Lavenia Padarath (left) is comforted by a friend after her release. Picture
/
Reuters
Four women held hostage in the Fijian Parliament spent 36 nights in
fear of their captors and during the days were sexually harassed and
intimidated by supporters of the attempted coup.
Lavenia Padarath, one of the four released by coup leader George
Speight early yesterday, talked of their ordeal to the Herald last night.
She said simply going to the bathroom had been petrifying under the
eyes of guards.
She found solace in the Bible, other religious books, twice-daily
religious services and hymn-singing.
"Spiritually, that is what held me up for 36 days."
The 55-year-old former Women's and Culture Minister said the first two
weeks were the most terrifying, with frequent sexual remarks from
coup supporters camped in the Parliament grounds when she walked
to the bathroom in another building.
"When we had taken a shower we would be walking up the stairway
back to Parliament and men would deliberately run under the stairs
and stand there looking up at us."
Mrs Padarath was so frightened that she would drink fluids only in the
morning to avoid having to go to the toilet at night.
It was the same going outside to exercise - even at 5.30 in the
morning.
"We were just like monkeys in the zoo. They would just gather around
as if we were showpieces.
"But the soldiers did tell us that one thing Speight had told them was
we must never be hurt by anybody."
Mrs Padarath said the women feared for their safety at night and took
over the public gallery to one side of the parliamentary chamber.
At first they slept on padded public benches with personal bed linen
that was delivered, along with Bibles, the day after the coup.
In the second week, the Red Cross provided mattresses for the
hostages.
Every night, however, the women were protected by one of the male
hostage MPs, Methodist church minister the Rev Eloni Goneyali. He
pulled up one of the long public benches in the passageway to the
public gallery and slept there.
And during the early stages of the hostage drama, when the women
felt terrorised by the sound of boots patrolling Parliament after lights
went out at 7 pm, the male MPs took it in turns to stay awake outside
the women's quarters.
Mrs Padarath said that when Speight and his squad of nationalist
gunmen stormed Parliament on May 19, "I thought somebody was
playing cowboy with a play gun."
The hostages were tied up with plastic belts, starting with Prime
Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, who was made to kneel on the floor.
Mrs Padarath said the Fijian and Indian hostages were separated, the
Fijians held in the debating chamber and the Indians taken to
Government offices next door.
During the first week of negotiations, the hostages were allowed
newspapers, but "at some time we were cut off from the outside
world."
"They screened our personal letters from family members and blotted
out anything that looked political."
Mrs Padarath's husband, a former journalist, also sent her political
books and novels to fill in the long days.
She said the hostages looked forward to meals, at first twice a day,
then three times when the tension eased.
"For breakfast they gave us a piece of cake or a piece of pikelet and
for lunch a quarter of apple and orange and one-third of a banana."
Dinner was the main meal, usually chicken, fish or lamb shanks and, if
the hostages were lucky, vegetables.
"We had to fall back on our own supplies sent by family members, like
baked beans or spaghetti on hard biscuits."
Mrs Padarath said the hostages thought on Friday that they might be
released but it was not until the lights went out on Saturday night that
Speight told them they were about to be reunited with their families.
Adishwar Padarath thought he was dreaming when he heard his wife
calling from the bottom of the driveway early in the morning. "It was a
feeling of exhilaration and relief."
The other women freed about 12.30 am were Tourism Minister Adi
Koila Nailatikau - daughter of former President Ratu Sir Kamisese
Mara - Associate Health Minister Marieta Rigamto and backbench MP
Akanisi Koroitmana.
* Fiji's political crisis worsened last night with the complete breakdown
of peace talks.
Lieutenant-Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said the military had given
George Speight all the concessions it would.
"We are willing to sign the accord as we agreed ... but beyond that we
just see an endless list of demands."
The Army hinted yesterday that the freeing of the women removed
one of Speight's trump cards and an impediment to an assault to free
the remaining 27 hostages.
This site is best viewed using Netscape 4.0 or higher.
Any problems or kind suggestions, please email: webmaster@lookinglassdesign.com
last revision July 13, 2000