Senators denounce government for ignoring persecution of Hazara Shias

The Senator have severely criticize the government for keeping its eyes shut in providing security to persecuted Shia Hazara community, forcing about 70,000 of them to take refuge in Australia that has tarnished the image of Pakistan across the world.

Through a calling attention notice, Senators Dr Karim Khawaj, Col Tahir Mashhadi (retd), Mian Atique, Rozi Khan Kakar and Farhatullah Babar, questioned why a huge number of Shia Muslims were forced to quit their citizenship and take refuge in Australia.
Senator Farhatullah Babar compared the Shia Hazaras of Balochistan to the Rohingya Muslims as both were fleeing their countries in desperation. “If one is a Shia Hazara, he is marked for assassination. Even the police cops belonging to the community are killed in targeted attack just to warn that anyone protecting them will meet the same fate,” he lamented.
He said that Shia Hazaras have been fleeing to Indonesia and Malaysia from where they have been seeking to travel by sea to Australia and New Zealand in search of safe-haven. But lately the government of Australia had put up newspaper advertisements announcing that it would no longer accept refugees arriving by boat, he added.
He said that Shia Hazaras fleeing Balochistan are threatened to meet the fate of Rohingya Muslims and become food for the fish, adding the plight of Shia Hazaras is neither on the radar of the Parliament nor of the political parties, and they have left to defend themselves.
“We have been raising voice for the Rohingya Muslims but not for Shia Hazaras. I would urge the Senate to take up the matter and set up a special committee of Senate to address the issue in earnest,” he added. He said that the countries of the Far East to which Shia Hazaras migrated do not allow them to work and their children cannot attend schools. If a generation of fleeing Shia Hazaras remains illiterate, it will only add to the pool from which militants draw recruits, he warned.
Mashhadi said that persecution of Shia Hazaras is the worst example of sectarianism in the country. He said that after human rights groups raised voice for them, the Australian government offered them asylum, which was the last option as the government had failed to ensure their security.
Senator Atique Sheikh said that the international human rights organizations have also stopped taking cases of Shia Hazaras seriously, which is unfortunate as their lives are still in danger due to government’s failure to ensure security to them.
Winding up the debate, State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhary said that the government has no mechanism to give exact figure of people who have so far migrated to Australia. He said that a few years back when the government launched crackdown against terrorist organizations, they started targeting minority communities across the country in order to spoil the image of the country.