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Nostalgia for a Nauru Dreaming

14 SEPTEMBER 2011

by Pamela Curr

Amidst the political posturing of the Canberra cronies indulging themselves in nostalgia for the
Nauru Dreaming lurks an ugly reality.

The cruel past is being expunged from the collective memory by those who would transport boat people to a place where they could be exorcised from the consciousness of the Australian public. Nauru is being re-invented with nostalgia for a past that is no more.

Transporting people who are likely to qualify under the agreed rules (Refugee Convention) to be refugees to a place where they can be forgotten is a temporary and cruel fix. Changing the rules (Australian Law) in order to do this debases Australia in the same way that accepting Nauru's signature on the Refugee Convention as evidence of commitment rather than rank opportunism, debases the Refugee Convention.

Lest we forget that the previous Nauru Dreaming also started with a lie and opportunism. Nauru was bankrupt and desperate and an international pariah to boot, having embarked on a career as an international money launderer. Then along came Alexander Downer, John Howard's man, offering cash for reinventing Nauru as a prison camp. Remember those photos of the Olympic wrestler's huts posed initially as accommodation for the hapless asylum seekers picked up by the Tampa and then the second boat the Manoora?

Soon it became obvious that Australians had swallowed the "we will decide" lines and did not give a damn about what happened to the asylum seekers so all pretence was dropped. The people were offloaded to rough shelters encased in black plastic in the tropical heat. Flush toilets with no water supply soon attracted both smells and flies which could turn the most stable stomach.

The strength of the Nauru option from a political point of view was the capacity for the Australian government to enforce a total information blackout. When the three day news cycle of interest was over, Nauru descended into a black hole of unconsciousness for most Australians.

It was only a small dedicated band who found ways to communicate through letters and later emails. These links were tenuous and depended on Immigration and the International Organisation of Immigration (IOM) to survive. IOM were contracted to run the camps and paid handsomely for this work. Private Australian security firms also sent guards to back up the IOM. Priests, lawyers and doctors attempted entry over the years but were refused when Nauru officials, on advice from Australia, refused to grant a visa to the hellhole. A steady stream of cash bought silence and complicity all round.

On arrival at Nauru, the Hazaras from Afghanistan disembarked only too willingly after being locked up below decks for weeks, next to the engine room. Their days on board had been spent in excruciating discomfort, queuing for toilets, water and boiled rice in the noisy airless hell. The Iraqis were different. They had been interdicted later and stored separately in cabins and were well aware that once off the ship they were no longer on Australian territory. The Minister and Immigration department came up with a solution in case the Iraqis proved intransigent. For three days before arrival the food was laced with chilli so hot that the children's lips cracked and bled. The mothers begged to allow at least that the children had access to chilli-free rice to no avail. No one has yet owned up to this clever strategy.

A problem emerged when it was realised that in drafting the Nauru Constitution, Australian advisers had inserted the standard clauses in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights supporting freedom and liberty of the person, no detention without charge and access to the courts before denial of freedom. Ruddock and his slippery legal advisers soon came up with a solution. They changed the name from "detention centre" to "processing centre" and instructed the Nauru government to issue "visas" which defined containment to the two detention centres. Of course the sad joke was that no processing was happening.

Unfortunately when people became sick, something had to be done. After a young man died of unexplained causes, sensitivities arose necessitating the removal of the sick and dying to Australia. People were transferred to Australian hospitals for treatment. While the institutions played the Immigration Department's game without demur, there were inevitable leaks from staff who were shocked at the presence of 24-hour guards and harsh treatment of sick people. This was done in greatest secrecy. Families were separated leaving hostages on Nauru to ensure compliant return of the patient. These transfers became the weak link in the Nauru Dreaming. While the Nauru government happily assisted with the information blackout, this could not be guaranteed in Australia.

Those "bleeding hearts", the bane of the Howard/ Ruddock team, had ways of finding out unpalatable facts. Thus it was that a man was hospitalised in Brisbane's Wesley Hospital with lung and heart problems. By accident his brother found out that this man whom he had not seen for five years was in hospital in Brisbane. It was 10 days before permission for a visit could be arranged. Two days later Immigration ordered that the man be sent back to Nauru. Unfortunately he had a cardiac arrest requiring resuscitation and transfer to intensive care. One week later he was transferred to a motel near the airport to be removed on an 11.30pm flight. He collapsed at 8pm and the locum doctor who had cleared him for transfer got nervous and reneged. The man was taken back to the Wesley to the Emergency Unit. His brother arrived and begged to see him. The brother was allowed into emergency at 10.30pm. At 11.30pm he walked out in tears. He had not seen his brother. He had been locked in a room and heard a commotion next door. His sick brother had been sedated and stretchered out via the laundry tunnels to an ambulance which took him direct to the plane. We found out later that he was nursed for weeks in an air-conditioned shipping container at the Nauru Camp. He survived and was eventually granted a visa to Australia.

