[Source: Eleftherotypia newspaper, 18/01/2013, found online at http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=336690, Translation: icantrelaxingreece.wordpress.com]
The young Pakistani Shahzad Luqman was born in 1986. He was living in Greece for six years. He was stabbed while he was on his way to his work. He was working in farmers’ markers. He was departing from Peristari, where he resided, at 2:30 to arrive, an hour later, to his employer in Petralona. And load the oranges.
“He had a ‘pink card’ in the last month working in the farmers’ market”, his friend Omar said. “He has not showed up today”, his employer replied to three Pakistani relatives, with whom he was sharing a room on 48 Lahana street, in Peristeri. The 25 year old roommate, Omar, says Shahzad was residing in the country legally “he had gotten pink card, temporary residence. In recent months he was working in the market. Before that as a keeper at a construction site in Aspropyrgos. The site was closed”.
He was maintaining 8 siblings
He says that “he was living a very difficult life He had eight siblings. He was taking 20 euros as daily wage and he was sending them to Pakistan to help his sisters get married. He was often saying that he would never manage to manage to have his own family and live like a human being”.
In the last two years there have been around 800 attacks against Pakistanis, as has been reported by Javed Aslam, president of the Pakistani community. Referring to the most recent event that took place in Maroussi two months ago, he emphasises that “Two Pakistanis were struggling to stay alive for days. This is the fifth dead Pakistani”.
SYRIZA – ministry
SYRIZA stated about the murder of the young Pakistani that this is a brutal racist murder of an immigrant by far-right criminals. They added that “Any attempt to conceal the character of this repulsive act with fake arguments, such as ‘affray’ will constitute not only a political mistake, but also a criminal act”.
The Minister of the Protection of the citizen followed with an announcement accusing SYRIZA of exploiting the event for their own party interests in a way that becomes “exploitation of the loss of a human life. They pretend not to know that it was the Greek Police that arrested the culprits after a long mobilisation”. Last, in the announcement it is also emphasised that “the constitutional obligation is only one: lawfulness everywhere”.
Being very upset, the residents of Ano Petralona that gathered yesterday afternoon talked about an undoubted racist crime. Expressing surprise and anger they said: “the area of Ano Petralona, very close to Filopappou, traditionally supports the parties of the Left”. “The residents participate in the movements. There have been no incidents of racist violence in the area”, says Maria Kontogiorgou, resident of the 3rd district.
Anger in Petralona
In the rally that took place at 6 in the evening in Merkouri square there were more than 500 people participating: residents, members of antiracist and political organisations. Claiming that “we consider our participation in the rally to be essential because we do not trust the authorities”, they demand the punishment of the culprits as a way “to stop racist crimes”.
In the demonstration that took place afterwards they passed by the place of the murder, they stood there and distributed brochures about racism to passer-by and shop-keepers.
“The foreseeable attempt to cover up will not be accepted. The murderers must receive an exemplary punishment for the brutal racist crime”, said members of the ‘Deport Racism’ movement of the local district.