Suspect in email threat
KM Zubair Sadeque, Duquesne University, USA
The arrest of one Shaibal Saha Partha from a cyber cafe in the city after an email threat was allegedly sent from the same cafe and subsequent news that the authorities may have picked up the wrong person made me wonder if they were trying to make him the scapegoat. I find similarities between Partha's arrest and many of the arrests being made here in the US in the post 9/11 era. I quote here what your New York correspondent wrote (Aug 30) on the protests in NY ahead of the Republican convention where one of the organisers of the protests announced "First of all, ...if you're a recent immigrant who is not a naturalised citizen yet, be very careful. Don't get arrested.... Especially, ...if you look like a Muslim."! The Washington Post in its Aug 28 issue wrote about how events like the demonstrations centring the Republican convention in NY make people of the Muslim community living in Brooklyn afraid of being picked up for suspicious activities, just because they happen to be Muslims. As of August 29, four days into the arrest, Partha's poor family does not have any information about Partha. No matter what happens and who does what for no matter what cause, it is always the common people who are made to suffer everywhere.
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