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Jangpura bats for Iraq

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police confiscated a banner hanging over the balcony of a house close to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity orphanage that U.S. First Lady Laura Bush visited on Thursday. Bela Malik, a resident of Jangpura, and her friends had hung a banner that read, `Laura Bush, how about a photo-op with the orphaned, maimed, dead children of Iraq?' "The police first asked my friends and me to remove the banner. We told them that legally we were within our rights to hang a banner at my residential premises," she said.

Well before Ms. Bush's motorcade arrived there, the neighbourhood was virtually taken over by U.S. secret service agents, sniffer dogs and Delhi Police personnel. "They were taking orders from the U.S. personnel," said Ms. Malik.

Around 3 p.m., the area Station House Officer entered Ms. Malik's residence on the pretext of a routine check. "A constable had already been stationed in the balcony of my house. The Inspector asked me not to shout any slogans. We assured him that we did not want to shout any slogans or hamper Ms. Bush's visit in any way. We just wanted our banner to be displayed," said Ms. Malik.

But the police officer allegedly ordered the constable and a sub-inspector to remove the banner, said Ms. Malik. "We objected and said that this was a violation of individual rights because the banner was within my premises. But they confiscated the banner. When we objected, they began questioning the occupants in a threatening manner. The sub-inspector remained stationed in the balcony."

"In our own country, in my own residence, I am denied the right to speak the truth in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner. A white banner was a security threat to the Bush establishment!" she said, adding that local residents were not allowed to leave their homes during the period of her visit.

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