Guardian : Deporting these students shames us

Deporting these students shames us

No terrorism charges were brought, but still nine men are to be sent to Pakistan by a government trying to save face.

Inayat Bunglawala | April 22, 2009

The Home Office announced last night that nine of the 12 men – mainly Pakistani students – arrested in dramatic circumstances two weeks ago following terror raids in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire are now to be handed over to the UK Border Agency with a view to being deported. Another one of the 12 was handed over to immigration officials earlier this month.

You will recall that at the time of the arrests our prime minister, Gordon Brown, informed us that the raids were necessary because of "a very big terrorist plot". Note the bold presumption of guilt which then unsurprisingly was quickly taken up by sections of our media.

"Shops and nightclub were terror targets," read a Daily Express headline on 9 April.

"Al-Qaida terror plot to bomb Easter shoppers," claimed the supposedly upmarket Daily Telegraph on 10 April.

Even the BBC website had its correspondent Nick Ravenscroft telling us that he had been told by police "sources" that an attack could have taken place "within days or weeks".

Well, the media reporting a story in an overly sensational, alarmist and irresponsible manner is hardly novel, I admit. It is the government's behaviour in this matter that is most reprehensible though.

Not content with prematurely accusing the arrested men as being part of a very big terrorist plot, now that no actual terror-related charges have been brought against at least 10 of the 12 originally arrested, instead of offering an apology to them for what they and their families have been put through and releasing them with good grace, they are seeking to deport them while disgracefully attempting to attach yet another appalling smear to them.

"We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security. The government's highest priority is to protect public safety. Where a foreign national poses a threat to this country we will seek to exclude or to deport, where this is appropriate," said the Home Office in its statement.

What utter tripe. If the students are indeed a national security threat then surely the correct course of action is to properly charge them and bring the evidence before a court of law? Instead the government – in what can only be viewed as a dishonourable attempt to save face – compounds the hurt done to the students by seeking to deport them and placing them under a cloud of doubt. The government's behaviour in this matter shames our country.

It is understandable that the police may well from time to time mistakenly arrest someone and then release them if no evidence against them can be found. After all, not every intelligence lead or tip-off will prove to be accurate. That is the nature of police work.

What is not acceptable, however, and should never be acceptable is the underhand and cowardly manner by which the government is now attempting to ruin the education and careers of these Pakistani students in a desperate attempt to avoid looking incompetent.