Allan Krepp/European Pressphoto Agency

MELBOURNE — A takeaway kebab shop in a leafy Australian suburb seems a far cry from the troubles of Afghanistan. But even here the anguish of war and centuries-old prejudices bite.

The sinking of another boat carrying asylum seekers from Afghanistan — almost 100 died last week in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait — has left the Hazara community here anxious and disturbed.

“More boats will come,” the 29-year-old Hasan Jafari forecasts from the relative comfort of the Doner Kebab Inn, a shop he opened two months ago amid the middle-class comforts of the suburb of Ormond. “It is better to die at sea trying to get here than to be killed in Afghanistan or Pakistan.”

Hazaras, a predominantly Shiite and Persian-speaking group, have a long history of being persecuted in Afghanistan at the hands of overwhelmingly Sunni rivals: Pashtuns, Tajiks and Turks. They have been landing on the northwestern coast of Australia in significant numbers since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

The number of Hazaras in Australia has swelled to approximately 50,000, about one-third of them arriving by boat, alongside non-Hazaras from Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka.

Few of these refugees want to criticize the country that has given them a home. However, some find it difficult to remain silent about a government that claims to be acting in the interest of hard-pressed asylum seekers but has recently decided to send them to third countries whose lack of prominence in the international system and poor track record on human rights is unlikely to deliver much hope.

After successive Australian governments failed to come to grips with the influx of boat people, Prime Minister Julia Gillard endorsed a new policy: In the future, refugees will be diverted to detention centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for screening and processing.

Ostensibly designed to curtail human smuggling, this move really seems to be a response to an electorate that is threatening to end Gillard’s tenure at the next election. (A vote must be held by Nov. 30 of next year.)

According to Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare, the policy shift has prompted a kind of “going-out-of-business sale,” with smugglers offering cheap last-time deals to those contemplating the treacherous voyage. In August alone a record 1,933 asylum-seekers landed in Australia in 34 boats.

Once they arrive, refugees face highly polarized attitudes from Australians. Some are dismissed as illegal or economic migrants. Others are welcomed, particularly if they have arrived from Afghanistan where Australian soldiers have been fighting alongside U.S. troops since 2001.

Jafari, the kebab-shop owner, says doubts about the status of some asylum seekers — be they from Afghanistan and elsewhere — might be legitimate. But not so with Hazaras. In his view, violence against Hazaras in Afghanistan and Pakistan is escalating because Al Qaeda had adopted a policy directly targeting them.

“Seven Hazaras have just been killed in Quetta,” Jafari said, referring to a recent incident in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. “It happens all the time. People don’t accept us. Countries don’t accept us. But Australians do accept us, and so they must come,” he said of fellow Hazaras, all in an impeccable Aussie accent.

He knows what he speaks of. Twelve years ago, the Taliban raided his home in the city of Uruzgan. Finding his mother and a sister not wearing their all-encompassing burqas, the Taliban ordered the family to provide one son, Jafari, to fight on the frontline against Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the anti-Taliban resistance.

An uncle sold a family plot and gave Jafari $3,000. Jafari, then 16, fled to Karachi and flew to Jakarta, where he was loaded onto a boat licensed to carry 40 for a six-day voyage. There were 97 refugees onboard. By day nine, they had run out of food. “You can’t think,” Jafari said describing the ordeal. “You’re dizzy, distressed and sea sick all the time.”

After 17 days at sea his boat was picked up by the Australian navy at Ashmore Reef, between Timor and northwestern Australia, and escorted to safety. Jafari was among the first Hazara refugees to land in this country. Now, he is a pillar of the Shamama Association of Australia, a group created to assist Hazara refugees. Between grilling kebabs he plays soccer, supports Geelong’s team in Australian football. Occasionally he deejays at local nightclubs.

“Life here can be little boring,” Jafari conceded with a smile. “But it is nice. Everyone comes into my shop. There are Russians, Greeks, Indians and lots of Jews. This would never happen in Afghanistan. That is why the Hazaras must take a chance and come to Australia.

If only Australia would let them in.