www.expressindia.com - Weather | Horoscope | Stocks | RSS
expressindia web city
HomeBlogsCricketAstrology TendersClassifieds Reader Comments Hotels
Sign In / Register | Archive
Expressindia » Story

Nine Muslims removed from US flight

Font Size

Agencies

Posted: Jan 02, 2009 at 1838 hrs IST

Washington Nine Muslims, most of them of South Asian descent, were ordered off a domestic US flight after co-passengers overheard what they thought was a “suspicious remark,” a media report said on Friday.

The nine, all but one of them US-born citizens, were taken off off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport on Thursday after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a remark about security.

The group, which was headed to a religious retreat in Florida, was subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterised the incident as a “misunderstanding,” Washington Post quoted an airport official as saying.

Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began after his brother Atif and his brother's wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

“My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security,” Irfan said. “The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety.” Irfan, 34, said he and the others think they were profiled because of their appearance. He said five of the six adults in the party are of South Asian descent, and all six are traditionally Muslim in appearance, with the men wearing beards and the women in headscarves.

Irfan is an anesthesiologist. His brother, 29, is a lawyer. They were travelling with their wives, Irfan's sister- in-law, a friend and Kashif's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2.

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson defended the handling of the incident by the company, which he said strictly followed federal rules.

Due to the incident, all 104 passengers were re-screened and their luggage checked before allowing the flight to take off two hours late and without the nine passengers.

Discuss this story on expressindia forums
Post Comments
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
Message*
Characters remaining
 
TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
KSA/RADHA by SANTOSH on 04 Jan 2009

Radha is taking an opportunity to malign a country or countries un connected with this episode which is sad. You please go and ask other non muslims whether they experience any such behaviour as depicted Radha in Gulf Countries. Gulf Countries are home for many indians of different religious beleifs and if you propogate these studpidity, the local population will definitely turn against us.

WHY MAKE AN ISSUE by RAFI on 03 Jan 2009

iT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE ,THE SAME WILL HAPPEN IN FUTURE AND NOT ONLY WITH MUSLIMS IT HAS HAPPENED WITH SIKHS AND CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE. tHE PROBLEM LIES WITH THE MEDIA WHICH BRINGS IN THE RELIGION FACTOR, THEY WHERE DOUBTFULL BECAUSE OF THEIR DISCUSSION NOT RELIGION IF SO THEY COULD HAVE BEEN STOPPED BEFORE THEY BOARDED.i BEING A MUSLIM IF SOMEBODY SITTING NEXT TO ME IS DOUBTFULL KNOWING HE IS OF THE SAME RELIGION WILL DO THE SAME AND COMPLAIN. bUT WHAT I SEE HERE THE AMERICAND AND OTHER FORIEGN NATIONALS DO HAVE SOME SYMPATHY AND APOLOGISE BUT THE INDIANS ARE HAPPY AND ENJOYING THIS SAME IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARE ON A FLIGHT OF ANY MUSLIM COUNTRY AND WE SHALL SEE HOW YOU ARE GOING TO RESPOND. wHAT EVER IS WRONG IS WRONG. tHIS IS NOT A RELIGIOS OR RACE BUT ONLY MEDIA WHICH IS MAKING YOU HAPPY FOR AWHILE.

Better safe than sorry by Dipak on 03 Jan 2009

Better safe than sorry. These guys have only themselves to blame and actually deserve to be thouroughly interogated for links with Islamic terrorists

They will be sorry by Saccha Gujarati on 03 Jan 2009

i assure you that the airline industry will come out with a sorry, I bet you. Jai Hind

System by Deepti on 03 Jan 2009

U.S. system is not paralyzed as is the case with India. Here, they pay first attention to safety of people then soothing of religious preacher.

Securities did right, well done by sk on 03 Jan 2009

For the US, it is a right thing to avoid a tragedy might have been happened. No body sould question it. If anything would happened, the securities would have been blamed. Four or five people without arms may be sufficient to hijack a plane, God knows.

Secuity is prime important by Bharat on 03 Jan 2009

Expression of faith, language, culture are to be upholded at any cost. In the same time secuity would be full proof. At least this incident should make open moderate pople's eyes wide open, if they are thinking nothing wrong in supporting or hiding information about terrorists and their paths.

facists by syed on 03 Jan 2009

Absolutely correct action by the airline. These very muslims go and protest the israeli airstrikes in front of the white house. these patheticx rascalss dont care about who precipitated the current crisis - only concern is about muslims.....tibet, kashmir ethnic cleansing, godhra are non -issues...but palestine and gujarat riots are biggest issues...beat the hell out of these inhuman facists.

