LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed deep sorrow at the death of at least 55 young men from Quetta’s Hazara community when a boat carrying around 250 people, 170 of them from Pakistan, capsized off Indonesia.
HRCP has called upon Islamabad to help the families learn about the fate of the passengers as well as urgently address reasons that force Hazaras and other people from Balochistan to leave Pakistan even in the face of grave danger to their lives.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the commission said, “Pakistani passengers from Balochistan were believed to be unemployed young men looking for a way to improve their life as well as businessmen who felt insecure amid growing incidents of kidnappings for ransom in the province, particularly in Quetta. HRCP sympathises with the bereaved families and would investigate the matter further.”
The statement read, “HRCP also calls upon the government to take a long hard look at the state of affairs in Balochistan and reflect on the reasons that compel young men to take such grave risks in order to escape persecution, insecurity and poverty. The government must also identify and punish those who contributed to the death of the boat’s passengers by illegally ferrying them across borders.” pr
Daily Times
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
More may have survived asylum tragedy
Tom Allard and Kirsty Needham
December 20, 2011 - 5:04PM
The first rescued asylum seekers were taken to East Java, Indonesia. Now officials are investigating whether more people survived. Photo: AP
Hopes have been raised that another, large group of asylum seekers may have survived the tragic sinking of a people smuggling vessel three days ago and are sheltering on an island off the coast.
Police are taking seriously the information that an asylum seeker called his family in Pakistan late yesterday, saying he was with the group of people, some of whom were injured.
Armaghan Haider, an Afghan survivor of the disaster, said the news provoked a wave of optimism among survivors staying at the Grand Mansion hotel in Blitar, especially as it came just after 13 people were discovered yesterday on another island, Nusa Barung, some 200 kilometres from where the vessel laden with about 250 asylum seekers capsized on Saturday.
At least 47 people on the boat are now confirmed to have survived.
Mr Haider said the man who contacted his family was named Farhan, and urged them to get in contact with Indonesian authorities.
"He was not among the 13 people," said Mr Haider. "He called his family and told [them] that 'I'm safe. Among me is a lot of people who are safe. We are trapped on some island. I don't know where it is. My neck, my hand, my nose, everything is broken but a lot of people are still alive in this island'."
The information could not be independently verified. The Indonesian mobile phone number that Farhan' gave his family was out of range or switched off when called by Fairfax.
However, a police source said the information is being followed up with the utmost urgency. A Jakarta-based refugee advocate who knows many of those on the boat also confirmed that the information was relayed to him last night.
Two Indonesian men, believed to be crew of the vessel, were also found on a beach in East Java yesterday. They are in a hospital in Malang and being interviewed by police. It is understood they claim they are just fishermen who were tossed from a small boat.
However, police are treating their denials with scepticism.
In Australia, the asylum seeker issue took another political turn, with Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison today rejecting accusations by the federal government that the Coalition is unwilling to sit down and negotiate on offshore processing.
"At no stage has the Coalition rejected any discussions, but there must be something to talk about," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
His press conference was hurriedly convened after immigration minister Chris Bowen earlier launched a broadside attack on the Coalition's refusal to meet to negotiate on border protection policy.
Releasing a trail of letters between the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, written in the week leading up to the most recent boat disaster, Mr Bowen said the federal government had warned that the worsening weather was increasing the risk to life at sea - and an offshore processing policy was needed to prevent another tragedy at sea and deter boat arrivals.
Mr Bowen said: "I don't believe the situation is acceptable to the Australian people. In fact I believe the Australian people have had a gutful of the politicking."
Ms Gillard had offered to recall parliament to pass legislation that had been stymied by the Opposition's refusal to support the Malaysia refugee swap, but a meeting had been repeatedly rebuffed by Mr Abbott in his replies, Mr Bowen said.
However, Mr Morrison said Mr Bowen had misconstrued the letters and it was the federal government that had been saying "no" on the issue by refusing to consider adopting elements of the Coalition's decade-old border protection policy.
"This government said no to temporary protection visas ... said no to turning boats back ... and also said no to amendments that would allow offshore processing," Mr Morrison said.
He repeated his comments of yesterday, that Mr Abbott wanted to see a specific proposal from the government in writing.
"The Coalition will accept any proposal from the government in strict confidence," he said.
Mr Bowen said the letters received from Mr Abbott, the most recent one sent last night, had stated that fresh meetings on the issue were "pointless".
"I don't believe there is anything pointless about meeting to try to save lives," Mr Bowen said.
