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India says Dutch regret arrest of men on U.S. plane

 

By Krittivas Mukherjee

Reuters

Friday, August 25, 2006; 7:25 AM

 

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Dutch ambassador to India has expressed regret

for the arrest of 12 passengers whose India-bound plane was diverted to

Amsterdam after their behavior triggered fears of a hijacking, a

government minister said on Friday.

 

The 12 men, all Muslims, were, however, cleared of any wrongdoing and

released and their families said they were victims of racial

discrimination.

 

 

 

The men were arrested on Wednesday from a U.S. Northwest Airlines

flight that was turned back to Amsterdam after they apparently behaved

suspiciously.

 

The Indian government said it was upset about the incident and had

conveyed its views to the Dutch ambassador after he had been summoned

to the foreign ministry.

 

" It's an incident which is not only unfortunate, it should have never

happened, " junior foreign minister Anand Sharma told reporters.

 

" Their ambassador has expressed regret. We are happy our nationals have

been released, " he said.

 

The incident has dominated national headlines and sparked angry debates

in Indian newspapers and on TV channels over whether the episode was

caused by racial profiling.

 

Relatives of the 12 men, who were expected in Mumbai later on Friday,

said they had no doubt they were targeted because they were Muslim.

 

" Can you think what we went through in the past two days? Our children

are terrorists? We are terrorists because we are Muslims? " asked Abdul

Kadir Kolsiwala, father of Ayub Kolsiwala, one of those arrested.

 

" These are times of suspicion and distrust and we Muslims have to bear

the brunt, " he told Reuters.

 

Dutch authorities said on Thursday that they had no evidence to suggest

that the men were planning a terrorist attack.

 

Family members of Ayub, a 35-year-old garment trader and a frequent

traveler who was returning from Port-of-Spain, said they expected a

written apology from Dutch officials.

 

" You tell me should someone be allowed to get away just like that after

having caused so much of harassment and trauma to so many people? "

asked Ayub's wife Sabah.

 

Kolsiwala's neighbor Sohail Nizami, who was also arrested, called his

home from Amsterdam on Friday and said they were doing fine.

 

" Everybody knows why these 12 men were targetted. Because they are

Muslims. All they were doing was joking about something and laughing, "

Rubina, Nizami's sister-in-law, told Reuters.

 

Other passengers from the detained flight, who arrived in Mumbai on

Thursday night, said they saw the 12 men exchanging seats and fidgeting

with their mobile phones.

 

" I think the men raised the crew's suspicion because they were not

listening to them and changing their seats, " said Nitin Dalal, a

passenger on the detained flight.

 

" They looked calm and did not question when they were being

handcuffed. "

 

If George Bush said that the Earth was flat, the headline would read, " Views

Differ on Shape of the Earth "