Nauru Dreaming is full of stories of survival against cruel odds. A young Hazara man was brought to Melbourne to the detention centre with his 4-year-old son, leaving his wife and two other children as hostage on Nauru. The boy had an orthopaedic condition requiring treatment. Immigration had trouble getting paediatricians to provide a medical clearance to Nauru so they found an elderly compliant Collins Street surgeon to do the needful. I was shocked when I asked him if the boy was in a fit condition to return to a place where specialist medical care and physiotherapy were not available, to be told upfront by the surgeon that he knew what was going on. He said that the Immigration Department had told him to expect the father "to twist his arm to put pressure on the Immigration Department" and that he was "not going to oblige".

A return to Nauru Dreaming will require willing accomplices. Has a Gillard Government got the connections to ensure compliance with department decisions?

Not all doctors are compliant and they can expect to be blacklisted accordingly. A doctor refused to send a woman back to Nauru a second time after her care and rehabilitation had broken down after her return the first time. Documents made available under Freedom of Information, show the extent of department rage that this doctor would not comply. At this time, the patient was in a rehabilitation unit so it was not possible to source a more compliant medical opinion. This woman was discovered following an anonymous phone call from a hospital cleaner at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne. The cleaner begged us "to do something for this woman who speaks no English and cries all the time while two guards sit at her door and laugh."

Three women, a nun, a native Arabic speaker and an advocate, set out armed with flowers, magazines and fruit. We were in the room by the time the dozy guards hauled themselves out of their seats, the patient was weeping in the Arabic woman's arms begging for help and it was game over for the immigration blackout. This woman had fallen in the makeshift toilets on Nauru and fractured her pelvis. The x-ray machine on Nauru did not work so no films were taken for one year. She was in Australia because she could not walk, but only because Immigration's own doctors sent to Nauru to quieten down the rising concern, wrote brutally "this woman will never walk again unless she gets urgent treatment." She had lain on the floor on a mattress in a Nauru hut for 12 months while her husband cared for her and carried her to the shower block. This was under the watchful eyes of Immigration and IOM staff.

What followed next was an egregious interference in medical treatment. The woman was told to keep quiet and tell nobody how she sustained her injuries or "you will never see your husband again". While in hospital all immigration detainees are under 24-hour guard by two officers, even when they cannot walk. The doctor held his ground and demanded that the woman's husband be brought to Australia to assist with her rehabilitation.

Meanwhile back on Nauru, Immigration officers and IOM staff were constantly harassing the people to "take the package and go back or we will force you back". This threat was reinforced by a much publicised forced deportation from the UK to Kabul. This was shown to the Afghans on Nauru to reinforce the "go home" message. A young Hazara man recalls today how they were constantly called up by officers and given the choice to go back with the package or be forcibly removed. This man's friend signed to go because he said that if he stayed on Nauru he would lose his mind and be useless.

What eventually brought an end to the Nauru Dreaming was the mental disintegration of the people held there. Slowly their minds crumbled and their hearts broke. The Government sent their people up to investigate. Even these in turn recommended that the Nauru exiles be brought to Australia and released with visas. Here again the Government got their pound of flesh, releasing them on five year visas which meant five more years before they could apply for family reunion.

Slowly and inexorably families found each other and the Australian Government relented. Unforgettable moments were recorded privately like the day we set off with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) minibus to pick up a family of a woman and five children to be reunited after eight years separation. We waited anxiously with a man at Tullamarine Airport until the door opened and a luggage trolley pushed by a nine-year-old boy poked out. In an instant the boy sighted his father and ran to the railing sobbing and hugging for dear life. The family followed.

Words cannot express the emotion of these reunions as families turn hopes and memories into reality. Words cannot express the anger felt at this enforced separation by this mindless exercise of power and cruelty for no definable purpose other than a political illusion of "protecting our borders".

In these past few years we remember moments of pride when an Australian prime minister acknowledged the past injustice to the original owners of this country. We remember also the apology to the child migrants sent here from England away from families in a tissue of lies, many of whom were treated cruelly by the institutions entrusted with their care. How long will it be before we acknowledge the cruelty of our treatment of refugees?

Of even more urgency is the question as to whether we will allow the politicians' nostalgia for a second Nauru Dreaming to further infect the public debate. Will we allow a repeat of the cruel Nauru experiment? Ours is a nation of many strengths, but our capacity for compassion and care for children and those we define as outsiders is sadly lacking.

