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Saturday, Aug 26, 2006

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Strong protest lodged with Dutch envoy

Amit Baruah

"Treatment of Indians not in conformity with friendly relations between India and the Netherlands"

PHOTO: PTI

BACK HOME AFTER ORDEAL: Karan Singh, one of the passengers on a Mumbai-bound U.S. plane of the North West Airlines that was escorted back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, gets a hug from his mother in Mumbai on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: India has lodged a strong protest with the Netherlands against the way Dutch authorities handled the detention of 12 Mumbai residents, all of them Indian nationals, after they were taken off a Northwest Airlines flight in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesman told presspersons that Secretary (West), Shashi Tripathi, on Friday summoned Dutch Ambassador E.F.C.H. Neihe and informed him that the manner in which the 12 Indian nationals were treated was not in conformity with friendly relations between India and the Netherlands.

"Incident shocking"

Asked if India expected an apology, the spokesman said: "We've lodged a strong protest, we've said we are shocked at the incident, we've said this is not in keeping with friendly relations. I think the response that is required is self-evident."

"No reason" had been found for the detention and no charges had been brought against the Mumbai residents. The Ambassador was informed that India took the handling of the incident "very seriously."

Mr. Neihe informed Ms. Tripathi that he would find out "all the details" from his headquarters and get back to New Delhi.

In response to questions, the spokesman said it was likely that the 12 men would be debriefed on their arrival in Mumbai.

"I also understand that as part of the conversation [with Mr. Neihe] it was mentioned that such action can lead to a presumption of [racial] profiling and the Dutch Ambassador did respond by saying that he himself belonged to a multi-ethnic country and certainly that [racial profiling] was not their intention," the spokesman added.

Safe return

Pointing out that these persons had already met India's Charge d'Affaires at The Hague, Riva Ganguly Das, for two hours after consular access was granted on Thursday night, the spokesman said that Ms. Das had assured the 12 men of their safe return home.

It took a lot of "persuasion" on the part of the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands to "get to the point where we could get" consular access, the spokesman said.

Asked if the Ministry intended raising the detention with Northwest Airlines, he said that "at the moment" the matter has been raised with the Dutch authorities.

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