Islamabad: Australia has offered asylum to more than 2,500 Hazara families facing violence in Balochistan, a newspaper said Thursday quoting, Australian embassy sources.
The report in Dawn daily newspaper, said Jim O’Callaghan, assistant secretary of the humanitarian branch of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Australia, had held a meeting with UN refugee agency officials and discussed the asylum offer with them.
The UNHCR was informed that the Australian government was willing to accommodate 2,500 families or 7,000 individuals of the Hazara community, keeping in view attacks on them, Australian mission’s first secretary Sherief Andrawos told the daily, according to the report.
“Yes we have started work on facilitating members of Shiite and other people prone to sectarian violence for giving them refuge in Australia. The Australian government wants our assistance in this regard,” said Maya Ameratunga, deputy representative of United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Pakistan, as quoted by the daily.
On Saturday, nearly 100 members of the Hazara community were killed in a bomb attack in Quetta.
The report quoted official sources as saying that the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions had been informed about the Australia’s offer.
“The resettlement process is a complicated issue as we have to identify the most vulnerable and affected families of Hazara community in Balochistan,” Ameratunga said, adding that they would soon give a list of 2,500 families to the Australian government.
The Australian embassy here issued a clarification on Thursday, saying Australia is sympathetic to communities affected by sectarian violence and acts of terrorism.
While Australia’s offshore Humanitarian Programme has been increased, there are no new arrangements for particular ethnicities or part of any country, it said.
The embassy said Australia is introducing a new programme to resettle Hazara people out of Pakistan.
The ongoing Australian programme is only for refugees and its priority is to assist those refugees who are most vulnerable, it said.
“Refugees, including Afghan Hazaras, wanting to be resettled in Australia must be recognised by UNHCR as meeting the criteria for refugee status. To be considered for resettlement, they must be amongst most vulnerable,” the embassy statement said.