Don't blame! by Ramesh on 03 Jan 2009

Don't blame airport security. It is those Islamic terrorists brought Islam such a disgrace low.

Treat on par by Shiva Gopalakrishnan on 03 Jan 2009

I do not have a problem with the extra safety check. The big question is, will they do the same thing if the 6 people looked full fledged American.

Muslims removed from flight by NR Srinivasan on 03 Jan 2009

First of all I do not know why it is said that these are muslims of south asian origin. Was it difficult to say they were of Pakistani or Bangladeshi or Indian origin? I find the muslims taking a saddistic pleasure in saying south asian orgin (in order to implicate India also when it comes to bad publicity). Secondly, due to these muslim terrorists everywhere, people like me, who is a Hindu, is subjected to scrutiny in international airports, simply because these muslims also look like us. Lastly, I do not know why make a fuss about checking these people, about whom, we know nothing. Thank god they were checked and safety was ensdured. People prefer safety, even at the cost of some inconvenience.

Indo Pak by Shri Dixit on 03 Jan 2009

This is the best example of how to protect one's country! I admire US and President Bush after 9/11 the way US and its citizens are protected. I read some reader's reactions here of people claiming to be "Pakistanis" but could be Indian muslims in disguise spewing venom against Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and some of their own brethern. These guys should know that in eyes of western and US world, Pakistanis are always treated with "suspecious" and after 9/11, some of them went to Canada as they started feeling "heat"! Pakistan is not known for its civility, no industrial base, no scientific achievements except the one they showed through a thief like A.Q.Khan. Pakistanis should also know that they suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of Indians during 1971 and Kargil wars, with 96,000 of their armymen captured as POWs. By stealing nuclear technology from Dutch lab and exchaning that with missile technology from North Korea do not make Pakistan great!

airline problems by kul bhushan on 03 Jan 2009

it is really challenge to all .In a country like US , with wide freedoms guaranteed under the law most people want to challenge every infraction.In the scheme of things if it happened in India or Pakistan and China no body would here about it .It is sad at the same time.This exposure make us all aware of the problems in the system.We can learn not to raise false alarm by flaunting our freedoms.Authorities can be more respectful.It is american way to challge authority.It reminds me of old Soviet Joke that like americans they could also curse american president and system.Hope this pendulum swings back to moderation again.

Prisoners in their own act by GK on 03 Jan 2009

They have become prisoners of their own act. Its good that airlines in US are taking such a preventive steps.

Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay by P Dalvi on 03 Jan 2009

If you've seen the film.... you know how this incident must have happened. This is racism being made acceptable under the name of national security... because after all, if a person is brown, and has a muslim sounding - he, therefore, must be a terrorist !!

Indian people to learn a lesson and stay away from minority appeasement just to stay in power. by gary on 03 Jan 2009

your minister Antulay can go scot free after dividing India by playing religious card and weakened India's resolve to fight terrorism. This does not happen in USA and that is why we could control these bad elements.

Strictness by Abdul Faiz on 03 Jan 2009

Whats wrong in being a little cautious about security. from the story it seems they were dis embarked because of there discussions rather than religion. Its not wise to bring in religion everytime.

Muslims removed from US flight by Arun on 03 Jan 2009

It is a shame for US claiming itself to be a democracy-the passengers should sue the airline for insult and harassment

Great incidence, the so called moderate Muxlim must know that they will also pay for terrorism. by U N S Ecular on 03 Jan 2009

It was a correct action. Muxlims deserve this. Again and again it has been shown that their so called moderates and professionals, lawyers, doctors, women, children whatever, are a source of insecurity and terror attacks as well. They may call themselves moderates, but have consistently sided with brutal satanic mullas and their jehadis. The so called moderates in Ixlam must realise that they will also pay for the acts of their mullas and co-religionists. If this continues, sooner or later they will consider giving up the evil ideology of Ixlam, and come into mainstream. It is in the interest of civil society to make an Ixlamic life intolerable to root out the viral ideology of Ixlam.

