RESIGN: This smiling Torturer Qiliho must resign as Police Commissioner. The British High Commission in Suva must bow its
head in shame for facilitating his study trip to London. We challenge Fiji media to confront Qiliho regarding Professor Lal's torture affidavit and
to question Rabuka why he withheld the 'Petition to Parliament'.
"Bhai, I plan to move against him [Qiliho]. Looks like this [Military] Academy has turned a blind eye but the coward kept everything in utter secrecy. Russell Hunter has also come forward to provide a statement of his treatment at the hands of this THUG."
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Fijileaks to late Professor Brij Lal | The Petition Conspirators?  |
Ironically, the late Professor Brij Lal nearly became his own victim on Immunity that he had agreed to grant Rabuka in the 1997 Constitution. We had spent weeks with our London human rights lawyers to resolve the question of IMMUNITY that Qiliho might have claimed. After all, the IMMUNITY that Rabuka had granted himself after the 1987 coups was inserted into his 1990 and 1997 Constitutions, and carried forward into the 2013 Constitution, absolving military, police and other thugs who carried out brutalities during and after the coups in Fiji. Although Qiliho was protected in Fiji, he had no protection in the UK, based on the "Pinochet precedent". In Chilean dictator Pinochet's case, the House of Lords had ruled that Pincohet had no amnesty for his crimes in Chile. The late Professor Brij Lal's affidavit was strong enough to arrest Qiliho
The late Professor Brij Lal's PETITION which he claims Rabuka ditched after he (Rabuka) was persuaded by the Speaker Nailatikau to ignore it
Petition to The Parliament of Fiji
I wish to bring to the attention of the elected representatives of the people of Fiji the matter of life ban imposed on us, myself and my wife Padma, from returning to Fiji, the country of our birth. Life ban is the severest sanction a state can apply to any individual, and it is usually imposed for the most heinous of crimes against humanity. We have at all times been law abiding citizens with an unblemished record wherever we have lived. On the contrary, we both have been honoured in Fiji and the wider Pacific for our contributions to society, including to our respective fields of academia and public service. We would like the Parliament of Fiji to revoke the ban.
I (Brij V Lal) was deported from Fiji on 5 November 2009 and told to take the next available plane out of the country. I was not told then or subsequently the reason for the deportation and the imposition of the life ban on me. My wife, Padma, was refused entry into Fiji in January 2010 and similarly not informed why this treatment was meted out to her.
I have been a principled critic of all the coups in Fiji, including the 2006 military coup. I stood up for the values of representative democracy, the sanctity of the ballot box, the rule of law and unfettered free speech. I believe that democracy dies without the oxygen of free speech, and that dissent and debate are an integral part of a healthy democratic society. Nothing less would have been expected of me as a former member of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission, headed by Sir Paul Reeves, whose report formed the basis of Fiji’s once admired but now revoked 1997 Constitution. At all times, I dissented within the prescribed parameters of Fijian laws.
Padma has always been the consummate professional, widely respected throughout the Pacific region for her expertise in climate change, disaster risk management and more resource and environmental economics more generally. She has never once publicly expressed opinions on politics in Fiji or elsewhere, whatever her individual views may have been. We believe that she being victimized simply for being married to me.
We have both been recognized for our public service to Fiji and the Pacific region. Marking its 70th anniversary, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) selected Padma as one of 70 most Inspiring Women of the Pacific. Among numerous other awards, I have been honoured with an Officer of the Order of Fiji, and Member of the Order of Australia as well as Australia’s Centenary Medal. Significantly, I was chosen by the Fiji Millennium Committee as one of 75 people who helped shape Fiji’s 20th century history.
We would like the Parliament of Fiji to review and, if possible, revoke the life ban on us. Failing that, we would at least like to know precisely why this severest of sanctions has been applied to us. Contrary to the government’s assertion to the Fiji Parliament, we are not, and never have been, a danger to the peace and security of Fiji and its people. We deeply regret the global opprobrium the ban has brought on Fiji, and hope that this taint on Fiji’s reputation will be removed in due course.
Brij Vilash Lal, AM, BA (USP) MA (Brit. Col), PhD (ANU), FAHA
Padma Narsey Lal BSc, MSc (USP), MREnSc (ANU), PhD (Hawaii)
I wish to bring to the attention of the elected representatives of the people of Fiji the matter of life ban imposed on us, myself and my wife Padma, from returning to Fiji, the country of our birth. Life ban is the severest sanction a state can apply to any individual, and it is usually imposed for the most heinous of crimes against humanity. We have at all times been law abiding citizens with an unblemished record wherever we have lived. On the contrary, we both have been honoured in Fiji and the wider Pacific for our contributions to society, including to our respective fields of academia and public service. We would like the Parliament of Fiji to revoke the ban.
