Beware Travellers....

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Muslim staff in Paris airport row
Four Muslim baggage handlers are appealing against a decision to bar them from working at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
They say that the local government’s decision to revoke their security passes is evidence of anti-Muslim discrimination.

A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk.

He denied the move was linked to the men’s religion.

Passes withdrawn

Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work.

The four men, who are of North African origin, say they were summoned by security officials for interviews concerning their employment in August.

A few days later they were told that their airport passes, which gave them access to the area near runways, were being withdrawn.

Criminal complaint

A lawyer acting for the men said the baggage handlers were told they had been barred because they had “not shown that their behaviour was unlikely to violate airport security”.

As well as appealing against the local authority’s decision, the baggage handlers’ lawyers have submitted a criminal complaint for alleged discrimination against the men on the grounds that they are Muslims.

The head of a local government office, Jacques Lebrot, said the ban had nothing to do with religion.

‘Islamic radicals’

“For us, someone who goes on holiday to Pakistan several times raises questions,” he told Reuters News Agency.

Mr Lebrot added that the local authority investigation looked for those who could “compromise airport security”.

A book published by a far-right politician four months before the security clampdown raised questions about France’s airport security.

Philippe de Villiers’ book alleged that Islamic radicals worked at Charles de Gaulle airport and were planning terror attacks.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2006/10/20 16:21:05 GMT

© BBC MMVI

I’m all for security…but firing people for visiting there homeland… thats just bordering on racism…

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Re: Beware Travellers…

shuldnt all this be else ware:confused:

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Re: Beware Travellers....

Americans are just plain anti-muslim / racist (or add any other word that you like)
The french are DUMB and anti-muslim / racist (or add any other word that you like)

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lol yeh that pretty much describes everone

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ab to aisi cheezon ki habbit si ho gayi hay.
Isn't it. I mean everyday there is some drama going on

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Re: Beware Travellers....

[quote]
Originally Posted by ** Uncle Stalker **
Americans are just plain anti-muslim / racist (or add any other word that you like)
The french are DUMB and anti-muslim / racist (or add any other word that you like)

[/quote]

To just accuse people of being racist is like missing the wood for the trees. There is a perception in the western countries that muslims are out for revenge. This perception might have been built for a variety of reasons. These guys were asked to not to report to work. They were not asked to leave the country. It is better to be safe than sorry. I would rather err on the side of caution. Years ago Indira Gandhi was warned to not have sikh bodyguards after Operation bluestar. She refused saying that it would amount to racism. The fallout was that she got assasinated by the same guards.
If there is a threat perception from a group of people, it would be better to have them not working in vital installations. This is just plain commonsense
When you guys speak of racism, we wonder about the kind of treatment a non muslim is meted out in a so called Islamic country...

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Re: Beware Travellers....

True......

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It is also perception in big part of the world that west is waging war against Islam, so all Muslim countries should also withdraw all people from west, all Muslims should goback to "their" countries, all "western" people should go back to their countries, there should be no relationship between west and Muslim countries, is that what you are suggesting?

Team The Thugster's :D
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Re: Beware Travellers....

^ And than they tell you that it is a war on terror not against Islam.

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when would a vaccine for this worldwide-Nonsense- Anti Human Virus ...................called Discrimination will be discovered ?????????

lii Team Pappu Bachey iil
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the french are a leading nation on the war on islam. can we set up some sort of league table?

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Re: Beware Travellers…

question is were the ppl visiting their homeland? if it was some french dude of algerian descent going to Pakistan 4 times in a span of two years, I would find it unusual and would investigate to find out why. The article talks about 4 ppl of north african background.

Mighty India or Mythical India ?
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so just because in a so called islamic country non muslims may not be treated well it means that it is open season on muslims in other countries and they cant speak up? nice twisted logic :slight_smile:

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Re: Beware Travellers....

^^
So you are saying that it is OK to ill-treat somebody at home and expect very good behaviour from the same people when you visit their homes. Nice logic buddy.
While it is not accepted practise in a western country to ill-treat muslims, it is only a few who act badly based on various perceptions that they might have developed over the years.
While in the Islamic countries, it is a matter of policy to ill treat non muslims it is not so in western countries.

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Re: Beware Travellers…

I hate to burst your bubble friend, but this is how most of the posters here react. When Afzal was sentenced to death for involvement in the parliament attack, most of the posters here jumped onto the bandwagon saying that he should be pardoned just because he was a muslim…
When you begin to equate a common criminal who has no qualms in attacking the biggest temple of our democracy to your religion, then there is something that every right thinking person need to think about.

