Banished Bohra bullied at BIA

An internationally acclaimed academic who is now in the centre of a controversy in India for calling for reforms in the Shiite Bohra community, says he went through a harrowing experience at the Colombo airport allegedly at the behest of some Bohra men who came in the same flight.

Asgar Ali Engineer, who left Sri Lanka yesterday after delivering two lectures at a workshop organsied by the Colombo-based Regional Centre for Strategic Studies over the week, said he was humiliated and detained for 12 hours by the immigration officials at the airport on false information allegedly fed by the Bohra men.

When The Sunday Times contacted Immigration Commissioner N. Bambarawanage he admitted Dr. Engineer was detained for questioning following complaints from the Bohra community.

He said the immigration officials had the right to detain anybody whom they suspect even if the person had valid visa.

Mr. Bambarawanage said Dr. Engineer was released after he got clearance from the ministries of foreign and cultural affairs.

Dr. Engineer was excommunicated by the Bombay-based Bohra chief priest, Syedina Muhammed Burhanuddin, for challenging his authority and calling for reforms which included recognition of women's rights and discarding some rituals.

To the Bohras who practise Shiite Islam, Dr. Engineer is an outcast. They have been told to socially boycott him — denying him even a place to bury his wife in Bohra burial grounds. Dr. Engineer challenged the decrees against him by the Bohra Chief Imam and two independent commissions had held with him, saying the decrees were a violation of the Indian constitution and the calls by the reformist movement led by Dr. Engineer were justified.

Among the many reforms the movement is calling for is accountability for millions of rupees that go to the chief priest to be used in charitable acts and non-interference of the religious leader in secular activities of the community.

Dr. Engineer told The Sunday Times yesterday he was very much a Muslim and he saw no reason why some Muslim politicians applied pressure on immigration officials at the request of a minority but rich community.

"I performed Haj this year at the invitation of the Saudi government. If I am a heretic or a Salman Rushdie as some Bohras think, the Saudis would not have invited me," he said.

Dr. Engineer issued a statement just before he left Colombo explaining his trauma at the airport.

The statement said:

"I arrived in Colombo on April 19 at 2.30 a.m. by Air Lanka UL142 with a valid visa obtained in Bombay on April 6 and my visa No. was 1721/2000.

"There were four Sri Lankan Bohras in the flight. At the Bombay airport, one of them had abused me and the airport police warned him that he would be off-loaded if he abused a fellow passenger. The Air Lanka staff also assured me of security in the aircraft and at the Colombo Airport.

"But my troubles began when I reached the Colombo airport. Inside the bus from the aircraft to the terminal building, I saw these Bohras contacting people on their mobile phones.

"When I reached the terminal building I contacted two security persons in the terminal building to give me proper security and they assured me of protection after clearing my immigration.

"I therefore, stood in the line for immigration clearance and within a minute one immigration officer approached me and asked for my passport. I showed my passport to him. He went through it and saw my visa but told me he had information that I was deported from Sri Lanka in 1987 and hence I could not be allowed to pass through the immigration counter.

"I told him the charge was totally baseless; I was never deported from Sri Lanka; I had visited Sri Lanka several times after 1987 and never was I denied entry into Sri Lanka. My last visit to Sri Lanka was in 1998 for a workshop conducted by the Colombo-based Regional Centre for Strategic Studies. How can I now in 2000 be denied entry into Sri Lanka though I have valid visa issued to me in Bombay after my name had been cleared by the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka.

"I told him that he should not act on wrong information given to him by some Bohras and check it from the official records. If I had been deported, how could the Foreign Ministry clear my name in the first place. If any such thing had happened it would be on computer.

"He refused to check the records and maintained that my case would be decided in the morning when higher officers come around 9 a.m. I am told until a decision was taken I would be detained.

"Those four Bohras — one of them appeared to be a priest — were standing outside immigration office though they had cleared their immigration. I pointed this out but he said it was none of my business to clear them off.

"It appeared to me that these Bohras were influencing the immigration officer's decision. They remained there for three hours till I was sent to the detention room. I showed the officer — one Mr. Fernando — the invitation letter from the RCSS and told him that I was an internationally known academic and that I had come to Sri Lanka to deliver two lectures at a workshop. But he did not listen to anything and sent me to the detention room and locked me up like a criminal.

"I was humiliated. He would not even allow me to contact my organisers. I remained in the detention room until my organisers contacted the Foreign Ministry and got me released at 3 p.m. — twelve hours after I landed at the Colombo Airport.

