As an Australian citizen, I apologise for our prime minister’s Papua New Guinea deal.
SYDNEY: This is with reference to the story “Shrinking options: Another door closed for the Hazaras” (July 21). As an Australian citizen, I apologise for our prime minister’s Papua New Guinea deal. It is inhumane and he should have looked into other options. However, travelling by boat from Indonesia on the high seas is the most dangerous thing people can do. There have been numerous boat accidents where hundreds of would-be migrants have been killed while covering thousands of kilometres of treacherous seas.
People must still respect that Australia is allowing a way out by offering Papua New Guinea as an intermediate destination of refuge until a migrant’s case is finally processed for resettlement in Australia. Unfortunately, this can take 12 months to a few years. I hope by that time, the Pakistani government will take care of the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremists to make Pakistan a more liveable country. I am amazed that Pakistani journalists have criticised the Australian prime minister for his decision. This criticism should be directed against their own government, which has created such circumstances for its Hazara Shia community.
Imran Ahsan Mirza
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2013.
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