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Re: Beware Travellers…

who is talking about ‘visit’ we are talking about locals, we are talking about immigrants, citizens, first and possibly second and third generation citizens.

your lapse in logic spans from the fact that you you are not factoring in 2nd or 3rd generation europeans, the country they were born in and live in is their home. They have no say, they had no say and they will have no say in the affairs of the country that their parents or grandparents hailed from.

They do have a say in the matters of their country, the one they were born in, and for many the one their parents were born in. When they speak up for their rights in their country, pointing to thei parents or grandparents country of origin and saying oh well such and such happens there is a very weak argument. They have no say in the affairs of their grandparents homeland that the grandparents left behind, they should not be held liable for inappropriate actions of people who live in those countries and of policies of thosr countries.

so yes, it is nice logic…buddy. Proud of it.

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Re: Beware Travellers....

No it's not, but your post brings up a very very good point...

Why do I hear nothing from Muslims about the way Non-Muslims are treated in Muslims countries, like S.A. Literally, there are no complaints or outrages. It's as if Muslim countries get a pass just because they are Muslim and unjustice and unfair practices towards non-muslims should just be accepted, why are non-muslim countries always held to a different standard??

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[quote]
your lapse in logic spans from the fact that you you are not factoring in 2nd or 3rd generation europeans, the country they were born in and live in is their home. They have no say, they had no say and they will have no say in the affairs of the country that their parents or grandparents hailed from.

[/quote]

Your lapse in logic spans the fact that you are not factoring the ordinary Joe on the stree who has no clue that he is dealing with 3rd generation europeans. For him they all look the same, since these "3rd generation" guys have consciously decided to not assimilate with the society that they live in and be more associated with the country that their parents or grandparents hailed from.
You are also overlooking the fact that racism is not a state policy while in most of the so called islamic countries it is..

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Re: Beware Travellers…

sorry …you can be completely integrated into a society yet maintain additional social characters unique to the culture of your parents/grandparents. In such case

you have a complete right to voice the concerns for your rights as you see them, and the message is to the govt which one hopes is more enlightened than an average joe on the street who does not know his elbow from his arse.

Having equal rights does not mean everyone has to be a xerox copy of each other.

Even if we take your argument to be true, that some ppl may be more associated with culture of their parents/grandparents country, how does it impact their rights as citizens of the country that they were born and raised in. Other arguments can be made, btu arguments such as oh but in teh country that your grandparents came from laws are crap, is in general a shortsighted and uninformed argument suited for the below-average joe on the street and no one else.

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utd

you are more than welcome to make such an argument about

There is some truth to your statement, muslims do turn a blind eye to crap in their own countries. while part of it may be due to the carte blanc that you have indicated, there are a few other major reasons

  1. Not of interest to powers that be. By this I mean the polito-religious groups who have to point at an outsider and say oh they are against us to rile up their constituents and keep their grasp on pwer that they have or maintain/establish their position as a thorn in the side for the govt

  2. There is a huge difference between a british-muslim speaking up for his rights in his homeland i.e. UK, versus him speaking up for issues that may be happening in kuwait or saudi arabia. His conern is for himself and his community in UK, he has simply no responsibility whatsoever for what ppl who share the same faith as him are doing in a country he has never stepped in or only has some distant connection to, period. There is this huge expectation that every muslim would be some sort of ambassador and activist to sort all the ills that are in place in muslim majority states. That simply is secondary to a person’s own well being.

In the end, Saudi press and media is massively suppressed, and dissent is just not tolerated. There has been a lot written against KSA policies by muslims, especially shia and other sunnis who do not ascribe to the wahabi code of saudis. It gets heard or seen from time to time, but the issue is two fold #1, the locals have no, or limited ability to speak up, and #2 people who are not living in KSA are not impacted by whatever rules that Saudis may have. One can be a global activitt and try to speak up against all ills, or one can focus on themselves and their priorities first and thins that impact them first. Thats simply human. I mean how much outrage have we seen from non muslims about stupid policies in KSA? I mean until recently everyone knew..or had an ability to find out what kinda crap laws they have, but I did not see much outrage in american or british press about it either. Its the not-my-problem approach that ppl take in general. If it does not impact me, if I am not party to it, then yeah I may have vies about it but I have 50 other things to worry about before I spend time on that stuff.

I mean I have views about white farners being forced out of their farms in africa, but I dont recall writing much about it. Come to think of it, I have not seen much written about it anywhere really.

Using the argument that you made that why dont you hear about people speaking up against injustice in muslim majority countries, one can come up with the argument that it points to apathy of the minorities there who are not standing up for their rights..sounds ridiculous right, it is. Similarly it would be a ridiculous argument that minorities are not treated right in muslim majority states because muslims are nto trated right by non muslim majority states. I mean if that is what the level of thinking of people has sunk to, then I guess I severely underestimated the intellectual capabilities of humans in general :slight_smile: