from indymedia bristol, the poem he left on a suicide note is particularly moving, does anyone know if thereis more to it.




Tragic death of Shiraz Pir



by Jon Freeman 2:38pm Sat May 18 '02
 jon@bs3.org.uk
The funeral of Shiraz Pir, a young Afghani asylum seeker, was held at Easton Mosque, on Monday 13th May. It was an intensely moving occasion, attended by over 50 members of the local community, fellow refugees, and members of refugee support groups. Next day, his body was flown back to his parents, who are now living as refugees in Pakistan.


Shiraz was 25. He arrived in Bristol about 18 months ago with a group of other young Afghanis. He seemed an obvious candidate for asylum as he had lost many family members to war and political violence. He himself had been shot through the legs by the Taliban, and had horrific scars to prove it. About 6 months ago his friends were awarded refugee status, but Shiraz's application was unaccountably refused. His friends, no longer asylum seekers, had to move on to other accommodation; alone in the asylum hostel Shiraz sank into despair.

He hanged himself in his room overlooking the traffic lights on Hotwells Road on Friday 4th May. He survived for a few days in the Bristol Royal Infirmary, on life-support, but died the following Tuesday.

He left a note, containing a request for his body to be returned to his parents if possible, and a poem in Pashtun, which says:

A statue is only a statue, even if it is made of gold.
Give me a lamp, with which to find human beings.

After the tragedy Mr Eftekhar Ahmed (a member of the mosque) managed to trace his parents, and broke the news to them. He is underwriting the cost of returning Shiraz's body to them, on behalf of the Muslim community. Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign has promised to help in the fund-raising effort.

Shiraz's story will take some piecing together, but we are determined that it will be told, and a memorial meeting will be held in the near future, to do this.

Suicide and suicide-attempts are common but under-reported features of asylum seeker existence in Britain today. Our asylum regime is indeed 'tough' - it might have been designed to destroy asylum seekers' mental and emotional health. They live on a mere 70% of income support, in constant anxiety as to their fate, and debarred from working. For Shiraz, this last was possibly the hardest to bear. From a rural community, where work and life were inseperable; used to being active and busy, he found enforced idleness, and the loneliness, utterly unbearable.

Shiraz Pir's family have now lost almost everything and been crushed almost beyond belief. They used their last resources to get him to safety in Britain, presumably in the backs of trucks, through dangerous border crossings. He returns from Britain by air, in a coffin. No dramatist could have devised a more bitter ending. We feel that the least we can do is help the Muslim community to pay for Shiraz's return to his parents. We would like to raise £500 at least. If you would like to donate, send a cheque made out to "Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers" to the Shiraz Pir Appeal, Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign, Box 41, Greenleaf Books, 82 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5BB

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