees of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, The Australian has been told. "They were used to working with governments and had the capacity to operate in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan without getting themselves into serious trouble and without embarrassing the Australian government," the source said.

"That's probably the key sensitivity here: we don't want to talk in too much detail about what we're up to, essentially for fear of endangering the contractors."

The research was sometimes dangerous, with staff in Afghanistan accosted by the Taliban, or in once case briefly kidnapped by local bandits.

Despite the sensitivities of the issue, the campaign was conducted with the consent of the host governments.

As a result of the research, the Australian government formed relationships with community leaders in the hope of discouraging asylum-seekers from journeying to Australian by boat.

"These are people who have a small-p pastoral care for the local community," the source said of those chosen to participate in the campaign.

The strategy was similar to one adopted in Sri Lanka, where Catholic priests in the coastal town of Negombo were recruited.

"Catholic priests are not too keen on their parishioners drowning, so they were quite a useful means to communicate a message," the source said.

The Australian

The Mongol Empire Its Rise & Legacy

Sunday, November 06, 2011

A banker by profession, Salim Ansar has a passion for history and historic books. His personal library already boasts a treasure trove of over 7,000 rare and unique books.

Every week, we shall take a leaf from one such book and treat you to a little taste of history.

BOOK NAME: The Mongol Empire Its Rise & Legacy

AUTHOR: Michael Prawdin

PUBLISHER: George Allen & Unwin Ltd - London

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1941

The following excerpt has been taken from Pages: 171 — 176

“Seven hundred years ago a man almost conquered to earth. He made himself master of half the known world, and inspired humankind with a fear that lasted for generations. In the course of his life he was given many names — the Mighty Manslayer, the Scourge of God, the Perfect Warrior, and the Master of Thrones and Crowns. He is better known to us as Genghis Khan.”

THE BATTLE ON THE INDUS IN THE YEAR 1220

“There was little time for anything except action that eventful autumn. Herat and the other cities rose against the conquerors. Jelal-ed-Din was mustering an army in the east — so messages from the corps of observation along the Hindu Kush reported. Genghis Khan was planning to send Tuli, his most dependable leader, after the Kharesmian prince, when he heard of the rising in Herat. Instead, he sent Tuli west into Khorassan with several divisions.

“Genghis Khan took the field with 60,000 men to find and destroy the new Kharesmian army. He found in his path the strong city of Bamiyan in the Koh-i-Baba ranges. He settled down to invest it, sending the greater part of his forces under another Orkhon to meet Jelal-ed-Din.

“In due course couriers arrived at Bamiyan with word that Jelal-ed-Din had 60,000 men with him — that the Mongol general had come in contact with him, and had avoided several attempts of the Kharesmians to ambush him. Scouts were watching the movements of the redoubtable prince.

“What had happened was that an Afghan army had joined Jelal-ed-Din in this crisis, doubling his strength. Word came in not long after that the Turks and Afghans had defeated the Mongol Orkhon, driving his men into the mountains.

“Genghis Khan turned with new fury to the city before him. The defenders had laid bare all the district, even removing the large stones that could be used in siege engines. The Mongols had not the usual equipment with them, and their wooden towers, raised against the walls, were fired by arrows and flaming naphtha — until the cattle were slaughtered and their hides used to cover the wood frames. The Khan ordered an assault-the storm that is not to be abandoned until the city is taken. At this point one of his grandsons, who had followed him under the walls, was killed. The old Mongol ordered the body of the child-that he had liked for his courage-to be carried back to the tents.

“He urged on the assault, and, throwing off his helmet, pushed through his ranks until he was the head of a storming party. They gained footing in a breach, and Bamiyan fell to them not long after. Every living being was slain within its walls, and mosques and palaces pulled down. Even the Mongols spoke of Bamiyas as Mou-baligh, the City of Sorrow.

“But Genghis Khan left it at once to assemble his scattered divisions. They were feeling their way toward him through the hills, not much the worse for their drubbing. The Khan rallied them, and praised their devotion. Instead of blaming the unhappy Orkhon who had been worsted by Jeal-ed-Din, he rode back with him over the scene of the action, asking what had happened and pointing out the mistakes he had made.

“The Kharesmian prince did not prove himself as able in victory as he had been sturdy in defeat. He had his moment of exultation when his men tortured to death the Mongol prisoners and divided up the captured horses and weapons; but the Afghans quarreled with his officers and left him.

“Genghis Khan was on the march against him, after detaching an army to watch the movements of the Afghans. Jelal-ed-Din retreated east to Ghazna, but the Mongols were hard after him. He sent messengers to summon new allies, but these found that the Mongols had guarded the mountain passes. With his thirty thousand men Jelal-ed-Din hurried down through the foothills and out upon the valley of the Indus.

