Hazara Nation

NZH Abdulrahman Ikhtiari beat almost insurmountable odds to bring his family to freedom. But their dreams turned to a nightmare.

Abdulrahman Ikhtiari clung to his family and prayed for their survival as the wooden boat taking them to their new life began sinking.

As the boat crammed with terrified refugees floated aimlessly on the Indian Ocean, he was hoping for another chance at life free from persecution at the hands of the Taleban in his homeland of Afghanistan.

Mr Ikhtiari would make it through this traumatic ordeal at sea, and find this prized new life for his family in Christchurch, only for it to be taken in a mindless act of violence a few years later. Two teenagers have been charged with Mr Ikhtiari's murder after he was stabbed in his taxi last weekend.

Old friends told his story at his funeral in his adopted home town yesterday. Seven years ago Mr Ikhtiari was facing death off the Australian coast on the dilapidated 20m fishing boat KM Palapa. Around him more than 400 other refugees, including pregnant women and toddlers, were crying and throwing up in the ocean swells.

They had paid thousands of American dollars for transport on the cramped fishing vessel from Indonesia to Australia, after travelling various routes from Afghanistan.

Mr Ikhtiari's cousin, Mohammad Ikhtiari, was on the boat with him. He remembers them praying together and the calmness his cousin displayed. But as the boat buckled and seawater poured in, they feared the worst.

"Maybe we die at any time. For three days we don't know. It was a very hard time," said Hamidullah Habibi, a friend of Mr Ikhtiari who was also on the boat.

Then, as the panic grew, some on board spotted a dark spot on the horizon and suddenly there was hope. The now famous Norwegian vessel Tampa came into view and the refugees cried with relief.

The refugees, short of food and water, slept in shipping containers or on the exposed deck of the Tampa as they awaited their fate.

Abdulrahman Ikhtiari had a better grasp of English than most, and was able to speak to the Tampa's captain as frantic negotiations were taking place over the radio. Eventually, they would travel to temporary detention on the Pacific island of Nauru under Australian military escort.

Mr Habibi remembers being shown a laptop computer by an Australian Army officer with the news to give them all hope. "It shows [then Prime Minister] Helen Clark wants to take 150 people who have families. We [were] very, very happy."

Abdulrahman's wife and five children were among those Tampa refugees accepted into New Zealand. They set up in Christchurch with others from the Hazara tribe who had been on board the Tampa.

Mr Ikhtiari had to spend a month in the Mangere Resettlement Centre before he could join them in May 2002.

Trying to adapt to the new culture and language was not easy, but his family at least had security.

Friend Baryalai Waziri said: "He was feeling very free, and feeling very safe in New Zealand. And he was very happy to get his children educated in New Zealand."

It was a tragedy that such a quiet family man who "never had a quarrel with people" should die like this.

Mr Waziri spoke to Mr Ikhtiari a week before he was killed and asked him how his taxi driving job was going.

"He said he was not happy with the business, but he had to do it because his wife is a student at the polytech studying language. He could not support the family with the benefit he was getting from the Work and Income."

"He said there was risk involved and there were lots of people who get very aggressive and they attack the driver."