Off Indonesia Coast: Boat carrying Pakistani, Afghan asylum seekers capsizes
Some of the illegal immigrants were reportedly rescued by local fishermen near Java Island
Some of the illegal immigrants were reportedly rescued by local fishermen near Java Island. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/FILE
PESHAWAR:
A boat carrying asylum-seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Australia capsized off the Indonesian coast in the early hours of Friday.
Some of the illegal immigrants were reportedly rescued by local fishermen near Java Island, said Iftikhar Hussain, a rights activist based in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram Agency, which has been plagued by sectarian violence since 2007.
The news triggered panic in Parachinar as around 28 Shia tribesmen had also left their homes late last year and early this year to seek asylum in Australia, Hussain told The Express Tribune by phone.
“Some families told me that their relatives were in Indonesia waiting to catch a boat for Australia,” Hussain said, adding that most asylum seekers from Parachinar prefer the Indonesian route for travelling to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.
“Chances are that there would be some members from Kurram Agency on the boat,” another rights activist, Shahid Kazmi said, who talked to right campaigners in Australia, International Red Cross Committee and Pakistani High Commission in Australia. “I am in contact with the Indonesian government but so far have not received any response.”
The Pakistani diplomatic mission in Australia was closed for the weekend. “So far we do not have any information about the incident,” an official of the Pakistani High Commission told The Express Tribune by phone. On June 26, 2012, dozens of tribesmen who were fleeing sectarian unrest in Kurram Agency drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of Australia.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2013.
A boat carrying asylum-seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Australia capsized off the Indonesian coast in the early hours of Friday.
Some of the illegal immigrants were reportedly rescued by local fishermen near Java Island, said Iftikhar Hussain, a rights activist based in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram Agency, which has been plagued by sectarian violence since 2007.
The news triggered panic in Parachinar as around 28 Shia tribesmen had also left their homes late last year and early this year to seek asylum in Australia, Hussain told The Express Tribune by phone.
“Some families told me that their relatives were in Indonesia waiting to catch a boat for Australia,” Hussain said, adding that most asylum seekers from Parachinar prefer the Indonesian route for travelling to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.
“Chances are that there would be some members from Kurram Agency on the boat,” another rights activist, Shahid Kazmi said, who talked to right campaigners in Australia, International Red Cross Committee and Pakistani High Commission in Australia. “I am in contact with the Indonesian government but so far have not received any response.”
The Pakistani diplomatic mission in Australia was closed for the weekend. “So far we do not have any information about the incident,” an official of the Pakistani High Commission told The Express Tribune by phone. On June 26, 2012, dozens of tribesmen who were fleeing sectarian unrest in Kurram Agency drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of Australia.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2013.