Immigration Officer must apologise to Chanderpaul

Dear Editor
THE Indian Action (formerly Arrival) Committee (IAC) has apprised itself of an article captioned “Are you Guyanese? asked Local Immigration Officer,” which appeared in the September 15, 2015 edition of the Guyana Times. The said articles alluded to the treatment meted out to Mr. Shivnarine Chanderpaul by an Immigration Officer at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA). If the content of the article is accurate, then the first reaction to Mr. Chanderpaul being asked if he is Guyanese would be hilarity.If the officer were to be given the benefit of the doubt of not recognising a local and international cricket icon like Mr. Chanderpaul, and if it is that he, Mr. Chanderpaul, produced a Guyana passport to the Immigration desk, then ICA believes the question regarding his nationality is not only baseless, but may have been premised on an agenda to disparage. In addition, it smacks of unprofessionalism on the part of that officer and besmirches the reputation of the Immigration Department.
The ICA recalls an incident in which persons of Indian nationality were refused entry at the CJLA and left to wait for a lengthy period, reportedly on the tarmac, for a return flight. It is believed that such treatment, for various reasons of persons of East Indian extraction, was not in isolation. While the IAC is cognisant that there may have been reasons for refusing entry and the need to ask pertinent questions, given such reportedly multiple incidents, the ICA is made to believe that it is a demonstration of profiling and is compelled to ask if this latest incident is deliberate to denigrate persons of East Indian ancestry.
The IAC is not in any way advocating special treatment for Mr. Chanderpaul, which is clearly discretionary by such officer; it believes that he deserves an unconditional apology for having his nationality questioned. The IAC therefore calls on the authority of the Immigration Department to investigate the incident and to implement measures to avoid a repeat of such behaviour being meted out to anyone. More so, the IAC is gravely concerned if persons of East Indian ancestry are indeed being profiled and again calls on the relevant authority to make a pronouncement.
Regards
Hema Ramcharran
Coordinator/ secretary
Indian Action Committee

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