The Coalition is refusing to allow legislation that would enable the federal government to send asylum seekers to Malaysia in a refugee "swap", and instead supports establishing an offshore processing centre on Nauru - which was the Howard government's policy.
Mr Bowen said an offshore processing centre, which the government wants located on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, wouldn't work to deter boats unless it was accompanied by the Malaysia arrangement.
smh
December 20, 2011 - 5:04PM
Hopes have been raised that another, large group of asylum seekers may have survived the tragic sinking of a people smuggling vessel three days ago and are sheltering on an island off the coast.
Police are taking seriously the information that an asylum seeker called his family in Pakistan late yesterday, saying he was with the group of people, some of whom were injured.
Armaghan Haider, an Afghan survivor of the disaster, said the news provoked a wave of optimism among survivors staying at the Grand Mansion hotel in Blitar, especially as it came just after 13 people were discovered yesterday on another island, Nusa Barung, some 200 kilometres from where the vessel laden with about 250 asylum seekers capsized on Saturday.
At least 47 people on the boat are now confirmed to have survived.
Mr Haider said the man who contacted his family was named Farhan, and urged them to get in contact with Indonesian authorities.
"He was not among the 13 people," said Mr Haider. "He called his family and told [them] that 'I'm safe. Among me is a lot of people who are safe. We are trapped on some island. I don't know where it is. My neck, my hand, my nose, everything is broken but a lot of people are still alive in this island'."
The information could not be independently verified. The Indonesian mobile phone number that Farhan' gave his family was out of range or switched off when called by Fairfax.
However, a police source said the information is being followed up with the utmost urgency. A Jakarta-based refugee advocate who knows many of those on the boat also confirmed that the information was relayed to him last night.
Two Indonesian men, believed to be crew of the vessel, were also found on a beach in East Java yesterday. They are in a hospital in Malang and being interviewed by police. It is understood they claim they are just fishermen who were tossed from a small boat.
However, police are treating their denials with scepticism.
In Australia, the asylum seeker issue took another political turn, with Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison today rejecting accusations by the federal government that the Coalition is unwilling to sit down and negotiate on offshore processing.
"At no stage has the Coalition rejected any discussions, but there must be something to talk about," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
His press conference was hurriedly convened after immigration minister Chris Bowen earlier launched a broadside attack on the Coalition's refusal to meet to negotiate on border protection policy.
Releasing a trail of letters between the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, written in the week leading up to the most recent boat disaster, Mr Bowen said the federal government had warned that the worsening weather was increasing the risk to life at sea - and an offshore processing policy was needed to prevent another tragedy at sea and deter boat arrivals.
Mr Bowen said: "I don't believe the situation is acceptable to the Australian people. In fact I believe the Australian people have had a gutful of the politicking."
Ms Gillard had offered to recall parliament to pass legislation that had been stymied by the Opposition's refusal to support the Malaysia refugee swap, but a meeting had been repeatedly rebuffed by Mr Abbott in his replies, Mr Bowen said.
However, Mr Morrison said Mr Bowen had misconstrued the letters and it was the federal government that had been saying "no" on the issue by refusing to consider adopting elements of the Coalition's decade-old border protection policy.
"This government said no to temporary protection visas ... said no to turning boats back ... and also said no to amendments that would allow offshore processing," Mr Morrison said.
He repeated his comments of yesterday, that Mr Abbott wanted to see a specific proposal from the government in writing.
"The Coalition will accept any proposal from the government in strict confidence," he said.
Mr Bowen said the letters received from Mr Abbott, the most recent one sent last night, had stated that fresh meetings on the issue were "pointless".
"I don't believe there is anything pointless about meeting to try to save lives," Mr Bowen said.
The Coalition is refusing to allow legislation that would enable the federal government to send asylum seekers to Malaysia in a refugee "swap", and instead supports establishing an offshore processing centre on Nauru - which was the Howard government's policy.
Mr Bowen said an offshore processing centre, which the government wants located on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, wouldn't work to deter boats unless it was accompanied by the Malaysia arrangement.
smh
NYT; Indonesia: Crew Abandoned Passengers, Survivors Say
By REUTERS
Published: December 20, 2011
The crew and captain of an Indonesian boat packed with illegal immigrants grabbed life vests and swam away as it sank in a heavy storm, leaving more than 200 passengers missing, Australian news media reported on Monday. Surviving asylum seekers said passengers on the boat, which was heading for Australia, were left to drown as it broke apart in stormy seas about 55 miles off the coast of Java, Indonesia. “The captain and six crew took the life vests and started swimming away,” a Pakistani survivor, Saed Mohammad Zia, 18, told The Daily Telegraph of Sydney. Indonesian officials said 34 people were dead and 217 missing. An official of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said that survivors were moved to an immigration office and that he did not know whether they would be deported.
