Indian-origin siblings forced off plane

Woman made to remove attire in France

The French police fined a 34-year-old woman on a beach in the country’s Nice city as part of a controversial ban on burkini in the wake of recent terror attacks in the country.

Media from England and France carried Photograph of armed police confronting a woman and making her remove a blue long-sleeved tunic.

Fifteen French towns implemented bans on the burkini, which covers the body and head, citing concerns about religious clothing after terrorist killings in France.

The mother of two said she had been fined on the beach for wearing leggings, a tunic and a head scarf. Her ticket read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”. Nice became the latest French resort to ban the burkini and barred clothing that “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”.

Three Indian-origin Muslim siblings, including two hijab-clad girls, have claimed that they were hauled off a plane at an airport in London and questioned on the tarmac by British policemen after a passenger accused them of being ISIS supporters.

As per reports, Sakina Dharas, 24, Maryam Dharas, 19, and Ali Dharas, 21, had boarded the easyJet flight from Stansted to the Italian city of Naples last week when they were approached by a cabin crew member and asked to accompany her off the aircraft without explanation.

The trio from northwest London were hauled off the plane and grilled for an hour by officers, who first asked them, “Do you speak English?”, according to Sakina, who narrated the ordeal writing to a daily from England and in a Facebook post.

They were asked by one of the officers, “Right, we have to speak with you. A passenger on your flight has claimed that you three are members of ISIS,” Sakina said. “They saw you with Arabic or praise be to Allah on your phone,” the officer was quoted as saying by Sakina.

In their reply, the siblings said, “Firstly, that’s part of the Quran, our religious text, so even if we did have it, it wouldn’t signify that we’re a part of ISIS at all.Regardless, we’ve had nothing on our phone remotely Arabic related this morning. Also, we’re Indian by ethnicity, so we wouldn’t even have Arabic in conversation with anyone,” they told the officers, according to Sakina.

During their one-hour interrogation on the tarmac, Sakina said she was asked to explain the details of various entry stamps on her passport. She also showed a MI5 agent recent WhatsApp messages.
The siblings provided answers relating to their personal lives and were questioned on their home addresses, workplaces, social media history and parents’ professions, Sakina wrote in her post.
“The MI5 and police officers apologised for the ‘inconvenience’ and assure(d) us that, at a time where we are all ‘on edge’, they have to respond to threats such as these. Our accusers, we are told, were very ‘frightened’,” Sakina wrote.