WASHINGTON, April 3 (IslamOnline) - A distraught Pakistani immigrant set himself on fire Monday outside Australia's Parliament House to protest the delay in efforts to bring his wife and child to the country.
Shaharyar Kiyani, 48, doused himself with fuel and set himself ablaze as school children and tourists watched in horror. One eyewitness compared the incident to movie stunt.
Kiyani with 50% of his body burned is currently battling for his life at the Burns Unit of Sydney's Concord Hospital.
Kiyani, who acquired permanent resident status after arriving to Australia as an asylum-seeker in 1996, had applied to bring his wife and child into the country but was rejected and had filed a new application.
A statement released by the Australian government said, "Initially, the application had been refused on the grounds of substantial health costs to the Australian community.
After an inquiry from the Ombudsman, the family had been invited late last year to submit a new application."
The new application was submitted last September and was still under process by Australia's Department of Immigration.
Immigration Minister Philip Rudock expressed shock and dismay at the incident. He said it was sad, "in the context that someone has chosen to self-immolate in Australia."
"It is not something we are used to or experienced with," he said.
Kiyani had filed for his family under the Split Families provisions of the Humanitarian Program.
Ruddock said that the application process usually does not take very long but the Split Family provisions were "under very considerable pressure because of the number of asylum-seekers we've had who have been taking other places."
However, recently introduced new laws have made it more difficult for asylum-seekers to bring their families into the country.
"Not everybody who is in Australia can get an application accepted," Ruddock said.
"At the end of the day decisions have to be properly processed and they have to be processed in accordance with the law. As much as people may be disappointed with outcomes it is part of the lot of any minister."
Ruddock also offered his sympathy to Kiyani's family and deeply regretted what had happened.
Many Pakistanis, mostly young, and some even highly educated, have been leaving the Pakistan for better opportunities in other countries.
Last week, 71 Pakistani and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants were detained by Greek police for sneaking into the country through the Turkish border in a truck.