“His hope was to cross the river and league himself with the sultans of Delhi. But the Mongols, who had been five days behind him at Ghazna, were now within half a day’s ride. Genghis Khan had barely allowed his men to dismount to cook their food.

“Desperate now, the Kharesmian prince hastened to the river, found that he had come to a place where the Indus was too swift and deep for the crossing, and turned at bay, his left flank protected by a mountain ridge, his right by a bend of the river. The chivalry of Islam, hunted out of its own lands, prepared to measure its strength against the inexorable Mongol. Jelal-ed-Din ordered all the boats along the bank to be destroyed, so his men would not think of fleeing. His position was strong, but he must hold it or be annihilated.

“At dawn the Mongols advanced all along the line. They had emerged out of the darkness in formation, Genghis Khan with his standard, and the ten thousand cavalry of the imperial guard in reserve behind the center. These, at first, were not engaged.

“The impetuous Kharesmian prince was the first to send his men forward. His right wing-always the strongest division in a Muhammadan army of that day — under Emir Malik skirmished with the left of the Khan, and drove home a charge along the bank of the Indus that forced the Mongols back at this point. They scattered into squadrons as usual, reformed under one of the Khan’s sons, and were forced back again.

“On their right, the Mongols had been checked by the barrier of the lofty and barren ridges, and here they halted. Jelal-ed-Din detached forces from this part of his line to aid the advancing right wing of Emir Malik. And later in the day he, withdrew still more squadrons from the defenders of the mountain to strengthen his center.

“Determined to risk everything in one cast of fortune, he charged with the elite of his host, straight into the Mongol center, cutting through to the standard, seeking the Khan. The old Mongol was not there. His horse had been killed under him and he had mounted another and gone elsewhere.

“It was a moment of apparent victory for the Kharesmian, and the ululation of the Muhammadans rose above the din of beating hoops, the grinding of steel and the cries of the wounded.

“The Mongol center, badly shaken by the charge, kept on fighting stubbornly. Genghis Khan had noticed the withdrawal of nearly all the Kharesmian left wing, posted on the heights. He ordered a tuman commander, Bela Noyon, to go with the guides he had been questioning and to cross the mountain at all costs. It was the old turning movement of the Mongols, the standard-sweep.

“The Noyon with his men followed the guides into sheer gorges and ascended cliff paths that seemed impassable. Some of the warriors fell into the chasms, but the greater part gained the ridge late in the day and descended on the remnant of men left by Jela-ed-Din to protect this point. Over the mountain barrier the Kharesmian flank was turned. Bela Noyon charged into the enemy camp.

“Meanwhile Genghis Khan had taken the leadership of his ten thousand heavy cavalry, and had gone-not to the menaced center, but to the defeated left wing. His charge against Emir Malik’s forces routed them. Wasting no time in following them up, the Khan swung his squadrons about the drove them against the flank of Jelal-ed-Din’s troops of the center. He had cut off the wing by the river from the Kharesmian prince.

“The stout hearted but wearying Muhammadans had been rendered helpless by the sagacity of the old Mongol, and by maneuvering as perfect as the final moves of a check-mate. And the end came swiftly, inexorably. Jelal-ed-Din made a last and hopeless charge against the horsemen of the guard, and tried to withdraw his men toward the river. He was followed up, his squadrons, broken; Bela Noyon pressed in upon him, and when he gained the steep bank of the Indus at last, he had around him no more than seven hundred followers.

“Realizing that the end had come, he mounted a fresh horse, rid himself of his armor, and with only his sword and bow and a quiver of arrows, he forced his charger over the edge of the bank, plunging into the swift current, and making for the distant shore.

“Genghis Khan had given orders that the prince was to be taken alive. The Mongols had drawn in upon the last Kharesmians and the Khan lashed his horse through the fighting to watch the rider he had seen leap from the twenty-foot bank. For a while he gazed in silence at Jelal-ed-Din. Putting his finger to his lips he uttered an ungrudged exclamation of praise.

“‘Fortunate should be the father of such a son!’

“Though he could admire the daring of the Kharesmian prince, he did not intend to spare Jelal-ed-Din. Some of his Mongols wished to try to swim after their foeman, but the Khan would not allow this. He watched Jelal-ed-Din reach the far bank, in spite of current and waves. The next day he sent a tuman in pursuit where the river could be crossed, giving this task to Bela Noyon, the same officers who had led a division over the cliff paths to the Kharesmian camp.

“Bela Noyon ravaged Multan and Lahore, picked up the trail of the fugitive, but lost him among the multitudes upon the way to Delhi. The oppressive heat astonished the men from the Gobi plateau and the noyon turned back at length, saying to the Khan:

“‘The heat of this place slays men, and the water is neither fresh nor clear.’

“So India-all except this northern segment-was spared the Mongol conquest. Jelal-ed-Din survived, but his moment had passed. He fought against the horde again, but as a partisan, an adventurer without a country.

salimansar52@gmail.com

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