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2023-04-04 India-Pakistan
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The Last Of The Hazaras
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Very long investigative report. [Dawn] Despite a reduction in the frequency of targeted attacks on the community, why are the Hazaras still so determined to leave Pakistan?
On a rainy March morning in Quetta, I make my way through the streets of the Nasirabad area, which lies under the shadow of the Koh-e-Murdar Mountains. Situated near the Nasirabad Imambargah, next door to a massive, gushing nullah [sewer], is the residence of the late Shahida Raza.
Normally, Shahida’s name used to appear in the sports section of Pakistani newspapers, given that she was a gifted hockey player who also played football professionally. However, the circumstances of Shahida’s untimely death made her name appear on the front page of newspapers. The 27-year-old died after the wooden boat carrying her and 200 other migrants crashed against rocks, near the southern Italian coast on February 26, 2023.
SHAHIDA’S LAST JOURNEY
When I arrive to meet Sadia Raza, one of Shahida’s four siblings, she is dressed in black clothes from head to toe and is also wearing a black face mask. We sit in the guest room inside the house, which is filled with Shahida’s awards and certificates. On one wall hangs the iconic green coat donned by members of Pakistan’s national hockey team. Sadia speaks in a sombre, grief-stricken tone as she sits surrounded by her family members and loved ones.
Over the past two decades, it has become the norm for members of the Hazara community to emigrate from Pakistan due to the security and financial issues they have been facing here. However, as demonstrated by Shahida’s death, the journey they undertake in order to find a new home for themselves abroad is a treacherous and potentially fatal one.
They first enter Iran by acquiring the necessary visa before illegally travelling to Turkey and, from there, to the West. Unfortunately, Shahida’s journey and story is not an uncommon one. Over the years, many of her Hazara brethren have lost their lives in the pursuit of a better future, the ticket for which lies aboard rickety boats traversing perilous waters.
I ask Sadia why her sister felt the need to leave the country despite having been a celebrated member of Pakistan’s women’s hockey team. She listens to my question without raising her head, as her eyes remain glued to the floor. After slightly lifting her head and with tears rolling down her cheeks, she says, “Shahida had a sick and paralysed son. That is why she was on the boat.”
After the birth of her son, Shahida had searched everywhere in Quetta and in Karachi for someone who could treat her child, but to no avail. “She was concerned about her son all the time,” Sadia says, “Concerned about what would happen to him and what others were saying about him.” Her predicament was worsened after she had a falling out with her husband, which resulted in a divorce.
Naturally, the challenges faced by the Hazara community in Pakistan also fuelled Shahida’s desire to look for a better future elsewhere. Hazaras, who are predominantly Shias, have faced constant attacks in Balochistan, particularly Quetta, where they are ghettoised in the city’s western and eastern localities: Marriabad and Hazara town. From sectarian killings to a lack of economic opportunities, the ill-fated and beleaguered Hazara community has had to endure countless hardships.
Sadia sums up the plight of Shahida, and by extension the plight of the Hazaras, in one sentence, “She wanted a future for her son.”
Sadia and her family were well aware of the dangerous route she would have to take if she wished to construct a new future for her son and herself in Europe. Sadia reveals that the family wanted to stop her from making the journey. “But our requests fell on deaf ears,” Sadia recalls, “Because she [Shahida] really wanted to go, for the sake of her son. She wanted to grasp a future for her son no matter the cost.”
Shahida was one of 60 individuals that died in the boat accident. “Ever since her childhood, Shahida had a great passion for sports,” Sadia informs me while gesturing toward her sister’s array of sports medals. “Due to her passion, she joined Pakistan’s national hockey team and hoped to make her family and country proud.” 
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Posted by trailing wife 2023-04-04 00:00||
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File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
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Posted by Skidmark 2023-04-04 05:26||
2023-04-04 05:26||
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Posted by mossomo 2023-04-04 12:33||
2023-04-04 12:33||
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