The Amsterdam incident of August 24, 2006, in which 12 Indian Muslims--two of them reportedly with beard and in typical Indian dress and the other 10 without beard in Westerndress--were handcuffed by the Air Marshals of an American North-West Airlines flight, removed from the plane and detained for questioning by the Amsterdam Police for 48 hours before being released has created justifiable anger in some sections of the Indian civil society.
Accounts from their fellow-passengers fall into two categories. Those from fellow-Indians do speak of the 12 indulging in unruly behaviour on board the aircraft after it had taken off, but not yet reached the cruising height, when the "fasten seat belts" lights are switched off by the pilot. Their unruly behaviour consisted of not obeying the instructions of the flight stewards/stewardesses to remain seated and not to use theircell phones while on flight. Their behaviour towards each other was alsoboisterous. None of these accounts has criticised the action of the Air Marshals in advising the pilot to fly back to Amsterdam and in having them arrested and handed over to the police. But they have criticised the use of handcuffs.
The accounts from some of the white-skinned fellow-passengers, including some Dutchmen, aredifferent. They have held that the perceived unruly behaviour of these persons did not justify the shocking manner in which they were treated by the AirMarshals. One Dutchman has alleged that the Air Marshals treated them like dogs.One white-skinned passenger has said that the Air Marshals probably behaved in this manner because they mistook them for Arabs. The inference being that if they had known that these persons were Indians, they might have behaved differently.
One Dutchman has said that when he protested to the Air Marshals over the way they were treating these persons, one of the Air Marshals said: "Okay, you come with us. You are not allowed to fly anymore"(The Hindu of August 26, 2006)
The arrested persons are textile retailers from Mumbai, who often travel to the West Indies in connection with their business. It is, therefore, surprising that they did not know the importance of obeying the instructions of the stewards/stewardesses whileflying. I would not be surprised if the stewards/stewardesses were Indians too. Many of us, while travelling by air, tend to obey the instructions of white-skinned cabin crew, but disregard those of Indian cabin crew. Even 59 years after we became independent, our habit of obeying a white-skinned person and disobeying a fellow- Indian has not yet disappeared from some of us. It is,as if, in our genes still.
I was tracking the reactions to this incident in various web sites and chatrooms that have Indian or PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) participation, ever since the first breaking news about the incident came in. I was also tracking the reactions of the spokesmen of thegovernment of India. For some time after the first news flashes, there was total outrage among large sections of the Indians andPIOs. And then, a couple of hours later, a flash came in that all the arrested persons were Muslims.
One could notice the immediate difference. The sense of outrage dissipated."Oh, these are Muslims! Then, one can understand the action of the Air Marshals"; "They must have given cause for concern, otherwise the Air Marshals would not have arrested them": "The Air Marshals are responsible for the security of the passengers; one must respect their judgement and support theiraction."