Confirmedby a visiting Chief Immigration Officerof the UK Government, theConsulate of Afghanistan in New York and local Pakistani residentsthat the Dari dialect they speak is evidence that these men arewho they claim to be, the three persons in the Cayman Islandsfrom Afghanistan leave a distinct impression that they are justwhat they claim to be -- asylum seekers.
In a world exclusive media interviewwith the men who have been the centre of public attention, particularlylocal and US FBI since appearing here 14 months ago and who againbecame the subject of intense scrutiny after the 11 Septemberterrorist attack on the United States, told of sadness and deaththat caused them to flee Afghanistan.
Since controversy broke out here stemming from a letter a Caymanian,Capt Byron Barnett wrote, warning of the US disaster and implicatingthese three men, Nek Nazar Nekary, Mohammad Raza Hussani, AliSha Yusufi they were remanded in custody for the second time inthis country, interrogated by three levels of security officialsfrom here and the US and finally released again - by thecourt last week.
In telling part of their story to this publication last Sunday,these men who were believed to be agents of chief suspect in theUS terrorist attacks Osama bin Laden, reveal that he has alsobeen an enemy to them.
"Negative. There is no connection what-so-ever", wasthe response of trio's spokesman, Nek, to a Cayman Net News' firstquestion on their possible links to the world's most wanted man.
The men, who are asking to be recognised by local authoritiesas refugees, described in depth the current and past state ofaffairs in Afghanistan, how their country is being held hostageby the Taliban which they do not call a government but rather'a fanatical military group' and how Afghanistan's threeminority ethnic groups are being persecuted, brutally killed anddriven into a state of oppression leading these three and millionsmore to flee their homeland and seek political asylum elsewhere.
In person, these three Afghanistans are much different than theimages of Taliban and terrorist groups shown over and over againon television news stations. They are all members of the samerace, Hazara, but come from different districts in the same provinceand met each other while traveling. They do not resemble the stereotypicallong-bearded, robed persons. They have certain Asian featuresthat render their appearance far different from that of Osamabin Laden's now familiar countenance.
Unlike the Taliban leaders and contrary to Taliban religious decree,they are clean-shaven. They are horrified over mistreatment ofAfghanistan women under Taliban rule and believe in secular education.They are extremely well spoken, courteous and lucid. Nek speaksnearly fluent English and it is clear that he is well educated.And he displays calm, analytical thinking.
Recently re-released from Northward prison and uncertain abouttheir future, they are currently seeking political asylum in theCayman Islands.
When asked about the circumstances leading up to their arrivalin Cayman and their reasons for fleeing Afghanistan, Nek refusesto elaborate, saying only there are many reasons. "Many ofthem will compromise my own and my family's safety. And the safetyof my friends (indicating his two colleagues) too. So, I am notgoing to speak about personal because they can really make problemsfor my family."
They do, however, vigorously dismiss any connection with the eventsthat took place on 11 September. When Nek answers 'no' with ahalf-sigh it is obvious that he has been through this line ofquestioning many times already. He is not, however, bitter orunhappy about responding to questions because he feels this interviewis necessary in order to make erase lingering doubts.
Spokesman Nek says the strongest evidence for their innocenceis that after all the questioning, they are free today. Thoughthey were grilled by foreign governments first here in theCayman Islands, then by authorities from the United States they still had faith in the eventual decisions made by the localcourts and were happy to cooperate fully.
They expect the people of the Cayman Islands to have an equalamount of faith in their own government, Nek says of the judiciarysystem, "They decide matters what is best for the CaymanIslands and its people. And now they have made this decision thatwe are really in fear of persecution by the Taliban and that anymore, any further detention would not be reasonable. I think itwas for the best of the Cayman Islands and people of the CaymanIslands must trust, they must respect and be confident that whateverdecision is made, is the best."
After their appearance in the Cayman Islands 14 months ago claimingthey were from Afghanistan, authorities arrested and kept thembehind bars for some eight months before the court ruled thatthere was no reason for them being locked up.
When the three men were incarcerated again after the 11 Septemberattacks they had misgivings about returning to prison, thoughthey were not resentful.
Nek says, "We were even confident about this and happy aboutthis, that this investigation will result in additional proof(of request for asylum), that we are being persecuted by the Talibanand it will help our case for asylum. And it is proof."
Though the majority of their family still resides in Afghanistan,they also have relatives in Canada and the United States. Theseconnections were thoroughly investigated by the Cayman Islandsand United States Governments before they were released. It wasfound, after what Nek calls 'a very, very big investigation' thatthese men and their families have no ties whatsoever to the Talibanand terrorists groups around the world.
Nek explains that there are four different races or ethnic groupsthat exist today in Afghanistan, different in language, appearance,religion and cultural practices. The majority race is called Pashtoonand it is to this race that the Taliban and the Afghanistan monarchyboth belong. The three main minority groups are Tajik, Ozbik andHazara, the last being the race to which Nek and his colleaguesbelong.
Nek says that his people have been oppressed for centuries. Themajority race, the Pashtoon, have practiced what he describesas ethnic cleaning and 'Hazara-hunting' for many decades, goingback to before the Russian Revolution.
"There was conflict that we had with Pashtoon people wasin 1890's. So one of the Pashtoon Kings, his name was Abdur Rahman.He cleansed about 65 percent of our population."
To many people in Afghanistan, the Taliban represents anotherperiod of brutal oppression. Nek cites one incident in Afghanistan'smore recent history as the reason why he was persuaded to educatehimself about Afghanistan and her bleak history: He said thatin 1998, the Taliban marched into Northern Afghanistan city ofMazar-e-Sharif where thousands of his Hazara people lived and"brutally killed more than 10,000 people".
"When I saw all this injustice, when I saw all this killing,when I saw all this dictatorship of the Taliban in one race thatthey want to rule our Afghanistan and oppress all other ones,it was the main, the main energy, the main stimulus that mademe investigate why is it happening. Why? For how long is it happening?How long will it continue?"
TO BE CONTINUED:In the nextedition Cayman Net News will publish the first part in a seriesrelating verbatim the interview with the three Afghani asylumseekers, who have brought a tremendous amount of attention tothe Cayman Islands.