AUSTRALIAN HAZARAS CRY FOR HELP TO END THE GENOCIDE IN MAKING OF THE HAZARAS IN PAKISTAN

Australian Hazara Federation

Recent ethnic cleansing of Hazaras in Pakistan infuriates the approximately 40,000 Australian Hazaras and sparks a protest in the capital Canberra. The Australian Hazara Federation along with other community organizations and groups have called for a general protest of Hazaras from all major Australian to protest in Canberra on Thursday the 10th of May, 2012.

The protest is being held to condemn the silent genocide of Hazaras in the name of religion and to urge the international community, the UN and the Australian Government to end their silence on this brutality. The protestors will gather in front of the Australian Parliament House and will then March to UN office in Canberra and finally to the Embassy of Pakistan in an attempt to raise the oppressed voice of 600,000 Hazaras living in Quetta Pakistan.

The ethnic cleansing of Hazaras are backed by self-confessed fundamentalist organizations in Pakistan. Hundreds of Hazaras have been massacred indiscriminately by suicide attacks, machine gun and RPG firings. Only in the month of April 32 innocent Hazaras were killed and dozens wounded, while in the past ten years more than 700 people have been killed and over 1000 permanently incapacitated.

The history of Hazara genocide goes back to late nineteenth century when more than half of their population was massacred. This led to the mass migration movements of Hazaras to neighboring countries, which continues until today.

CANBERRA
Date & Time: Thursday 10th May 2012, 10:00am
Location: Australian Parliament House

Contacts:
Hussain Rezaiat 0438 858 375
B. Rezaee 0425 411 182
Abdul Alizada 0425 350 144
John Gulzari 0404 833 175
Hassan Ghulam 0437 122 002
Further Information
Australian Hazara Federation www.aushf.org.au
E: rizwakil aushf.org.au
M: 0438858375
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Honourable Senator Bob Carr the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
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Senator Bob Carr Minister for Foreign Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Tel: (08) 8344 2622
Fax: (08) 8344 4276
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Australian Hazara Federation
GPO Box
xy ——– Street
Suburb SA 5096
Tel: (08) 8555 5555
E: abcd gmail.com
www. aushf.org.au
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5 May 2012

The Australian Hazaras are seeking your attention to the ongoing massacre and target killings directed at a population of 600,000 Hazaras in the Quetta city of Pakistan. Only in the month of April 32 innocent Hazaras were killed and dozens wounded, while in the past ten years more than 700 people have been killed and over 1000 permanently incapacitated. This is a genocide-in-making which is going to become a wide scale holocaust, if not prevented early on.

The approximately 30,000 Hazara population in Australia are in constant trauma because of the horrendous situation of their immediate and extended family members in Quetta. They bear for the economic losses of their fellow tribesmen and share in their mental agony, because when the only bread-winner becomes victim, all family suffers and there is no means of livelihood. A consequence of the killings in Quetta is the cycles of asylum-seeking in countries such as Australia.

Regrettably, in the decade long systematic killings of Hazaras in Quetta the government and the state security agencies of Pakistan have proved to be incompetent or unwilling to protect the Hazaras. Not a single criminal has been brought to justice, even though the perpetrators are well known and have publicly claimed responsibility for the killings.

In light of the above and also for the fact that Australia is a party to ‘the Convention for The Prevention & Punishment of The Crime of Genocide’ and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court’, the Hazaras of Australia demand that the honourable minister take a serious notice of this genocide-in-making and begin diplomatic talks with their Pakistani counterpart. We also request that the honourable minister consider the imposition of an autonomous sanction against the Pakistani government for their consistent failure in protecting the lives of the minorities, in an effort to pressurize the Pakistani government to not only protect the lives of its citizens but also fulfil its humanitarian obligations.

Furthermore, we request the minister to kindly attend the gathering of the Australian Hazaras on the 10th of May before the Parliament House to listen to the concerns of a distressed segment of his fellow citizens firsthand.

A delegation of Australian Hazara Federation representing the Hazaras of Australia is keen to meet you in person to further discuss this issue. We will appreciate and value your comments and views on the matter.

Sincerely yours
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Dear Australian MP
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Insert the address of the MP here

Tel: ()
Fax: ()
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02/05/2012
Insert Address here
Suburb
Tel: ()
E: abcd gmail.com
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Dear Mr/Ms X Y Z MP

I write to you as concerned members of your electorate in regards with the ongoing target killings of the Hazaras in Pakistan. This matter is highly relevant to the Australian – Hazara- community living in your electorate and elsewhere in Australia.
Particularly I would like to draw your attention to the following issues;
• The Hazara people are an ethnic and religious minority group living in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and several other countries.

• The Hazaras have had a grim history of sectarian killings, forced displacement from their native villages and lands and discrimination on all levels; that span over many decades. The most recent of these atrocities include those by the Taliban and other terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

• Over the last ten years, a number of prominent Hazaras leaders and over 600 innocent Hazara men, women and children have been the victim of brutal murders and attacks in Quetta and over 1000 have permanently been incapacitated, with thousands of children orphaned and hundreds of women widowed. Last month saw at least five separate incidences of targeted shootings on passenger vans carrying Hazaras including shop keepers, and ordinary men and women out on the streets and market places conducting their daily activities.

• The government of Pakistan has consistently and blatantly proven to be silent and negligent in delivering justice and security to the Hazaras who live in Quetta in large numbers and who have been serving the country for many decades as peaceful, progressive and democratic citizens.

• Most of the Hazaras who sought refuge in Australia did so due to these atrocities. We find the situation of our people in Pakistan extremely disturbing.

• We have a relatively new yet very progressive community of Hazara-Australians in your electorate and across Australia who are doing well in the social, educational and economical arena contributing towards the prosperity of Australia.

• We would like to seek your assistance in raising awareness about this serious issue and discussing our concern with your colleagues. There have been protests globally over the years about this issue, which reflects the frustration and abhorrence of the Hazara Diaspora globally.

• Additionally the British MPs rightly identified and felt the responsibility to discuss this important global security/human right issue in the British Parliament in London on the 1st of March this year.

• Various protests and awareness campaigns have been launched here in Australia. We seek your support in taking up this issue to your colleagues and raising it at a higher level. We request that you draw other politicians’ and human rights advocates’ attention to this issue and help us make our peaceful stand against this horrendous tyranny successful.

Our community representatives are keen to meet you in person to further discuss this issue. I will appreciate and value your comments and views on the matter.

Sincerely,
B.R – The resident of…
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