New York Times
Published: December 20, 2011
The crew and captain of an Indonesian boat packed with illegal immigrants grabbed life vests and swam away as it sank in a heavy storm, leaving more than 200 passengers missing, Australian news media reported on Monday. Surviving asylum seekers said passengers on the boat, which was heading for Australia, were left to drown as it broke apart in stormy seas about 55 miles off the coast of Java, Indonesia. “The captain and six crew took the life vests and started swimming away,” a Pakistani survivor, Saed Mohammad Zia, 18, told The Daily Telegraph of Sydney. Indonesian officials said 34 people were dead and 217 missing. An official of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said that survivors were moved to an immigration office and that he did not know whether they would be deported.
New York Times
Survivors recall horror of Indonesia boat disaster
By Cucuk Tonartono (AFP)
LUMAJANG, Indonesia — From their hospital beds, shocked migrants on Tuesday recounted the horror of spending three days in violent seas clinging to wreckage after their overloaded boat sank off Indonesia, en route to Australia. Seventeen-year-old Afghan student Samin Gul Afghani broke down in tears as he described seeing his uncle and two younger brothers sink exhausted under the waters. Afghani, one of 13 survivors found Monday 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Saturday's capsize, recalled seeing dozens of fellow migrants drowning as they waited in vain to be rescued...Continue Reading...
LUMAJANG, Indonesia — From their hospital beds, shocked migrants on Tuesday recounted the horror of spending three days in violent seas clinging to wreckage after their overloaded boat sank off Indonesia, en route to Australia. Seventeen-year-old Afghan student Samin Gul Afghani broke down in tears as he described seeing his uncle and two younger brothers sink exhausted under the waters. Afghani, one of 13 survivors found Monday 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Saturday's capsize, recalled seeing dozens of fellow migrants drowning as they waited in vain to be rescued...Continue Reading...
Indonesia boat tragedy: 55 Quetta youth missing at sea
By Shehzad Baloch
Published: December 20, 2011
QUETTA:
The crew and captain of an Indonesian boat – packed with illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran – grabbed life vests and swam away as it sank during a heavy storm, leaving more than 200 passengers missing, including 55 people belonging to Quetta’s Hazara community.
Surviving asylum seekers said terrified passengers on the boat that was heading for Australia were left to drown as it broke apart in stormy seas about 90 km off the coast of Java (Indonesia) on Saturday.
“The captain and six crew members took the life vests and started swimming away,” 18-year-old Pakistani national Saed Mohammad Zia told the Daily Telegraph.
According to elders of the Hazara community in Quetta, there were a total of 70 people from the Shia community onboard the ship — all illegal immigrants hailing from Quetta’s Alamdar Road aged between 19 and 22 years.
Meanwhile, Indonesian rescuers found 15 people alive on Monday in the area where the boat capsized, raising hopes of more survivors. Survivors found on a dinghy 100 km from the capsize are receiving medical treatment in a temporary shelter on the outskirts of Jember city in eastern Java and most cannot walk, an AFP correspondent said.
“I got on the boat in Java to go to Australia. After six hours in rough conditions, the boat capsized, and rescuers only found us days later,” another Pakistani survivor Muhammad Mehdi told AFP at the shelter.
The fibreglass vessel had a capacity of 100 but was carrying about 250 migrants – mostly Pakistanis, Afghans and Iranians – when it sank on Saturday, 40 nautical miles off eastern Java.
Back home
“I was informed by one of my relatives that my brother is missing along with 55 other people from Quetta after stormy tides hit the boat,” said Mehdi, who only gave his last name.
“I talked to my relatives who escaped unhurt and swam to the shore last night. They said 15 people are alive and they contacted their families in Quetta while the rest are still missing.” Quetta resident Nasir Ali said his brother Khadim Hussain was also alive and was admitted in a hospital in Jakarta.
“The boat was overloaded with over 250 people, including children and women,” Nasir told The Express Tribune, quoting his brother who he spoke to on Sunday.
Those escaping unhurt uploaded their photographs on Facebook and other websites in order to inform their families that they were still alive.
According to one of the survivor’s families, 30 people on average leave for Australia solely from Alamdar Road, an area dominated by the Hazara community and Shia Muslims in Quetta.
“We were just praying to God that someone would help us. We thought it was the last of our life story,” said Esmat Adine, 24, from Afghanistan.
