{"id":25500,"date":"2021-02-04T00:53:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T00:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=54445"},"modified":"2021-02-04T00:53:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T00:53:49","slug":"politicians-educators-advocates-blast-fijis-barbaric-expulsion-of-usp-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/04\/politicians-educators-advocates-blast-fijis-barbaric-expulsion-of-usp-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Politicians, educators, advocates blast Fiji\u2019s \u2018barbaric\u2019 expulsion of USP head"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pf-content\"><p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacmediawatch.aut.ac.nz\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a> newsdesk<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Politicians, educators and civil society advocates around the region today condemned the &#8220;barbaric&#8221; and &#8220;shameful&#8221; detention and deportation of the regional University of the South Pacific&#8217;s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife.<\/p>\n<p>Reformist Professor Ahluwalia, a Canadian, and his wife, Sandra, were <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/02\/04\/fiji-immigration-officials-police-detain-usp-chief-ahluwalia-reports-radio\/?fbclid=IwAR3Tswx41f_uhmeQodXz1keuK7GWFz5D3C7UVkTV0MOndXc6qVmbVoW4g58\">detained by Fiji authorities<\/a> at their Suva home late last night and deported on a flight to Brisbane this morning.<\/p>\n<p>The USP Council is due to meet in Suva tomorrow and the chancellor, Nauru Lionel Aingimea said today a statement would be made later.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/02\/04\/fiji-immigration-officials-police-detain-usp-chief-ahluwalia-reports-radio\/?fbclid=IwAR3Tswx41f_uhmeQodXz1keuK7GWFz5D3C7UVkTV0MOndXc6qVmbVoW4g58\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Fiji immigration officials, police deport USP chief Ahluwalia in swoop<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=USP+saga\">More articles on the USP saga<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In Rarotonga, the director of USP&#8217;s Cook Islands campus, Dr Debbie Futter-Puati, said the university\u2019s independence was under threat in Fiji.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to questions from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fijitimes.com\/usp-cook-islands-campus-director-universitys-independence-is-under-threat-in-fiji\/\"><em>The Fiji Times<\/em><\/a>, she questioned how the university\u2019s vice chancellor\u2019s deportation would advantage the Fijian government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe University is a private, independent educational facility owned by 12 member countries who must surely take exception to this action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sincerely hope member countries make a strong and united stance back to Fiji government on this aggressive and inappropriate action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Outrageous&#8217; act<\/strong><br \/>\nHuman rights activist and former human rights commissioner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fijitimes.com\/deported-ahluwalia-confirms\/\">Shamima Ali described the forceful removal and deportation as \u201cshameful<\/a>, outrageous and not the Pacific way\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said at a time when Fiji should be supporting victims of cyclones Yasa and Ana, government was \u201cinstead focused [on] its own petty jealousies\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Fiji?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Fiji<\/a> immigration officials, police deport <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/USP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#USP<\/a>&#8216;s reformist vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and wife in swoop <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pal_vcp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@pal_vcp<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USPEmaluscampus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USPEmaluscampus<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wansolwara?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@wansolwara<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USPWansolwara?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USPWansolwara<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShailendraBSing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShailendraBSing<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HumanRights?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HumanRights<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/education?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#education<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AsiaPacificReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AsiaPacificReport<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PacificMediaWatch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PacificMediaWatch<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vJQGMWeXqK\">https:\/\/t.co\/vJQGMWeXqK<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8Gb2R7lHO8\">pic.twitter.com\/8Gb2R7lHO8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 David Robie (@DavidRobie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidRobie\/status\/1357121007736135681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Social Democratic Liberal Party leader Viliame Gavoka condemned the arrest and deportation of Professor Ahluwalia and his wife as \u201cbarbaric treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single-cat-content\">\n<p>The University of the South Pacific Staff Union and Association of USP Staff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fijitimes.com\/joint-statement-by-unions-expressing-concerns-on-deportation-of-vc\/\">issued a joint statement today expressing \u201cgrave concern and disgust<\/a> at the FijiFirst government\u2019s&#8221; action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are alarmed by the way that the government of Fiji broke into the vice-chancellor\u2019s residence in the middle of the night (03.02.21) and orchestrated the removal of VCP Pal and his wife,\u201d the unions said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe manner in which the VCP and his wife were removed is a violation of human rights and due process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the seriousness of the decision, we demand the Fiji government &#8230; provide the justification for this Gestapo tactic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The unions said USP was a regional organisation like Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, SPREP, FFA, SPC and demanded the same respect given to any regional organisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/02\/04\/politicians-educators-advocates-blast-fijis-barbaric-expulsion-of-usp-head\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asia Pacific Report newsdesk Politicians, educators and civil society advocates around the region today condemned the \u201cbarbaric\u201d and \u201cshameful\u201d detention and deportation of the regional University of the South Pacific\u2019s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife. Reformist Professor Ahluwalia, a Canadian, and his wife, Sandra, were detained by Fiji authorities at their Suva home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1352,91,3359,428,5,495,6,118,12,6043,13,14,1743,2863,5965,5966,5967,5968],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25500"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27120,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25500\/revisions\/27120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}