Thugs treat families with scorn

By TONY WALL

SUVA - Every day Ben Padarath braves the armed goons at the gates of Parliament to deliver parcels to his mother, Lavenia, Fiji's Minister of Women's Affairs, who has been held hostage now for 10 days.

He walks a fine line.

Mr Padarath, aged 30, has been pushing coup leader George Speight to allow him access to his mother and the other 35 hostages on humanitarian grounds, so far without luck.

The best he has been able to do is deliver a sports bag full of fresh clothes, food, cigarettes and letters from families of the hostages to the checkpoint outside Parliament each afternoon.

He is forced to watch as the rebel gunmen rifle through the bag, reading the letters, throwing away the ones they dislike, eating much of the food and smoking the cigarettes.

He is unsure how much gets through to his mother, an indigenous Fijian Labour Party MP who is also a registered nurse. Her husband is Fiji Indian Spike Padarath, who has worked as a stringer for NZ newspapers.

As the Herald was speaking to Ben Padarath outside Parliament's gates yesterday, a hulking thug walked up and demanded to know what we were talking about.

He ripped a page of notes from the reporter's notebook and walked back into the compound. Later, the guards warned Mr Padarath not to speak to the media and the thug followed him as he left.

The intimidation has not stopped him speaking out on his mother's behalf.

He has pleaded with Speight to be allowed to see her. "We have no contact with the hostages. All we know is what we hear through the media. We do not even know if they are alive."

Mr Padarath was present outside Parliament when Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was dragged outside, made to kneel, and had a gun held against his head.

Mr Padarath said that each day the crisis dragged on there was more pressure on the waiting families. "You just hope and pray every day. You wake up in the morning and think, 'This is the day they will be released,' only to be disappointed by the evening."

He said his mother was a strong woman who was "probably holding them all together in there."

Spike Padarath said his wife had reportedly been making the other hostages run up and down steps to keep fit, and was organising medication for those who needed it.

Ben Padarath said he was unsure how the crisis could be resolved.

"I am a champion of democracy and if it takes the sacrifice of a few lives to protect it, then so be it, but do not go changing the constitution for a bunch of thugs with guns."

The Herald spoke yesterday to Assistant Home Affairs Minister Gaffar Ahmed, who was released after about 48 hours as a hostage.

He described his time inside as "torturous" and it had scarred him psychologically.

Mr Ahmed said he and about 23 Fiji Indians were held in a dark committee room, with no bedding.

Two guards with machineguns stayed inside the room the whole time, and there were two more outside the door.

The hostages were told not to talk. They were allowed to go to the toilet or to smoke cigarettes only one at a time.

He said Speight seemed "fatigued, exhausted and confused" and at times lost his temper and started "screaming like a criminal."

"For the first two days we thought he would kill everyone in that room."

Mr Ahmed said Mr Chaudhry and his son were taken outside and badly beaten on the second day. He said it was obvious the PM had suffered internal injuries as he had trouble breathing and moving his limbs.

Mr Ahmed said that suddenly in the middle of the night Speight walked into the room and announced he was releasing the hostages in groups of five. But only two groups were released.

One of the hostages still held is Tourism Minister Adi Koila Nailatikau, daughter of the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

Her son Vuna told the Herald yesterday of how his mother had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The family had been celebrating the President's 80th birthday in the west of Fiji, but Adi Koila had returned to the capital early to attend Parliament. Thus she became a hostage.

Vunu said his grandfather was under great strain. "This takes its toll on [him]; he is too old for this."

More Fiji coup coverage

Under seige: map of the Parliament complex