My name is Altaf Raza. I come from Quetta, Pakistan. I am a refugee here in Indonesia waiting for a sustainable solution to an ongoing uncertainty in my life. As to why I am here for so long a period of time is a long, painful story, but I will try to give a brief account of the circumstances that led to my flight from my country back in 2013.

 

The ongoing security problem in my country has an obliterating effect on minorities in the country. Since I come from a small Pakistani Hazara community, I was no exception to what was happening to minorities. Targeted killing and bombing of both religious and ethnic minorities was almost impossible to stop when I decided to leave my country to protect my life. The chaos, grief, and disabling fear of being the next target (as it was only a mater of being at the wrong time and place) ensued my life every time a terrorist act was committed against us in the country. Unabating terrorist acts, the government's inability to control the situation, and our own helplessness forced me to leave the country at once.

 

What was my well-founded fear near came to realization on several occasions when I cheated death only by less than one hundred meters. The incidents that took place before my own eyes were like alarm bells. I could not have taken them lightly and, henceforth, I decided to flee from my country all at once. This is why I came here to Indonesia in 2013, to save my life from those who killed my people in large numbers.