I (Brij V Lal) was deported from Fiji on 5 November 2009 and told to take the next available plane out of the country. I was not told then or subsequently the reason for the deportation and the imposition of the life ban on me. My wife, Padma, was refused entry into Fiji in January 2010 and similarly not informed why this treatment was meted out to her.
I have been a principled critic of all the coups in Fiji, including the 2006 military coup. I stood up for the values of representative democracy, the sanctity of the ballot box, the rule of law and unfettered free speech. I believe that democracy dies without the oxygen of free speech, and that dissent and debate are an integral part of a healthy democratic society. Nothing less would have been expected of me as a former member of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission, headed by Sir Paul Reeves, whose report formed the basis of Fiji’s once admired but now revoked 1997 Constitution. At all times, I dissented within the prescribed parameters of Fijian laws.
Padma has always been the consummate professional, widely respected throughout the Pacific region for her expertise in climate change, disaster risk management and more resource and environmental economics more generally. She has never once publicly expressed opinions on politics in Fiji or elsewhere, whatever her individual views may have been. We believe that she being victimized simply for being married to me.
We have both been recognized for our public service to Fiji and the Pacific region. Marking its 70th anniversary, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) selected Padma as one of 70 most Inspiring Women of the Pacific. Among numerous other awards, I have been honoured with an Officer of the Order of Fiji, and Member of the Order of Australia as well as Australia’s Centenary Medal. Significantly, I was chosen by the Fiji Millennium Committee as one of 75 people who helped shape Fiji’s 20th century history.
We would like the Parliament of Fiji to review and, if possible, revoke the life ban on us. Failing that, we would at least like to know precisely why this severest of sanctions has been applied to us. Contrary to the government’s assertion to the Fiji Parliament, we are not, and never have been, a danger to the peace and security of Fiji and its people. We deeply regret the global opprobrium the ban has brought on Fiji, and hope that this taint on Fiji’s reputation will be removed in due course.
Brij Vilash Lal, AM, BA (USP) MA (Brit. Col), PhD (ANU), FAHA
Padma Narsey Lal BSc, MSc (USP), MREnSc (ANU), PhD (Hawaii)
Fijileaks: We are also deeply alarmed at the way Professor Brij Lal's death has been politically hijacked by the National Federation Party. With great respect to our departed fellow traveller for justice, democracy, and human rights, who finally turned to us to get Qiliho arrested in London, what needs to be exposed is Professor Lal's affidavit where he IDENTIFIES his principal torturer Sitiveni Qiliho. It is Qiliho's FACE that should be beamed on the wide screen during the condolence service, now that the service will be held on Thursday.
As we privately pointed out to NFP leader Biman Prasad, some of us have been in EXILE longer than the late Professor Lal. But Exile is Exile. Our TORTURER: None other than Sitiveni Rabuka, who is hiding behind IMMUNITY.
As a fellow academic who contributed chapters to some of Professor Lal's edited books, and also publicly and in print disagreed with many of his interpretations on Fijian politics, we believe Professor Brij Lal would be the first one to raise alarm regarding the hijacking of his exile and death.
As a fellow descendant of a girmitiya, most of his writings and publications on indenture were of extreme value but confined to specific researchers and historians. But it was his role in the drafting of 1997 Constitution that we must remember him. Let us remind NFP leader BIMAN PRASAD:
When Rabuka speaks at the condolence gathering, remind him that it was he (Rabuka) who had deliberately chosen 14 May 1987 (the day and month the first batch of Indian coolies were introduced into Fiji on 14 May 1879), to end their journey from Plantation to Parliament. Some were from Professor Lal's Labasa. Professor Lal had spent a lifetime recording the history of the girmitiyas.
The 1987 coups were the beginning of "EXILE" for thousands upon thousands of Indo-Fijians, and hundreds are buried in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, UK - and not in their BELOVED FIJI. Professor Lal will be one of them.
Moreover, many paying their tributes never spoke out for the late Professor
Brij Lal, as Professor Wadan Narsey pointed out this week
With the passing of Professor Brij Lal on 25 December 2021, there has been an outpouring of tributes to him. Many had already protested against the ban, such as those who signed a letter in 2015:
Professor Viay Naidu
Tessa MacKenzie
Rev. Akuila Yabaki
Shamima Ali
Dr Tupeni Baba
Dr Morgan Tui
Dr Claire Slatter
Dr Ganesh Chand
Professor Satish Chand
Professor Croz Walsh
That letter can be read here:
But equally many influential persons speaking today, were silent.
