Iwas at the mumbai international airport a couple of days back and i noticed that the security staff at the airport was stopping all the european(whites) for no reason and they opened the baggages of all the european travellers. They seemed to be boarding the jet Airways flight to London.They seemed harassed and our security staff was courteous to them and although they were doing their duty wellthey seemed to irritate the europeans.
I think there was good enough reason this time. Speeking in a different language is not a crime and the incidence earlier this month or in Dallas were wrong. But this time in Amsterdam the Airline crews were right. Situation around the world in tense. People in aircraft should follow the regulation and prevent such things from happening. Its not tough to follow regulations in the aircraft.
The crew were right in what they did, after all they doing it for the safety of the passengers. These 12 pple didnt know how to behave in the plane and they are the ones who have caused so much hardships on the fellow passengers. And before crying about racism let us not forget that most of the terrrorism is coming from asia.
But we have to note that uptill now we have heard only one side of the story, so before making any conclusions we should hear what the 12 people have to say.
About my expiriences, i travel to Israel regularly It is their policy to check all non-jewishs pple before check-in. all the bags are opened, shoes checked, and its a lot of trouble. Its very frustrating standing in the queue and facing all the checks while your fellow jew just walks in. But we have to understand the threat they are facing. We should also keep in mind that they have dominated their region even though they are in minority, and we Indians cant seem to be doing anything. And when i m irritated I always remind myself that the jewish gov brought back a hijacked flight with most of the passengers safe, while our government had to release hardcore militants in exchange of a hijacked flight
I do not understand the stupidity of the media in trying to portray this incident as having anything connected with being racist. What those 12 people did (not listening to the flight attendants/captain) was just plain stupid, and in sensitive areas, especially like an aeroplane, nothing is more paramount than security. We cannot err on the side of the security. It is really irritating to see that the media, including Rediff, trying to portray that what happened in this incident is racially connected. Even if the 12 people were not Muslims, or Indians, even if they had been Americans or Britishers, the same would have been done. Those 12 people had no business whipping out their mobile phones and trying to talk into them, and looking "suspiciously" into plastic bags. That was JUST PLAIN STUPID! Nothing else!
........and don't move, breathe if you really really will have to, close ur eyes, don't speak, don't do anything, don't even fart AND maybe then, just maybe you'll reach your destination.
This is in jest air-travel in the US and Europe now-a-days. Their self proclaimed "War On Terror" has seriously backfired upon them. All these talks on red/orange terron levels and passenger planes being escorted by fighter jets or planes diving to nearest airport at the drop of a hat (or as in this case few people not obliging the "fasten seatbelt" sign and passing on mobile phones) was unthinkable.
Osama must be laughing his heart out sitting comfortably inside his cave in Pakistan/Afghanistan.
Yes, passengers are recially profiled (In fact after the UK bombings last year, when people were randomly searched, they were given this particular reason for being singled out very politely). They have a briefing from higher ups as to who they should single out based on various criteria -- apperance being one of them. It is demeaning, but, may be essential for safety and if done without malice, is not anything more than an irritant. In the case of NW 42, if the passengers were moving about when the seat belt sign was on and were also "using" their mobiles, they needed stern warnings for sure. You have to abide by the rules when traveling like this. What is incredible is that the pilot called fighter jets and also assessed the situation to be so grave when nothing came of it. The Air Marshall could have easily assessed the risk (why would a terrorist attract attention to himself if he plans some violence?). I wonder how much it would have cost NW or the Dutch authorities to satisfy the captain's paranoiaa ???
I know this will create a furore in India and everyone wil be falling over themselves to declare that this was at racism at work. I think the passengers were very much at fault. They repeatedly broke rules and obviously alarmed the crew and other passengers. Usage of cellphones is not allowed. Getting up during take off is silly. When a member of a crew requests you to do something, you should. I think the people were to blame. I know if I was on a plane where a large group of people, black white or brown, behave in this manner, I'd want the crew to be suspicious.
Not true. I have been staying in the US for 6 years. And I have travelled more than 100 times by Air. Some years ago I had a big beard and I still have my drivers licence (which is used as identification) and not once have I been stopped for extra security. I think the TSA knows exactly what they are doing and their measures are appropriate. They have many a times stopped White people for extra checks also. Precaution is better than cure. And there is one more thing to remember here as in the words of some Radio Jornalist who mentioned it on Fox news or CNN, "All Muslims are not terrorists, but (recently) all terrorists are Muslims" It is sad..but it is true...How can someone kill or plan to kill innocent people? What kind of mentality is this? And what kind of God allows to do this? Is the definition of Sin and Virtue so ambigious?
Why blame racial discrimination? Few people, as I understand, did not follow instructions which are very basic while taking-off and landing of aircrafts, in spite of warning. Because of those few passengers all others were put into difficulties. Why blame Dutch security? Yes, Dutch have overreacted. But given recent happenings in LHR, one can not really blame them. Secondly we Asians, especially Indians have habit of treating white skin people as superior to us. Then why should we blame white people when they treat us with inferior approach? Self respect does not mean, one can go scot free. With Islamic fundamentalists, may be in small number, moving around with jihad in mind, all Muslims will go under scan. I understand even our Vandematarm has been termed as un-Islamic!!!! So how Muslims will get respect?
