Dr Mohamed Haneef Returns to Bangalore
Exclusive Pictures by Aakash Polali - Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jul 29:Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef landed in Bangalore on Sunday night after all charges against him in the failed UK terror plot were dropped by the Australian police.
Haneef returned via Bangkok where he cheerfully waved to reporters on his arrival this morning.
Haneef, who was accompanied by his cousin Imran Siddiqui and lawyer Peter Russo, was greeted by relatives at the airport.
''I am happy to be here. I am relieved and eager to see my daughter,'' said Haneef as he arrived in Bangalore.
While, at the moment, he is on the way home to meet his family, Haneef has indicated that he could consider returning to Australia if he is given a visa.
However, Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews has refused to reinstate Haneef's visa, which he had earlier cancelled on character grounds.
He maintained that nothing has changed in terms of circumstances.
Andrews had revoked Haneef's visa right after he got bail from a court on terror charges, leading to outrage that the Australian government was being unfair.
Haneef's lawyers are also fighting in the Federal Court to have his work visa reinstated.
Meanwhile, the entire episode has become an embarrassment for the Australian Federal Police, and AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has blamed British investigators for giving the Australian police wrong information.
Claiming innocence
In his first interview after being released, Haneef told Channel 9 that he was innocent of supporting a terrorist organisation.
Asked on the show Sixty Minutes if he has ever been a member of a terrorist organisation, Haneef said ''no'', expressing surprise at the prospect that anyone would think he would be linked with terrorism.
It is ''not in my nature to ever support such activities'', he said.
He said he was never a risk to Australia and would have informed authorities had he known his cousins Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed were plotting attacks in the UK.
He acknowledged visiting Kafeel Ahmed in 2004 but said they had never lived together.
Haneef admitted he was frightened when he was arrested and said the police asked whether he'd received training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He said the mother of UK terror attack accused Sabeel had told him about the SIM card.
Immigration officials, however, prevented Haneef from conducting an open press conference to thank his supporters prior to his departure.
Growing outrage
However, many are now asking why the Indian doctor was first detained under new anti-terror laws and then sent away so unceremoniously when he had been cleared of the charges.
Australian newspapers have also criticised the way authorities have handled Haneef's case.
The Age has said, ''The disgraceful treatment of Mohamed Haneef has all the hallmarks of a typical Howard Government political play. Nasty, divisive, cynical and, of course, no involvement of the Prime Minister himself. When will Howard take responsibility?''
''Mohamed Haneef's character has been trashed by a government prepared to do anything to cling onto power. Yet despite the collapse of the case, no one in the government has the decency to apologise or even admit that Haneef has been treated unfairly.''
''Nothing is more important to Australia's security than public confidence in the government's ability to make the right laws, and the ability of the police and the justice system to enforce them. That confidence has been sorely tested by the conduct of the case against Haneef,'' said the Sydney Morning Herald.
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