Pakistani sets himself afire in Canberra

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, APRIL 3. Champions of globalisation, it would appear, do not recognise the rights of migrants. Sick and tired of official procedures and apathy, Mr. Shahryar Kiyani (48), a Pakistani national, set himself afire outside Australia's Federal Parliament in Canberra on Monday.

Mr. Kiyani, who suffered 60 per cent burns, was protesting against the Australian Government's stubborn refusal to approve an application permitting his family to join him. The Pakistani national is said to be in a critical but stable condition after being moved to Sydney. Several school-children on a tour to Parliament witnessed the spectacle.

``We have not seen anything like this happen before,'' Mr. Vich Rabikoff, former president of the Australian Capital Territory Multi-Cultural Association, told this correspondent by telephone. ``There is a sense of outrage in the Pakistani community,'' he said.

At a time when Western democracies, wedded to the mantra of globalisation, are crying themselves hoarse to allow free trade, they are erecting ever-higher barriers to restrict the movement of individuals from the developing world.

In Mr. Kiyani's case, he was granted resident status by the Australian Government in 1996 after reaching the country as an asylum seeker, but his family has been unable to join him.

The Australian Immigration Minister, Mr. Phil Ruddock, was quoted as saying in media reports that Mr. Kiyani's application was still being processed. Health costs apparently have caused Australian authorities to sit on a second application after the first one was rejected.

``It's complicated because the child in this case has very severe disabilities and the matter that's being assessed is the potential cost to the Australian community if the application were to proceed,'' the Minister said.

``If it were to proceed it requires (a) special waiver because of the nature of costs which would have to be borne by the Australian community. Those costs go to many thousands of dollars.''

An obvious question is why Mr. Kiyani was given resident status and why were his family members then unable to join him. According to Mr. Rabikoff, the authorities do not want to set a ``precedent'' by allowing Mr. Kiyani's family into the country after his desperate act. ``We are appealing to the Minister to look at his case compassionately,'' Mr. Rabikoff added.

The Opposition Democrats alleged that Australia's treatment of asylum-seekers was appalling. ``I think it's disgraceful, the way in which people are being treated when they come here for asylum, having already suffered trauma, often torture, where in their own countries they are not safe,'' Ms. Meg Lees, Democrats leader, was quoted as saying.

``We have to remember that the majority of those people coming in, from countries like Afghanistan, are going to be found to be genuine refugees. And it is an appalling introduction to this country to be locked away behind barbed wire fences. So I can just again say to the Government that this treatment is appalling and indeed internationally, we are condemned for it,'' Senator Lees added.

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