Sada-e-Watan
Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
PM Hon Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister Honourable Malcolm Turnbull takes notice of concerns raised by Australian Pakistani Community
The Prime Minister of Australia Honourable Malcolm Turnbull has
taken notice of concerns raised by Muslim Pakistani community in Australia, and
has referred the matters to Attorney General George Brandis for consideration
and response.
Incidents regarding suspicious
disappearance and murder of 2 Pakistani Muslims in Melbourne were brought to
Prime Minister’s notice by Perth based Pakistani Muslim activist Tamjid Aijazi
in a letter written to the Prime Minister on 26 Nov
2015.
“We as Australian Pakistani Muslims see Australia as
our home country and work very hard to make this country a better place to live
in and work for. However, recent developments in Melbourne are very alarming
for the Muslim community. This is the second case of a missing Pakistani Muslim
after Talha Wahab, who disappeared few weeks ago and his dead body was found in
a park.”
The letter also highlighted a growing culture of hate and
Islamophobia in Australia resulting in subsequent unease in the Australian
Muslim community.
“We, on behalf of the Muslim Pakistani community
request you to take these developments very seriously as we believe they are a
direct result of culture of hate and Islamophobia, that is slowly growing as a
cancer in the country due to irresponsible behaviour of media and few smaller
extremist groups.”
Syed Salman Islan, a 20-year-old Muslim man residing
in Hawthorn, was reported missing on 23 November. He was last seen leaving his
house at Albert Street. Concerns rose as it was out of character for him to not
be in touch with his family. Three days later his body was recovered by the
water police from the river in Enterprise Park, Melbourne.
Talha Wahab and his wife Tanzeel Memon
In September 2015, another upsetting case was reported when a
31-year-old Muslim Melbourne man failed to return home and was later found
dead. Australian citizen Talha Wahab, originally from Karachi, Pakistan, was
last seen leaving his Oxfam office in Carlton and had earlier spoken to his
wife that he was coming home. The same day his car was found at Moomba Park.
His wife, Tanzeel Memon, made a tearful plea for public in a video published on
YouTube after his disappearance. Two weeks later, his mutilated body was
discovered at a park in Melbourne. He is believed to have been a victim of hate
crime amidst the growing Islamophobia in Australia. Talha Wahab was a graduate
from La Trobe University and had worked with Oxfam since 2010. He was recently
married and was expecting his first child. His sad demise has raised
uncertainty and apprehension among the Muslim community living in
Australia.
A few other similar incidents have also been reported that concern
the Muslim community in Australia. A Muslim woman was attacked while she was
walking opposite the State Library as a man punched her in the head. The man
fled while she fell to the ground.
Islamophobia Register Australia, an
online portal for Muslims to report incidents of discrimination in Australia
gave details of the incident on social media. The community group reported that
a witness of the incident claimed that the man tried to pull off the woman’s
Hijab but after his son intervened, the man tripped and punched her twice
before fleeing.
The rising intolerance and unacceptability for immigrants
in Australia was also highlighted when a German woman Arna Dionysopoulos became
victim of a racial attack on a Footscray-bound train while commuting. A man
abused and threatened Ms Dionysopoulos and she was told to ‘get out of
Australia.’ The man mentioned having four knives with him according to a
witness at the scene.
A recent attack and vandalism of the house of a
Townsville atheist family took place, where the vandals trashed their house,
setting fire to a carpet in one room and scrawling anti-Islamic offensive
messages across walls. The attack was believed to be prompted because of an
Arabic sign hung over her doorway that was left on by the Pakistani Muslim
owners living there earlier.
