Dear Editor,
In an earlier letter I reminded you Dear Editor and readers that I am the product of parents, one African and one Indian and I am therefore bothered when the likes of Hajid Dr. Roshan Khan writes a lengthy letter as a member of the Ethnics Relations Commission verbally assaulted Rev. John Smith, Joseph Harmon and former President David Granger.
For now, I avoid seeking clarification on the many snide remarks and bias in his letter published over the weekend. Roshan Khan in his concluding paragraph quotes from the Holy Quran. A true Muslim, and I repeat a true Muslim has no place for ethnic, bias and race. Against that background, I ask Mr. Khan to utilise the same medium he used recently to explain or justify his recent racist statement.
When he in the wake of the torture and murder of two young Afro-Guyanese in Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice, issues a call for Indians to protect themselves by arming themselves.
Dear Editor, it is this unfortunate attitude against the African stock that has come down from slavery, unfortunately that it is still part of the beliefs of some people the likes of Roshan Khan. We’ve seen whenever black African people seek justice that is assumed is the right of others, they are called all sorts of names.
When the Africans in southern Africa were seeking equality, they were deemed terrorist. When the whites in Europe and elsewhere sought justice they were glorified as freedom fighters or nationalist.
Khan should be reminded that when British India moved towards Independence, it is this prejudice of one group against the other that led to the loss of many lives and property.
The people in West Coast Berbice were indulging in protest similar to that seen in every other country in the world. Dr. Khan, Molvi Khan, Hajid Khan is not qualified to be part of any Commission, which seeks to address the question of race relations in Guyana, unless he can explain why he only call upon Indians to protect themselves.
I suppose Portuguese, Chinese, Europeans, Africans and douglas don’t need to protect themselves. That is according to Mr. Khan.
I also condemn Members of the Commission who supported Khan when the matter was raised. Most troubling was the support for Khan by former Major Gen (Retd) Norman Mc Lean, who is of mixed parentage like myself -or is he now influenced by other personalities and may have lost his sense of reason. As a member of the ERC, has Khan noticed who are the people with firearm licences and some businesses where employees are ninety percent of one ethnic group? The ten percent being employed to perform menial task.
We await Mr. Khan’s explanation for calling on only Indians to arm and protect themselves.
Regards
Terry Bacchus
