Karnataka - Bangalore   

Haneef calls press, says nothing

BANGALORE: It was a media conference that saw a number of questions being passed without offering any comment. Many questions were left unanswered by Mohammed Haneef who addressed presspersons on Wednesday to put forward his views on the remarks made by the Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews that he had prior knowledge of the Glasgow attack.

Even before he started fielding questions from the media, Dr. Haneef said: “My lawyer has advised me not to make any direct comments or direct allegations before the visa matter is finalised before the Australian court and any comment would come from my legal team.”

Using the August 8 hearing on his bail application as an excuse, he refused to answer questions and reiterated: “I cannot comment or elaborate on the topic at the moment.” Answers remained the same whether it was a question on an alleged dossier prepared by the Bangalore police linking him to the Al Qaeda or even when he was asked to explain his conspiracy theory blaming the Australian police.

The same fate awaited questions on the transcript of the chat with his brother. Was his exit from Australia hurried?

“I cannot really comment on this topic at this point of time because there are lot of issues with my visa.”

Was he surprised by the continuing allegations? “I do not know. I cannot really comment on that.”

It was only at the end of the conference that his wife’s relative Imran Siddiqui said Dr. Haneef needed time to regain himself. He said: “We are in a fix to answer your questions when you keep on asking us questions.

“Our legal team does not want us to comment on the issue now because that would affect their arguments.

“Give him some time and once the hearing is over we will be in a position to comment on it.”

At the end of the conference, journalists, who had scrambled to the venue at such sort notice, were left wondering why they had been called in the first place.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Drop all planned SEZs, says Opposition
‘Open BangaloreOne-type centres in districts’
APMC yards in State remain shut
Iqbal Ansari shifts stance
Opposition stages walkout in Council
Observe restraint, State BJP leaders told
Special package sought for nomadic shepherds
E-procurement to take off in a month
Devadasis seek pension benefits
Sand lorry owners begin strike today
Haneef calls press, says nothing
Special trains for Onam
Canara Bank pays dividend
Engineer suspended
Actor’s daughter steals the show
Government employees get a taste of e-governance
Col. Vasanth cremated
Nokia opens its design studio
Casual vacancy rounds for Indian medicine systems begins today
Recreation club owner murdered Crime notes
briefly
Youth Congress leader arrested in land deal
Dak Adalat
Coral fish seized
In Bangalore Today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu