The Alleged Shadowy Role of Indo-Fijian Muslims through Aiyaz Khaiyum. "Bula bhai, Who banned you and why?" (9 October 2016)
On 10 October 2016, the late Professor Brij Lal confided to us:
"Quite bizzarely, I was told by the QEB barracks that some of ASK's close Muslim supporters leaned on him not to allow me back into the country because, they said, I was the one on the Reeves Commission who had objected to the Indo-Fijian Muslim demand for separate seats in the 1997 Constitution. That is completely untrue. The issue was never raised in our deliberations simply because no one wanted more division in an already divided society. I believe now that it is Khaiyum who is the one who is blocking us from returning to Fiji, with the support of his Muslim cohorts. I never imagined this sort of zealous bigotry possible in a place like Fiji. So sad, so short-sighted but we will never bow before the bandits...I admire your courage and resilience. Their victory is phyrric.'
 | Professor Brij Lal |  |
"You may keep us out of Fiji but you will never be able to keep Fiji out of our hearts." Professor Brij Lal to Fiji Immigration Department, 2015
 |  Paul Tabori, The Anatomy of Exile: A Semantic and Historical Study, 1972 |
There is No Easy Walk To Freedom
CRY, the Beloved Country: So many of our PATRIOTS die in Exile because of the COUP virus that was started by Sitiveni Rabuka in 1987. The late Professor Brij Lal, one of the architects of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji, never again saw his beloved COUNTRY after he was arrested, assaulted, and spat at by Sitiveni Qiliho, now the Police Commissioner, and DEPORTED and BANNED from Fiji in 2009. The late Professor Brij Lal's only "crime" (according to the coupists) was to speak out against the 2006 treasonous COUP in Fiji, as he explained in his affidavit against Sitiveni Qiliho. We repeat again: both, Sitiveni Rabuka and Frank Bainimarama must NEVER be allowed to return to power in Fiji. There is no such person as a Bad COUPIST or a Good COUPIST.
Every passing DEATH reminds our families and friends of the pain, suffering, tears, and horrors of the racist and bogus nationalist Sitiveni Rabuka's COUPS, George Speight's failed but violent 2000 Coup, and Frank Bainimarama's
bogus 'Clean Up Campaign' Coup of 2006
RIP, PROFESSOR BRIJ LAL
"When you go home, tell them of us and say: For your tomorrow, we gave our today."
"This is to certify that I, Brij Vilash Lal, a Fiji-born Australian citizen, was taken in by the Fiji Military to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, Fiji, on 4 November 2009. At the barracks, I was placed in a cell and interrogated by the then Lt. Col. Sitiveni Qiliho. He covered my face with his spit and slapped me |  |
To Whom It May Concern, Re- Arrest of Qiliho in London
"This is to certify that I, Brij Vilash Lal, a Fiji-born Australian citizen, was taken in by the Fiji Military to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, Fiji, on 4 November 2009.
At the barracks, I was placed in a cell and interrogated by the then Lt. Col. Sitiveni Qiliho. He covered my face with his spit and slapped me
continuously to the point of breaking my glasses. This ordeal has remained with me all these years, impossible to forget.
I was subjected to this interrogation for my principled and peaceful protest against the excesses of the Fijian military after the 2006 coup and for standing up for the vales of democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech. During the entire interrogation, Qiliho kept reiterating the noble role of the military in the governance of Fiji.
At the end of the interrogation, he told me that unless I left the country by the first available flight (to Australia), my family would have to fetch my body from the morgue. I left for Australia the following morning. I did not know at the time that I would be banned for life from returning to Fiji.
Several years later in 2015, the then Immigration Minister Lesi Natuva told parliament that I was a threat to Fiji’s peace, security and order.
I have since written to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in
Geneva (to Ambassadors Susan Mansfield of Australia and Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji) about the breach of my human rights but to no avail. Fijian Opposition Leader Sitiveni Rabuka agreed to present a petition on our behalf to the Fijian Parliament but was dissuaded from doing so by the Speaker of the House Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.
My numerous enquiries to the Fijian Immigration Department have never been acknowledged. And so, we remain in exile.
