Who, What, Why?

Who are the 12?
After confusion over their identities, it wasestablished that the 12 were Indians. Those detained were identified as SohailAbdul Aziz Nizami, Ayub Qadir, Sajid Qadir, Yusuf Haji Ghaffar Memon, NurMohammed Batliwala, Shakeel Usman Chotani, Ayub Khan, Ehsan Farooqi, GhulamMustafa, Mohammed Yusuf, Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Iqbal Batliwala..

In the age group of 24 and 50, all belong to Mumbai.According to Imran Chappalwala, brother of Sajid Chappalwala, one of thedetained passengers 'My brother had gone abroad to put up a stall in aninternational fair in West Indies. He was returning to Mumbai via Amsterdam. Allthe 12 are into export-import business. We are all genuine people who dobusiness in South Africa, Mauritius and West Indies. We have been living inMumbai for the last 30 years.'

But why were they arrested?
Eye-witness accounts vary, as do reports. After they were handcuffed and taken off the USairliner, a US government official said, 'It was behaviour that averagepassengers wouldn't do.' He claimed crew members and air marshals observed thepassengers attempting to use cell phones and passing cell phones amongthemselves while the airliner was taking off. (After the captain radioedAmsterdam seeking permission to return with a military escort, routine securitymeasures were swiftly put into place and F-16 fighters scrambled from a northernmilitary air field and Northwest Airlines Flight NW0042 bound for Mumbai with149 aboard returned to Schiphol Airport).

Varying passenger accounts:
Bharat Menon remarked 'The cabin crew was repeatedly asking the passengers tofasten their seat belts when one of the passengers received a call on his cellphone. The person, who was travelling in Economy Class along with his friendsthen spoke a bit excitedly over the phone....The behaviour of these men wassuspicious and they were handing the cell phones to each other.'

The Algemeen Dagblad newspaper quoted NitinPatel of Boston, who sat behind the men in Business Class, as saying 'I don'tknow how close we were, but my gut tells me these people wanted to hijack theairplane.'

A passenger, who was not identified, told NOS TV hesat next to one of the men and saw nothing suspicious.

A third, who identified herself only as Alpa, told APTelevision News some of the men appeared to be of South Asian ethnicity.

Antunius Slotboom, who arrived in Mumbai along with other passengers, said 'The way they got arrested insidethe plane with everybody seeing how they got treated, I though it was inhuman...They were treated like dogs. They did not hit them (the Indians) but they pushedthem. They let them surely feel that they have no power, that the people whoarrested them had all the power. They came to me and said, okay you come with us and youare not allowed to fly any more. (Slotboom claimed he too was kicked off theplane after he remarked that the arrests were akin to what the Germans had doneunder Hitler during World War II). Nitin Dalal said the arrested men 'were not listeningto the crew and did things that made the crew suspicious'.

Were they charged?
Minister of state for external affairs,Anand Sharmainitially said: 'The information we received says that they have beenarrested for flight disruption and not terrorist acts.' But after the Dutchprosecutors found no evidence of a terrorist threat, the minister sayscharges against them would not be pressed.

Dutch prosecution spokesman Ed Hartjes announced the 12were free to leave the Netherlands, but their baggage, which included laptopsand hard disk drives, would remain as part of the investigation.

He defended the decision to return the flight toAmsterdam under F-16 escort as a 'correct response under the circumstances,given that the men were exchanging mobile telephones, which were not allowed tobe used during flight, and refused requests from the flight crew to sit down andbuckle their seat-belts'.

Hartjes said a thorough investigation of the equipment the men carried showed 'thephones were not manipulated and no explosives were found on board the plane'.

'From the statements of the suspects and the witnesses, no evidence could bebrought forward that these men were about to commit an act of violence.' He saidthe men were cooperative after their arrest and had all given declarations topolice.

The spokesman said it was up to Norwthwest Airlinesand the Dutch Defense Ministry to decide whether they would try to recover costsfrom the 12 for the diverted flight, scrambling the F-16s, and for the 137passengers who spent Wednesday (23 August, the day of the incident) in localhotels.

What has been the official Indian reaction?
After the identity of the 12 was established (theIndian Mission had asked the Dutch government to confirm whether the arrestedpeople carried Indian passports or that of any other country. Under the ViennaConvention, the Indian government can seek consular access to them only if theycarry Indian passports), minister of state for External Affairs Anand Sharmaannounced 'We got the consular access and our mission has been informed by theDutch Justice authorities that the charges will not be pressed and these personswill be released soon. The government does not have details of why the 12persons were detained in the first place and on what ground except for what wassaid under a clause which deals with violence on board a flight and also for thedisruption of flight. We are very happy and relieved that the ordeal (for the12) is over.'

Updated on 25 August:
Dutch Ambassador (to India) Eric Niehe was summoned bySecretary (West) Shashi U Tripathi and told that the way the 12 men were treatedwas 'not in conformity with the friendly relations between the two countries.We have taken strong notice of this development. It is not only unfortunate, itshould have never happened,' Sharma said.

He said the Dutch government has expressed regret overthe incident.

MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters 'We lodged a strong protest at the waythe incident was handled. The manner of treatment of the Indians was objectionable. No evidence has beenfound of any reason for this detention (of the 12 men). So there are no charges.India has been shocked by the incident.

He hoped the incident would 'not be reflective oflarger issues'.

Describing the incident as 'unfortunate and regrettable',Sarna said the Dutch ambassador was told that such actions could 'lead topresumption of profiling', an inference to racial or religious discrimination.

Sarna said it took tremendous effort on the part of thegovernment of India and the Indian mission in the Hague to get consular accessto the detained Indians.

Till last evening, the Dutch authorities did notconfirm the nationality of the detained people as they were checking.

India's Charge d'Affaires in The Hague, Riva GangulyDas, met the Indians last night for two hours and listened to everything theyhad to say.

She assured them steps would be taken for their safereturn home.

The Dutch reaction post-release:
The Netherlands has assured India that it will furnishby 26 August evening complete details on the incident. Theassurance was conveyed by Dutch Ambassador Eric Niehe to the Ministry ofExternal Affairs. A similar assurance has been given by The Netherlandsgovernment to the Indian Mission in The Hague.

However, it denied that its envoy had apologised toDelhi. 'The ambassador explained to the Indian authorities what happened butthere was no question of an apology," a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesmansaid in The Hague.