The Hindu : Front Page : Australian police permitted to question Haneef

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Sunday, Jul 08, 2007
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Australian police permitted to question Haneef

P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has hinted that “there is a possible connection” between the recent terror plots in the United Kingdom and an Indian doctor still being held in Brisbane under counter-terrorism laws.

Mohammed Haneef is under a detention order, and the Australian police have obtained judicial permission to hold him for questioning until Monday night to determine whether he should be freed or charged with a terror offence or even extradited to the U.K. if necessary.

Speaking on Friday about this case, at a community event in New South Wales, Mr. Howard said he discussed with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown the fight against terrorism in the context of the recent events in the U.K. and the “possible” link involving the detained Indian. Hastening to add that “the man [Dr. Haneef] has not been charged with anything,” Mr. Howard emphasised that he was only referring to a possibility.

Mr. Howard made this comment even as the Australian security agencies interrogated five other Indians, none of whom was arrested. Earlier, one more Indian, Mohammed Asif Ali, was “interviewed” by the police and released.

Australian officials have insisted that all those being interrogated were not necessarily suspects. In all, nearly 31,000 seized documents were being sifted through, Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said.

Dr. Ali is believed to have seen off Dr. Haneef at the Brisbane airport before the latter was taken into custody there last Monday. Local reports describe how Dr. Ali has been warmly welcomed by his colleagues back into their fraternity after the police gave him a clean bill of innocence. There are also reports that some Australian patients have been reluctant to get treated by Indian doctors after hearing about Dr. Haneef’s detention. One estimate is that nearly 20,000 medical practitioners in Australia are foreign-trained out of a total of 50,000 in the country.

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