DAR AL HARB - INDIA: MOSLEMS IN INDIA UPSET - "NOTHING IS PROVEN, IT'S AS IF THEY'RE ALREADY INCRIMINATED"

Arrests in bomb plots upset Muslims in India
Many were already worried by growth of Islamic radicals
by Henry Chu

New Delhi -- The arrests of two Indians in connection with the al Qaeda-style bombing plots in London and Glasgow have sparked surprise and consternation here in their homeland, where Islamic radicalization is a relatively small but increasing concern.

News of the arrests was splashed on front pages across the country Wednesday, raising fears among India's millions of Muslims that they could fall under greater suspicion at home and abroad. Community leaders appealed to the public not to rush to judgment concerning Mohammed Haneef, a doctor arrested in Australia, and Sabeel Ahmed, a trainee physician detained in northern England, where he reportedly had worked with Haneef.

A spokesman for the Indian government said Wednesday that it was working with Australian authorities to confirm Haneef's nationality. Police nabbed him in Brisbane as he was about to board a flight to India with a one-way ticket.

His family, in Bangalore, has told reporters that Haneef is innocent and that he was on his way back to India to visit his infant daughter.

Ahmed is also from Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state.

"The community is a bit shocked. You don't expect young doctors to be connected with such incidents," Mohammed Belgami, a urologist who is president of the local chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a national Muslim organization, said by telephone from Bangalore.

"Secondly, I'm a doctor and I do know most students here. And from what I know, they are very upright and very morally sound doctors," Belgami said of the two young men, both in their 20s. "Nothing is proven. It's as if they're already incriminated."

Police in Britain have arrested or detained at least eight suspects in what they say were related plots to set off two car bombs in the heart of London, which were discovered last Friday, and carry out a fiery assault on the airport in Glasgow, Scotland, a day later. Investigators are investigating potential links to al Qaeda.

How Haneef and Ahmed might have been involved in the plots has not been detailed.

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