Pamela Curr is the campaign coordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Source,

ABC News 24

Twenty-Nine Pilgrims (Hazaras) Killed in Quetta Bus Attack

The Baloch Hal News

MASTUNG: At least twenty-nine Shia pilgrims have been killed in what appeared to be a case of sectarian attack orchestrated by Sunni militant groups in Balochistan’s Mastung District, officials confirmed.
According Shah Nawaz, the Assistant Commissioner of Mastung, unidentified people fired shots at a passenger bus which was carrying Shia pilgrims to Iran. The attack resulted in the immediate killing of at least twenty-nine people. The attackers firstly opened fire at the bus but then entered inside the bus and killed more people.
The incident took place in Ganj Dori area of Mastung, authorities said.
Eyewitnesses told The Baloch Hal that the attackers also opened fire at the ambulances which were carrying the injured people to the hospital. Hence, three more people were killed in the attacks on the ambulences.
Most of the injured people have been shifted to Quetta for further medical treatment.
A Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has killed hundreds of followers of Shia Islam in the past, accepted responsibility for the attack. The LeJ wants to convert Pakistan into a complete Sunni state and has repeatedly warned Shias to leave Balochistan and Pakistan.
The BBC Urdu Service quoted Balochistan’s Home Minister Naseebullah Bazai as saying that the pilgrims had not informed the government of Balochistan about their trip. “Otherwise, the government does have a plan to safeguard the pilgrims,” he claimed.

Source,

Baloch Hal

بلوچستان: شیعہ زائرین کی بس پر حملہ، بیس ہلاک

بلوچستان: شیعہ زائرین کی بس پر حملہ، بیس ہلاک


صوبہ بلوچستان کے شہر مستونگ میں شیعہ زائرین کی بس پر مسلح افراد کی اندھا دھند فائرنگ سے چھبیس افراد ہلاک اور متعدد زخمی ہوئے ہیں۔

نامہ نگار ایوب ترین کے مطابق یہ بس زائرین کو لے کر ایران جا رہی تھی کہ شام کے وقت مستونگ کے علاقے گنج ڈوری میں نامعلوم افراد نے بس پر فائرنگ شروع کر دی۔

مستونگ کے اسسٹنٹ کمشنر شاہ نواز نے بی بی سی سے بات کرتے ہوئے بیس افراد کی ہلاکت کی تصدیق کی ہے۔ زخمی کو کوئٹہ کے مختلف ہسپتال میں طبی امداد دی جا رہی ہے۔

پولیس کے مطابق مسلح افراد نے ایران جانے والے شیعہ زائرین کی بس پر چاروں اطراف سے فائرنگ شروع کر دی۔ بس میں پچاس افراد سوار تھے۔

مستونگ کے ایک پولیس اہلکار نے خبر رساں ادارے رائٹر کو بتایا کہ پہلے مسلح افراد نے بس پر چاروں اطراف سے فائرنگ کی اور اس کے بعد وہ بس کے اندر گھس گئے۔

مسلح افراد نے زائرین کو ہسپتال لے جانے والی ایمبولینس پر بھی فائرنگ کی جس سے تین افراد ہلاک ہو گئے۔

حکام کے مطابق ابھی تک ایسی کوئی شہادت نہیں ملی ہے جس سے یہ ثابت ہوتا ہو کہ حملہ آور کا تعلق کسی شدت پسند تنظیم ہے۔

بلوچستان سیکرٹری داخلہ نصیب اللہ بازئی نےبی بی سی بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ زائرین نے اپنے سفر سے متعلق حکومت بلوچستان کو کوئی اطلاع نہیں دی تھی۔

انہوں نے کہا ایران جانے والے زائرین کی حفاظت کے لیے ایک طریقہ کار موجود ہے لیکن بلوچستان حکومت کو ان کے بارے میں کوئی اطلاع نہیں تھی۔

Source,

BBC URDU

26 Shiites (Hazaras) killed in Pakistan by gunmen

Pakistan | Posted on Sep 20, 2011 at 07:23pm IST


Islamabad: Bike-borne unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot dead at least 26 Shia Muslim pilgrims in cold-blood in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province after forcing them out of a bus.
A bus carrying Shia pilgrims, which was going from provincial capital Quetta to the border town of Taftan, was stopped by the gunmen in Mastung district of Balochistan, an area considered to be the hub of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
The gunmen ordered the passengers out of the bus and lined them up before firing at them indiscriminately.

At least 26 people were killed and six others were seriously injured, Deputy Commissioner Shah Nawaz Nosharwani told the media.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Quetta, located about 40 km from Mastung.
The four gunmen who carried out the attack escaped on motorcycles. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mastung is considered a hub of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a notorious sectarian group that has carried out many attacks on Shias across Pakistan.
There was confusion about the total number of passengers in the bus, with reports putting the figure between 38 and 50.
The Shias were travelling to Taftan, a border town from where they intended to cross over to Iran for a pilgrimage.
Members of the minority Shia community have been repeatedly attacked in Balochistan, including in the provincial capital Quetta.

Source,

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/26-shiites-killed-in-pakistan-by-gunmen/185956-56.html