Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Ansari's deportation

Sir, — I agree with your Editorial `The deportation of Ansari' (Feb. 12). But your readers would probably also like to know the flip side. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is extremely sensitive to international criticism. Just as India has a list of fugitives who New Delhi believes are hiding in the UAE, Abu Dhabi has a similar list of Indians who have fled the Emirates. An accountant who fled with millions of dirhams from a Dubai Government-owned travel agency, and an Indian domestic who battered to death an entire Indian expatriate family, are just two examples that I can readily recall. To be fair, these two should also be sent back. There is an added element of equivocation in these so-called extradition or deportation requests that are regularly handed over by the Indian Ambassador or Consul-General to the UAE Government. I remember the Dubai police chief telling journalists that he had received such a request from an Indian diplomat, with the rider that this was meant only for-the-record, i.e., his Government did not expect anything to happen as a consequence. Obviously, it was meant for the Indian leadership to play to the national gallery, implicitly reinforcing the image of the UAE being a safe harbour for criminals of all hues.

The deportation of Ansari begs the question, `What does the UAE gain from offering residence to people like him?' Dawood Ibrahim may be portrayed as a demi-god in India by the media and the police, but the fact is he was a virtual nobody in Dubai. He had a residence visa like everybody else. His contribution to the local economy was definitely not worth the bad name that he brought to the Emirates, at least in the Indian media.

George Abraham,
Thiruvananthapuram

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