Muslims by zee on 03 Jan 2009

i saw your remarks today. could you please name a place where muslims are aggressers? was Bhagat singh a freedom fighter or terrorist. having said that i do agree killing of innocent civilians in any form or shape should be hated and condemend, however this should be for all. e.g when israel attacks palestinians cities we use 'veto' to deny un to take any action against it. is not this terrorism??? it is as condemndable as a suicide bomber attack on civilians.regards,

smell of anti muslim by Sakeel on 03 Jan 2009

your remarks regarding against islam just stink and I CAN FEEL YOUR diarreha and the vomit on those victims. Go to hell, u ecular but pecular HATE SPREADER.

Unfortunate but necessary by Jay on 03 Jan 2009

There is a reason why US is not attacked after 9-11 and incidents like this are unfortunate but necessary to keep the religious fanatics away from creating havoc as we often see in countries like India.

Nine Muslims removed from flight by Ram on 02 Jan 2009

One may argue that Americans are paranoid about their security, but they paid a big price for their generocity over the last many decades. The worst offenders in most of the atrocitie have always been Moslems. It is better to be safe than sorry. Thanks to the strong leadership, culprits in incidents like recent Mumbai terror rarely go unpunished. It is another thing that idiots like Antulay and Laloo can never be leaders in this great country. Some lessons for India to learn.

Perception by Natarajan on 02 Jan 2009

What is happening is wrong - muslims in general are being targetted for the crime of few fantatics within their community. The only way to remove the wrong perception is for the muslims to work actively in identifying the black sheep within their community and hand them over to the authorities. When this starts happening in large scale, the perception will change as well as the motivation to the terrorists.

Any flights and muslims by James on 02 Jan 2009

Who do you blame this for? The law, the enforcers or people who do not trust muslims any more? Fact is muslims (fundamentalists) have been responsible for every major terrorist attacks in disturbed parts around the world. While not muslims are like that there not being able to understand this simple thing means deep inside they are not seeing this in right manner. If you have to save any flight or a building with few more thousand people than the option of screening people who look suspicious makes sense than not doing anything. Living in US or any other non-muslim country is not by force, US security was not like this before but now it has to do it. Even blacks in US complain of being racially profiled but they are the ones responsible for more crimes in certain parts of the country so what can police do?There is no instrument invented yet which can tell what you are going do or if are innocent or guilty ! Until that time any group, race, religion can be in this situation.

How traitors are delt in other countries by Nassuruddin Sheikh on 02 Jan 2009

Antulay and Digvijaysing and mny like them had disputed the Indian Govy's claim that the Terrorists Act resulting death and wouunding of hundreds of innoceant people was Pak instigated,all of them behind the bars long ago.Let traityor Antulay and Sing repeat what they all4eged and conducted they did i9n and outside the Parliament they and their like would have detained indefinately under the OS Laws.

Safety and US Flights by Raj on 02 Jan 2009

But. whatever media reports... security comes firts.. Jehadis can come in any shape and form... Better safe than sorry.

Disembarked Muslim family by Paul on 02 Jan 2009

God, the Father knows the hearts of all persons, Muslim and Christian, Hindu, and Jew,but we, as humans, don't have a clew. So what do you think it is best to do?Fly with the thought that passengers could die by possibly falling out of the sky?Thank God for people who hear other's words and report what they hear from men wearing beards. The muslims today may be friend or foe, they only know where they want to go. The rest of mankind must all be alert, for some from the Muslims do want to hurt, Christians especially, who some think are "dogs" and like the prophet Isaiah would put them in logs and saw them in two, so to help me and you to be kept and not slain, the USA Government makes laws very plain, I appreciate such laws, yet I know full well that even with such laws we can all land in hell, for freedom of speech can affect you and me, and can take away all liberty. To those who were put off the plane, so sorry for you, but please come again! (Happy Holidays!)

Rhyming Comment by Mittal on 03 Jan 2009

Superb! Applause!!

Latest News

Business

Showbiz

Sports

Cloud in golden lining: Few checks, high risks

13/7 arrests have exposed 'Bihar connection': Raj Thackeray

Sonia launches scathing attack on SAD-BJP in Punjab

Ramdev behind shoe thrown at Rahul: Digvijay

Jaipur litfest: Salman Rushdie video address cancelled, venue owner refuses permissio...

US defends Leno's right to free speech; applauds Sikh-Americans

2011 'disappointing' for human rights in India, finds HRW

More
© 2011 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved
Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Express Group | Site Map