War on Tourists

This Mohammed Haneef thing mystified me for some time. I wasn't paying particular attention when the story first surfaced, but as it developed I thought I must have been missing some vital piece of the story.

Giving someone a SIM card doesn't constitute an act of terrorism, thought I. I mean, it's the kind of thing I would do if I was leaving a country. "I don't have any use for this any more, but if you can use it you're welcome to it." Seems fairly innocuous, don't you think? As it turns out, the Australian Federal Police would beg leave to differ on that point. And yes, that was pretty much all there was to the story.

I think the root of Dr Haneef's problems are in translation. I heard George W on the radio recently banging on about "the war on turr". He was all for bringing the turrists to justice. Poor old John Howard, with his impaired hearing, thought that to mean "tourists", so the likes of the Indian doctor are in for a hard time. I'm sure there's no malice intended.

The whole affair is yet another shameful episode for Australia, and an absolute nightmare for Dr Haneef. He flew home to Bangalore last night to be with his wife and newborn son after his ordeal. After all the backpedaling the AFP have been doing you'd think that the government would have the good grace to leave the guy alone now. But tonight the Immigration Minister said that the doctor's departure only served to make him "more suspicious", despite the charges brought against him being proven to be baseless. And it seems unlikely that his work visa will be reinstated. I just find this incredible.

If I was in Dr Haneef's position I'd be high-tailing it out of here at my earliest opportunity, too.