“People were dying in front of us. The bodies were lying in front of us in the water, women and children mostly,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
How the immigration process works
Explaining the procedure of illegally migrating to Australia, Nasir Ali said his brother first travel to Thailand and then to Malaysia.
“An agent takes around $5,000 on arrival in Indonesia. Then the agent is paid $4,500 when the client reaches Australia,” he said.
Another member of the Hazara community told The Express Tribune that Shia Muslims, particularly Hazara people, show themselves as Afghan nationals in Indonesia in order to get Australian nationality citing threats to their lives in Afghanistan.
Rahem Jafferi, Ferhan’s cousin who is one of the missing illegal immigrants, said:
“A man can easily earn Rs0.5 million every month in Australia. Five boats left for Australia from Indonesia out of which four boats reached safely.”
Quetta region Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Assistant Director Sultan Afridi said most of the people travel to Thailand or Malaysia with valid travelling documents.
“The FIA cannot arrest people or stop them from travelling as long as they possess valid documents. We did, however, arrest two agents recently and their cases are in courts,” he said.
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP, REUTERS)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2011.
Published: December 20, 2011
QUETTA:
The crew and captain of an Indonesian boat – packed with illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran – grabbed life vests and swam away as it sank during a heavy storm, leaving more than 200 passengers missing, including 55 people belonging to Quetta’s Hazara community.
Surviving asylum seekers said terrified passengers on the boat that was heading for Australia were left to drown as it broke apart in stormy seas about 90 km off the coast of Java (Indonesia) on Saturday.
“The captain and six crew members took the life vests and started swimming away,” 18-year-old Pakistani national Saed Mohammad Zia told the Daily Telegraph.
According to elders of the Hazara community in Quetta, there were a total of 70 people from the Shia community onboard the ship — all illegal immigrants hailing from Quetta’s Alamdar Road aged between 19 and 22 years.
Meanwhile, Indonesian rescuers found 15 people alive on Monday in the area where the boat capsized, raising hopes of more survivors. Survivors found on a dinghy 100 km from the capsize are receiving medical treatment in a temporary shelter on the outskirts of Jember city in eastern Java and most cannot walk, an AFP correspondent said.
“I got on the boat in Java to go to Australia. After six hours in rough conditions, the boat capsized, and rescuers only found us days later,” another Pakistani survivor Muhammad Mehdi told AFP at the shelter.
The fibreglass vessel had a capacity of 100 but was carrying about 250 migrants – mostly Pakistanis, Afghans and Iranians – when it sank on Saturday, 40 nautical miles off eastern Java.
Back home
“I was informed by one of my relatives that my brother is missing along with 55 other people from Quetta after stormy tides hit the boat,” said Mehdi, who only gave his last name.
“I talked to my relatives who escaped unhurt and swam to the shore last night. They said 15 people are alive and they contacted their families in Quetta while the rest are still missing.” Quetta resident Nasir Ali said his brother Khadim Hussain was also alive and was admitted in a hospital in Jakarta.
“The boat was overloaded with over 250 people, including children and women,” Nasir told The Express Tribune, quoting his brother who he spoke to on Sunday.
Those escaping unhurt uploaded their photographs on Facebook and other websites in order to inform their families that they were still alive.
According to one of the survivor’s families, 30 people on average leave for Australia solely from Alamdar Road, an area dominated by the Hazara community and Shia Muslims in Quetta.
“We were just praying to God that someone would help us. We thought it was the last of our life story,” said Esmat Adine, 24, from Afghanistan.
“People were dying in front of us. The bodies were lying in front of us in the water, women and children mostly,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
How the immigration process works
Explaining the procedure of illegally migrating to Australia, Nasir Ali said his brother first travel to Thailand and then to Malaysia.
“An agent takes around $5,000 on arrival in Indonesia. Then the agent is paid $4,500 when the client reaches Australia,” he said.
Another member of the Hazara community told The Express Tribune that Shia Muslims, particularly Hazara people, show themselves as Afghan nationals in Indonesia in order to get Australian nationality citing threats to their lives in Afghanistan.
Rahem Jafferi, Ferhan’s cousin who is one of the missing illegal immigrants, said:
“
Quetta region Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Assistant Director Sultan Afridi said most of the people travel to Thailand or Malaysia with valid travelling documents.
“The FIA cannot arrest people or stop them from travelling as long as they possess valid documents. We did, however, arrest two agents recently and their cases are in courts,” he said.
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP, REUTERS)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2011.
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