Family fled violence in Pakistan, only to face 'new kind of silence' in Australia

SBS Australia

5 days ago

Shehzadi Bilqees Saba and her family came to Australia in 2019 after fleeing persecution and sectarian violence in Pakistan. Shortly after their arrival, Saba, her five children and husband Ahmed Riaz applied for protection visas.
But after waiting five years, she says she has yet to hear from the Department of Home Affairs.
Marriage that sparked sectarian 'vendetta' Saba met her first husband, Kamran Riaz, in 2003, and after falling in love, they decided to marry despite strong opposition from his family. According to Saba, this decision triggered a "deadly vendetta" between the two families.
"I am a Shia , while my husband was from the Sunni school of thought. It was a huge thing to marry in another sect there, but we thought that things would get better with time," Saba told SBS Urdu.
Shehzadi Bilqees Saba says her family are living in 'limbo'. Credit: teekid / Getty Images Sectarian violence, particularly against Shia Muslims, remains a persistent and deadly issue in Pakistan. Although officially banned, groups operating under different names continue to carry out attacks that often go unpunished, according to reports from Human Rights Watch and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. In 2004, Saba gave birth to her first child, which she said further inflamed tensions.
Seeing that the couple was planning a future together, she claimed her in-laws threatened to kill both her and her husband.
'We spent years hoping things would get better, but when they saw our son, it became clear the marriage wasn't ending, and their threats against us became more serious,' she said. In 2011, Kamran was murdered, and the following year, his uncle, Nasrullah Warraich — who was also the family's lawyer — was also killed.
Saba believes Warraich was targeted because he had supported their marriage and was representing them in the ongoing sectarian dispute.
We spent years hoping things would get better, but when they saw our son, it became clear the marriage wasn't ending, and their threats against us became more serious. Shehzadi Bilqees Saba In 2015, Saba married Ahmed Riaz, the younger brother of her deceased husband, but the targeted violence continued. 'We kept changing cities, trying to escape them, but they still found us. I was attacked, and half of my body suffered third-degree burns," Saba said. Ahmed Riaz was also attacked, and he said he narrowly escaped death. 'Everywhere we went, they followed us. There was no safe place left in Pakistan. They also tried to abduct Saba's eldest son in Islamabad in 2018,' Riaz said.
Riaz came to Australia and then brought out his wife and the five children on dependent visas in 2019.
Living in limbo Saba and her family applied for protection in 2020, but she said there has been no response from the Department of Home Affairs yet.
She claimed that her mental health is being affected by this "new kind of silence" and uncertainty of her future.
I have been diagnosed with PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety and prolonged grief disorder. Shehzadi Bilqees Saba Riaz said the family is living in limbo, with a "killing spree" awaiting them back in Pakistan.
"In April this year, my younger brother, Faisal Riaz, was attacked, which indicates that the situation is still not in our favour to go back," he said.
Protection visa delays Gurbinder Singh works as a solicitor and has been practising immigration law since 2009. He noted that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the time to process such humanitarian applications was around two years, but this has since grown.
'Currently, there is no confirmed timeline to process the protection visas, especially with the recent surge in protection applications following restrictions to lodge student visas while being on tourist visas since July 2024,' Singh said.
Faisal Riaz, Saba's brother-in-law, pictured in Pakistan. The family claims he was targeted in a sectarian attack in April 2025 and now lives in hiding. Source: Supplied / Ahmed Riaz 'This has added to the complexity and length of the process, leaving many genuine applicants waiting in uncertainty.' A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said it could not comment on individual cases due to privacy reasons. However, they explained that protection visa assessments are complex and require careful consideration to ensure fair outcomes.
The spokesperson said all applications are assessed on their individual merits and must meet the requirements of the Migration Act 1958, with processing times varying based on factors such as application completeness, identity checks and responsiveness to information requests.