"Here is the important questions: Can a handful of Bohras can stop entry of a person into Sri Lanka holding legitimate visa and valid documents by feeding false information to the immigration official? Are these Bohras more powerful than the State and State Laws?"

Norway: Practise what you preach

By Kumbakarana

The Kingdom of Norway has emerged as a major force in the bid to solve the north-east problem of Sri Lanka. Norway is well known for its funding of various governmental and non-governmental movements in the country. Sudu Nelum and Thawalama of the government and non-governmental peace movements such as NIPU are some of their heavily financed efforts. Millions of kroners have been spent to uphold democratic rights, minority rights, anit-war campaigns and media freedom in Sri Lanka. Most importantly Norwegian money is spent to engineer a neutral constitution which has no nationalist or religious dominance. It is therefore pertinent to publish extracts of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway (updated 1995) for the information of those academics, religious dignitaries and parlimentarians crying out loud for lost rights. We also invite the learned Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister to carefully read this Constitution.

Article 1

The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible and inalienable Realm. Its form of government is a limited and hereditary monarchy.

Article 2

The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion of the State. The inhabitants professing it are bound to bring up their children in the same.

Article 4

The King shall at all times profess the Evangelical-Lutheran religion, and uphold and protect the same.

Article 5

The King's person is sacred; he cannot be censured or accused. The responsiblity rests with the Council.

Article 9

As soon as the King being of age, accedes to the government, he shall take the following oath before the Storting. I promise and swear that I will govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and Laws; so help me God, the Almighty and the Ominiscient.

Article 12

More than half the number of the Members of the Council of States shall profess the official religion of the State.

Article 22

The Prime Minister and other Members of the Council of State, together with State Secretaries may be dismissed by the King without any prior court judgement.

Article 36

A Princess or Prince entitled to succeed to the Crown of Norway may not marry without the consent of the King.

In reading this backward, feudal and reactionary Constitution, it is obvious that the Sri Lankan NGO mercenaries should start their fight from the streets of Oslo for the rights of the Norwegian people who have suffered from 12th centrury, onwards under an oppressive antiquated constitution. The religious fundamentalism of this Constitution is awesome. The Sri Lankan rights activists funded by Norway should be ethically bound to free the Norwegian people, straitjacketed by Christian fundamentalism which has crushed other religious beliefs for centuries. Compare this to the Sri Lankan Constitution, which has no mention of a state religion for its rulers, parliamentarians or for its children.

Norway is an unitary state, a Kingdom and Norwegian is the official language. And it does not tolerate any outside intervention in the internal affairs of the country. Norway even refused to join the European Union not because of their impartiality but because of their ultra chauvinistic attitude towards the rest of the world. Norwegian constitution says.

Article 93 - In order to safeguard international peace and security or to promote the international rule of law and cooperation between the nations the Storting may, by a three-fourths majority, consent that an international organisation to which Norway adheres or will adhere shall have the right, within objectively defined fields to exercise powers which in accordance with this consitution are vested in the Norwegian authorities, although not the power to alter this constitution.

History tells us a story of invasions from 8th to 12th centuries by European tribes into Norway, who occupied these lands by defeating the native Sami people. The Sami people are the original inhabitants of Norway (at present 1% of the population) banished to the northern regions of the country.

The so-called Inter-Religion Peace Coalition, Peace Council and Ethnic Affairs Ministry who are opposed to recruiting of soldiers to the army should take a look at this.

Article 109 - As a general rule every citizen of the state is equally bound to serve in the defense of the country for a speciafic period irrespective of birth or fortune.

Article 28 - Matters strictly relating to military command may to the extent determined by the King be excepted from proceedings of the council of State.

The Norway funded scribes who are outraged at the lack of media freedom in Sri Lanka should launch their struggle from 'brother land' Norway, where freedom of media is at an abysmal level. Neither BBC nor any other BC will be allowed to conduct smear campaigns aganist the soverign power of the Norwegian state.

Article 30 - Diplomatic matters which the Council of State decides to keep secret shall be entered in a special record. The same applies to military command matters which the Council of state decides to keep secret.

This then is the Constitution of a country which is interfering in the internal affairs of the Sri Lankan state through massive funding injected via their henchmen in NGOs, media and the LTTE for an effective breakup of the Unitary state of Sri Lanka. A Kingdom with a feudal, autocratic and religious fundamentalist constitution such as Norway can have only one obvious agenda i.e. to carve out a separate state for their racist and warring friend and ally the LTTE.