Fiji Times bravely fought draconian sanctions from the Bainimarama/Khaiyum Government, with publishers being expelled, some (Publisher like Hank Arts and Editor Fred Wesley being charged for spurious crimes and facing suspended jail sentences. Eventually they began publishing critical articles from me but only after serious vetting by lawyers Munro Leys (see some of the links below).
But my censored Letter to the Editor in 2015 explains much.
“Fiji’s Animal Farm continues” (Letter to Editor 20 March 2015 (censored)) had the following:
“Dear Sir,
The Minister for Immigration and Defense (Colonel Timoci Natuva) has “explained” the Fiji Government’s ban of Professor Brij Lal and Dr Padma Lal on the grounds that Brij Lal “has been very vocal and opposed the move towards democracy after the events of 2006” and that “his actions were viewed by the Government of the day as prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, security of the Government of Fiji.” (Fiji Times, 19 March 2015).
Minister Natuva’s response suggests that not only does he not have to worry about over-taxing his brain cells, but that Fiji’s Animal Farm is alive and well under the elected government of Bainimarama and Khaiyum.
(a) Given that Brij Lal opposed the illegal removal of a lawful democratically elected government of Qarase, only in Animal Farm can Minister Natuva claim this was “opposing the move towards democracy”.
(b) Only in Animal Farm can Minister Natuva “forget” that his “Government of the Day” was the illegal treasonous government of Voreqe Bainimarama who had to write into the 2013 Constitution, complete immunity for unspecified actions for himself and his collaborators, between 2000 and September 2014?
(c) only in Animal Farm can a peaceful law-abiding pen-wielding Australian academic, a former Fiji citizen and recipient of Fiji’s highest Honors, be considered by Minister Natuva (on the orders of Bainimarama and Khaiyum) to be “prejudicial to the peace defence, public safety, public order, security of the Government of Fiji”, which is backed by the might of only 3000 fierce Fijian soldiers and 3000 policemen. Heaven forbid, is brave soldier Natuva admitting that “one pen is mightier than the sword”?
(d) Only in Animal Farm, can Minister Natuva give no justification whatsoever (and not be asked by the media either) for banning Dr Padma Lal, an environmental economist and an expert on the sugar industry who has not been politically vocal at all, whose only “crime” is that she is married to Brij Lal, and perhaps the double misfortune of being my sister.
(e) Only in Animal Farm will great “women’s champions” like Madam Nazhat Shameem and Minister Rosy Akbar remain conveniently silent about the denial of the basic human rights of Dr Padma Lal to enter Fiji, because of her “crime” of being the wife of Dr Brij Lal.
(f) Only in Animal Farm will Indo-Fijian civil society organizations (the Arya Samaj, the Sanatan Dharam, the Sangam, the Gujarat Society) and the great girmitiya descendants and supporters of the Bainimarama Government (like Satendra Nandan, Subramani, Rajesh Chandra, Ganesh Chand, Mahendra Reddy, Rajendra Prasad, Thakur Ranjit Singh,etc.) keep totally quiet about the banning of one of the most peaceful and valued girmitiya “sons of Fiji” who has contributed his entire academic life to the written history of the Indo-Fijians (Dr Brij Lal) and the banning of their former USP academic colleague, luminary and Gold Medalist, Dr Padma Lal.
(g) Only in Animal Farm can an “elected government” ban decent law-abiding people like Brij and Padma Lal, while welcoming and rewarding foreigners who came to support the violent 2006 treason and the illegal Bainimarama Government, like John Samy, Shaista Shameem, John Prasad, Francis Narayan, Robin Nair, Peter Thompson, Sharon Smith-Johns, Graham Davis, etc.
Given Minister Natuva’s statement, a few members of the Fiji public might lose some sleep trying to identify which animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm might accurately represent Natuva, Bainimarama and Khaiyum.
But the majority of Fiji citizens can always help themselves go to sleep by counting their own numbers (no prizes for guessing which animals they represent in Animal Farm).
Those who wish to read Animal Farm may easily do so at this link:
Click to access animal_farm.pdf
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/fijis-animal-farm-continues-letter-to-the-editor-20-march-2015/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/then-they-came-for-me-no-voice-for-padma-edited-article-in-fiji-times-12-dec-2015/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/bainimarama-ignores-senior-citizens-request-for-lifting-of-ban-on-professor-brij-lal-and-dr-padma-narsey-lal-24-oct-2016/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/human-rights-are-not-for-begging-ed-in-ft-10122016/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2021/02/13/when-the-line-is-not-drawn-ft-13-2-2021/
Professor Viay Naidu
Tessa MacKenzie
Rev. Akuila Yabaki
Shamima Ali
Dr Tupeni Baba
Dr Morgan Tui
Dr Claire Slatter
Dr Ganesh Chand
Professor Satish Chand
Professor Croz Walsh
That letter can be read here:
But equally many influential persons speaking today, were silent.
Fiji Times bravely fought draconian sanctions from the Bainimarama/Khaiyum Government, with publishers being expelled, some (Publisher like Hank Arts and Editor Fred Wesley being charged for spurious crimes and facing suspended jail sentences. Eventually they began publishing critical articles from me but only after serious vetting by lawyers Munro Leys (see some of the links below).
But my censored Letter to the Editor in 2015 explains much.
“Fiji’s Animal Farm continues” (Letter to Editor 20 March 2015 (censored)) had the following:
“Dear Sir,
The Minister for Immigration and Defense (Colonel Timoci Natuva) has “explained” the Fiji Government’s ban of Professor Brij Lal and Dr Padma Lal on the grounds that Brij Lal “has been very vocal and opposed the move towards democracy after the events of 2006” and that “his actions were viewed by the Government of the day as prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, security of the Government of Fiji.” (Fiji Times, 19 March 2015).
Minister Natuva’s response suggests that not only does he not have to worry about over-taxing his brain cells, but that Fiji’s Animal Farm is alive and well under the elected government of Bainimarama and Khaiyum.
(a) Given that Brij Lal opposed the illegal removal of a lawful democratically elected government of Qarase, only in Animal Farm can Minister Natuva claim this was “opposing the move towards democracy”.
(b) Only in Animal Farm can Minister Natuva “forget” that his “Government of the Day” was the illegal treasonous government of Voreqe Bainimarama who had to write into the 2013 Constitution, complete immunity for unspecified actions for himself and his collaborators, between 2000 and September 2014?
(c) only in Animal Farm can a peaceful law-abiding pen-wielding Australian academic, a former Fiji citizen and recipient of Fiji’s highest Honors, be considered by Minister Natuva (on the orders of Bainimarama and Khaiyum) to be “prejudicial to the peace defence, public safety, public order, security of the Government of Fiji”, which is backed by the might of only 3000 fierce Fijian soldiers and 3000 policemen. Heaven forbid, is brave soldier Natuva admitting that “one pen is mightier than the sword”?
(d) Only in Animal Farm, can Minister Natuva give no justification whatsoever (and not be asked by the media either) for banning Dr Padma Lal, an environmental economist and an expert on the sugar industry who has not been politically vocal at all, whose only “crime” is that she is married to Brij Lal, and perhaps the double misfortune of being my sister.
(e) Only in Animal Farm will great “women’s champions” like Madam Nazhat Shameem and Minister Rosy Akbar remain conveniently silent about the denial of the basic human rights of Dr Padma Lal to enter Fiji, because of her “crime” of being the wife of Dr Brij Lal.
(f) Only in Animal Farm will Indo-Fijian civil society organizations (the Arya Samaj, the Sanatan Dharam, the Sangam, the Gujarat Society) and the great girmitiya descendants and supporters of the Bainimarama Government (like Satendra Nandan, Subramani, Rajesh Chandra, Ganesh Chand, Mahendra Reddy, Rajendra Prasad, Thakur Ranjit Singh,etc.) keep totally quiet about the banning of one of the most peaceful and valued girmitiya “sons of Fiji” who has contributed his entire academic life to the written history of the Indo-Fijians (Dr Brij Lal) and the banning of their former USP academic colleague, luminary and Gold Medalist, Dr Padma Lal.
(g) Only in Animal Farm can an “elected government” ban decent law-abiding people like Brij and Padma Lal, while welcoming and rewarding foreigners who came to support the violent 2006 treason and the illegal Bainimarama Government, like John Samy, Shaista Shameem, John Prasad, Francis Narayan, Robin Nair, Peter Thompson, Sharon Smith-Johns, Graham Davis, etc.
Given Minister Natuva’s statement, a few members of the Fiji public might lose some sleep trying to identify which animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm might accurately represent Natuva, Bainimarama and Khaiyum.
But the majority of Fiji citizens can always help themselves go to sleep by counting their own numbers (no prizes for guessing which animals they represent in Animal Farm).
Those who wish to read Animal Farm may easily do so at this link:
Click to access animal_farm.pdf
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/fijis-animal-farm-continues-letter-to-the-editor-20-march-2015/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/then-they-came-for-me-no-voice-for-padma-edited-article-in-fiji-times-12-dec-2015/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/bainimarama-ignores-senior-citizens-request-for-lifting-of-ban-on-professor-brij-lal-and-dr-padma-narsey-lal-24-oct-2016/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/human-rights-are-not-for-begging-ed-in-ft-10122016/
https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2021/02/13/when-the-line-is-not-drawn-ft-13-2-2021/
