In situations like these, the police are always in a catch 22 situation. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they do any sort of investigation, even the routine ones that do not violate anybody's right in any way, they will still be accused of over reaction, state terror, Islamophobia and what not. If they don't do, and if a bomb goes off in the neighborhood, they are finished.
Even in Dr Haneef's case, I think the Oz police did only things that are naturally expected of them. At least prima facie, there was suspicious behaviour on Haneef's part (the sim card, the one way ticket etc.) No investigative agency in their right minds should pass up the evidence. However, having done their work and found Haneef to be innocent, he was let off in less than a month (compare this to undertrials rotting in Indian jails for years, if not decades). The media hype (ആദ്യം കുറുപ്പിന്റെ നെഞ്ചത്ത്, പിന്നെ കളരിക്കുപുറത്ത്) that followed was nauseating, to say the least. In the case of the gentleman discussed in this thread, I don't find it objectionable that people (and the police) get suspicious - it is a natural human reaction (which has great survival value by the way) and nothing short of thought policing a la the communist states of yore could criminalize suspicion, anger or even hatred (and the consequences are too frightening even to contemplate). The important question is whether the said gentleman's constitutional rights have been violated. If they are, it is a serious issue as long as he hasn't broken any law (even if he has, he still has to be dealt with according to the law). Now, about the connection between Islam/Muslims (I really understand the two are different, but for brevity's sake): it is not Bush nor Blair that made this connection first, nor does it time and again - it is the Islamists themselves that do it. The objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the first modern Islamist organization established by Hassan al-Banna are laid out thus: *"Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur'an is our law. Jihad <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad> is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." *This tradition of associating violent conquest with the aims and objectives of Islam continues to this day. In his latest video, bin Laden states: 'By Him in whose hands my life is! I would love to attack and be martyred. This glorious prophet who was inspired by God summarized this entire life by these words. He wished upon himself this status. Happy is one who was chosen by God as a martyr'. It is the bin Ladens and al Zawahiris who associate Islam with violence, it is they who justify acts of terrorism on religious scripture, jurisprudence and practice. Islamophobia: this word, originally coined to denote the racial [sic] exclusion of Muslims, is today used to cow down genuine and informed critics of Islamic theology and practices (the CAIR, which is an Islamist lobby group in the US, successfully prosecutes this strategy). No intellectual in his senses would want that label, hence will think twice before criticizing Islam. Unfortunately, the space vacated by them is occupied by rightwing fundamentalists of other religious persuasions whose agenda may not be very different from that of the Islamists. Best regards, Murali. On 7/28/07, Muraleedharan Tharayil <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > > In this regard, I would like to share the experiences of a friend of > mine. He is a Muslim from Madhyapradesh, brought up mostly in Hyderabad, > who, at the age of 44, decided to settle down in Kerala because he is a poet > and has great fascination for green surroundings. > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. - Joseph Stalin To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the paredon (The Wall)! - Che Guevara -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
