contd:
In the interrogation room, I was offered a chair. The
officer locked the room behind saying that he would come
back soon. It was about ten minutes, I sat silent in the room all by myself and I had to suppress my feelings of helplessness and it felt for the first time ever being arrested, the feeling which I never have experienced in India or Kashmir.
The
officer finally came and said that he wants me to have a frank conversation for 5 minutes. I laughed and said to him, “From last 35 minutes I have been very frank”. His reply was plain but reassuring, “I am sorry but this is our duty”. This reminded me of the same excuse used by the Indian soldiers after completing a humiliating search operation in our houses in Kashmir – “This is our duty”.
The officer seemed unfazed by my ‘frank’ answers that he started another volley of “frank
questions”, asking me why, I was using a walking stick. I explained it to him that it was due to the artificial limb I am using. “Why was my leg amputated?” came another question. I told him that I was injured in a landmine blast. “Was it while planting the mine”, came the cold hearted response in utter disregard to my condition and my feelings and suffering. I had to narrate the whole story of the accident, after which he asked me who I blamed for this injury. I conveyed as there are many secret hands operating in Kashmir, so therefore it was very difficult to say who actually laid that landmine. I actually didn’t want to explain everything to the officer as the issue for me is so complex and painful.
By that time another officer joined him for questioning. The officer wanted to check my bag, which I agreed. While looking in my bag the officer took out some articles and CDs. The officer wanted to photocopy an article in one magazine, which I had written about the enforced disappearances in Kashmir. I suggested the officer to take more copies and give it to his colleagues to read about the situation in Kashmir. The officer took away the CDs and the magazine and some other papers, although he had sought the permission only for that article but I didn’t resist as there was nothing to conceal.
This wasn’t the end, the officer now wanted to ask few more “frank questions” and wanted to know more about my viewpoint about the “Islamic militants” of Kashmir and if I meet them at all. I informed him that the Kashmiri militants were not so easily accessible that every Kashmiri would meet them. He was not satisfied and said, “But the people support them”. Now I was exasperated and I asked him whether he was on duty for the Indian government, as I didn’t feel these questions were relevant at all for the national security of the Great Britain. Reacting on what I said, the officer bragged the terrorist activities surveillance because of which they were questioning me. I asked them, what makes them feel that I am a “suspect terrorist”. Ignoring me, he asked another “frank question”, “Do I visit mosques in Glasgow and what is my impression about the extremists in United Kingdom?” I told him that as a Muslim it was my religious right to visit a mosque and having an opinion about the extremists in the UK was not necessary for me. He again asked, “Which mosque?” I told him about the mosque, which I have been visiting since I am in UK. The officer still wanted to know my perception about the extremists and the protest demonstrations in London against the blasphemous cartoons. I told him, that I was against extremism of all kinds and in its all forms.
I had already spent more than an hour with the cops and their questions and attitude was draining my energy and emotion. I asked them as to what more do I need to do to prove myself as innocent. One of the officers now was thanking me for being patient and fully cooperative. I feigningly asked him what was the other option I had. He smiled and said, “People make their own choices”.
Finally I was told that I was cleared and could go now. Now it was my turn for “frank questions” and I asked, “Was I detained for being a “suspect terrorist”? The officer replied that they have no other way to check people. I asked him what made me a suspect and pat came his reply. “Your beard and the walking stick. You are young and this stick doesn’t go with your youth and beard”. His answer was not a surprise to me but I again asked, “Isn’t this stereotyping”. The officer again replied, “It is my duty”.
I am not writing this piece to blame the officers for performing their ‘duty’, but this is to ask some “frank questions” about these stereotypes and perceptions? What is the price a “suspect terrorist” might have to pay or the community in general?
And, what would be the impact of these stereotypes and this ignorant behaviour of the Police force on the entire community and what can be the possible responses.