Regrettably, I am not the only person to have been at the receiving end of Col Qiliho’s vile and vicious behaviour. He has been an integral part of Fiji military’s repressive apparatus, a fact that is widely known throughout Fiji.
He is now a Brigadier General in the Fijian military and is the country’s Commissioner of Police. It is distressing to see that one of those well known for wanton breaching of the human rights of ordinary law abiding citizens gets rewarded with admission to one of United Kingdom’s elite Defence Colleges, when a similar admission was refused by Australia."
Brij Vilash LAL, AM, OF
Member of the Order of Australia
Officer of the Order of Fiji
Brisbane, Australia
BELOW: Listen to the late Professor Brij Lal's interview on arrival on Australian soil. In this interview, he didn't disclose the whole truth, and understandably, for his wife and family were still stranded in Fiji. Nor did he disclose the identity of the "Colonel" - that torturer Sitiveni Qiliho
"Nothing lasts forever except words. I will re-double my efforts to bear witness to our time and place so that future generations will know what we and our country have gone through, to understand the motivation and the modus operandi of a couple of people at the helm of Fiji’s political leadership in the early years of the 21st century. The government’s victory is a pyrrhic one, hollow, morally compromised. You may keep us out of Fiji but you will never be able to keep Fiji out of our hearts. Someday, you folks will realize the fundamental unjustness of a decision in which you have acquiesced."
From: Brij Lal
Sent: Wednesday, 1 July 2015 9:30 AM
To: 'Edward Brown'
Cc: Osea Cawaru; Merewai T. Volavola; Karalaini Umu
Subject: RE: Hello
Dear Edward
Thank you for this. Since this will be my last correspondence with you on this or any other matter, I wish to put some things on the record, to get things off my chest.
When Minister Natuva said we could re-apply to have the travel ban on us lifted, I genuinely believed that we would be given a fair hearing. We are disappointed that we were not accorded that basic consideration. I am more than convinced now that Minister Natuva was genuinely open-minded at the beginning but the decision not to rescind the ban was foisted upon him by a couple of individuals in government –we all know who they are -- who don’t have the courage to own up to the decision but prefer to hide behind his sulu instead. Why such cowardice, such lack of openness? Because they can’t justify their decision in public?
Minister Natuva’s defence in parliament of the original decision to ban us from entering Fiji was based on a false premise, based on a lie. He said that we were banned because I was opposed to the return of democracy in Fiji after the coup of 2006.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact the claim is a travesty of the truth and of the historical record. I was among thousands in Fiji who wanted a timely return to parliamentary democracy. The claim that we were banned because we were a threat to peace, security and good order in Fiji is, quite simply, laughable. It was widely and justifiably ridiculed at the time it was made.
I stood up for the values of democracy, the rule of law and a strict observance of the protocols of constitutionalism. This is never a crime in a civilised democracy. For all its claims to the contrary, Fiji has a long way to go in this regard. But 2006 is moot now. The coup makers succeeded, I failed. So why ban us now, when other critics of the coup are free to enter Fiji?. Why are we singled out? Is it because the pen is mightier than the sword?
The situation is very curious. Fijian diplomats, government ministers, members of parliamentary delegations fraternise with me in Canberra but their government keeps us out. People with coup-tainted pasts grab every opportunity to visit Australia where they were once unceremoniously banned, and do so without embarrassment or shame, but do not allow us to enter Fiji. Doesn’t this double standard trouble people, including those in government?
I can understand the Fijian regime having a gripe with me over my stance, but what crime did my wife commit that she is permanently banned from Fiji? Padma has never uttered a comment of political nature in the public. The government’s reaction is pure petty vindictiveness, nothing less.
We hold our heads high. We will never kowtow before unjust power and authority. There comes a time in everyone’s life when you draw a line in the sand and say: this far and no further.
We have been advised by people close to the government, well connected to the powers-that-be, that if we apologized to the Prime Minister and his unctuous Attorney General, that our case would stand a very good chance of speedy resolution.
But apologize for what? On the contrary, we feel we are owed apology by those whose decision keeps us from visiting the land of our birth.
Nothing lasts forever except words. I will re-double my efforts to bear witness to our time and place so that future generations will know what we and our country have gone through, to understand the motivation and the modus operandi of a couple of people at the helm of Fiji’s political leadership in the early years of the 21st century.
The government’s victory is a pyrrhic one, hollow, morally compromised. You may keep us out of Fiji but you will never be able to keep Fiji out of our hearts. Someday, you folks will realize the fundamental unjustness of a decision in which you have acquiesced.
In the end we all have to live with ourselves. And we all know that all that tyranny needs to triumph is for good men and women to remain silent.
Sincerely
Brij V LAL
Canberra.
Sent: Wednesday, 1 July 2015 9:30 AM
To: 'Edward Brown'
Cc: Osea Cawaru; Merewai T. Volavola; Karalaini Umu
Subject: RE: Hello
Dear Edward
Thank you for this. Since this will be my last correspondence with you on this or any other matter, I wish to put some things on the record, to get things off my chest.
When Minister Natuva said we could re-apply to have the travel ban on us lifted, I genuinely believed that we would be given a fair hearing. We are disappointed that we were not accorded that basic consideration. I am more than convinced now that Minister Natuva was genuinely open-minded at the beginning but the decision not to rescind the ban was foisted upon him by a couple of individuals in government –we all know who they are -- who don’t have the courage to own up to the decision but prefer to hide behind his sulu instead. Why such cowardice, such lack of openness? Because they can’t justify their decision in public?
Minister Natuva’s defence in parliament of the original decision to ban us from entering Fiji was based on a false premise, based on a lie. He said that we were banned because I was opposed to the return of democracy in Fiji after the coup of 2006.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact the claim is a travesty of the truth and of the historical record. I was among thousands in Fiji who wanted a timely return to parliamentary democracy. The claim that we were banned because we were a threat to peace, security and good order in Fiji is, quite simply, laughable. It was widely and justifiably ridiculed at the time it was made.
I stood up for the values of democracy, the rule of law and a strict observance of the protocols of constitutionalism. This is never a crime in a civilised democracy. For all its claims to the contrary, Fiji has a long way to go in this regard. But 2006 is moot now. The coup makers succeeded, I failed. So why ban us now, when other critics of the coup are free to enter Fiji?. Why are we singled out? Is it because the pen is mightier than the sword?
The situation is very curious. Fijian diplomats, government ministers, members of parliamentary delegations fraternise with me in Canberra but their government keeps us out. People with coup-tainted pasts grab every opportunity to visit Australia where they were once unceremoniously banned, and do so without embarrassment or shame, but do not allow us to enter Fiji. Doesn’t this double standard trouble people, including those in government?
I can understand the Fijian regime having a gripe with me over my stance, but what crime did my wife commit that she is permanently banned from Fiji? Padma has never uttered a comment of political nature in the public. The government’s reaction is pure petty vindictiveness, nothing less.
We hold our heads high. We will never kowtow before unjust power and authority. There comes a time in everyone’s life when you draw a line in the sand and say: this far and no further.
We have been advised by people close to the government, well connected to the powers-that-be, that if we apologized to the Prime Minister and his unctuous Attorney General, that our case would stand a very good chance of speedy resolution.
But apologize for what? On the contrary, we feel we are owed apology by those whose decision keeps us from visiting the land of our birth.
Nothing lasts forever except words. I will re-double my efforts to bear witness to our time and place so that future generations will know what we and our country have gone through, to understand the motivation and the modus operandi of a couple of people at the helm of Fiji’s political leadership in the early years of the 21st century.
The government’s victory is a pyrrhic one, hollow, morally compromised. You may keep us out of Fiji but you will never be able to keep Fiji out of our hearts. Someday, you folks will realize the fundamental unjustness of a decision in which you have acquiesced.
In the end we all have to live with ourselves. And we all know that all that tyranny needs to triumph is for good men and women to remain silent.
Sincerely
Brij V LAL
Canberra.
BOTH, Professor Brij Lal and Russell Hunter died in Brisbane
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The late Professor Brij Lal was particularly critical of Bainimarama-Khaiyum's decision to expel New Zealand and Australian diplomats
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