Laura, How About a Photo-op with Iraqi Children?

Statement of Bela Malik
Resident of 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi 10014

2 March 2006 -- The day Laura Bush visited Missionaries of Charity, Jangpura 'B' Delhi

Today, Laura Bush, first lady, United States of America, visited Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa, an orphanage in Jangpura B, a building away from my residence. My friends and I had hung a white banner over the balcony of my flat, within private premises. The hand-made white banner read --

LAURA BUSH, HOW ABOUT A PHOTO-OP WITH THE ORPHANED, MAIMED, DEAD CHILDREN OF IRAQ?

The Delhi Police first asked my friends and me to remove the banner. We told them that legally we were within our rights to hang a banner in my residential premises.

The matter lay until half an hour before Laura Bush's motorcade arrived. The neighbourhood was over-run with US secret service agents, sniffer dogs, and all manner of US security, in addition to Delhi Police, CID, and other Indian security personnel, who were taking orders from the US personnel. At 3 p.m. Inspector, Delhi Police, Harsh Charan Varma, Delhi Police, SHO, Nizamuddin, said that he had to enter the premises for a routine check and that he would leave in a short while. The Delhi Police had already stationed a constable on the balcony of my house. The Inspector asked me not to shout any slogans. He personally removed every broken piece of tile from the balcony. We assured him that we did not want to shout any slogans, or hamper her visit in any way. We just wanted our banner to be displayed.

The Inspector came and ordered the constable and a sub-inspector who followed the Inspector to remove the banner.

We objected and said that this was a violation of individual rights because the banner was within my premises. They confiscated the banner. When my objection became more vocal, they became threatening and began to question the residents in my house with threatening body language, before finally leaving. The sub-inspector, however, remained stationed in the balcony of my house.

In a while, another banner was ready and put up which read,
What about Iraqi children?

We were allowed to put it up after Laura Bush left.

In our own country, in my own residence, I am denied the right to speak the truth in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner. A white banner was a security threat to the Bush establishment.

Residents were not allowed to leave their homes, or to arrive at their homes, during the period of her visit. A US security man was telling people not to go to their own homes, in their own country, in their own neighbourhood. The security had not given prior information to residents about their programme.

My friends and I wonder if we are living in a sovereign, independent republic of India? We also wondered what the Bush administration is so scared about.

Bela Malik
bela.malik@gmail.com

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Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police confiscated a banner hanging over the balcony of a house close to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity orphanage that U.S. First Lady Laura Bush visited on Thursday. Bela Malik, a resident of Jangpura, and her friends had hung a banner that read, 'Laura Bush, how about a photo-op with the orphaned, maimed, dead children of Iraq?'

"The police first asked my friends and me to remove the banner. We told them that legally we were within our rights to hang a banner at my residential premises," she said.

Well before Ms. Bush's motorcade arrived there, the neighbourhood was virtually taken over by U.S. secret service agents, sniffer dogs and Delhi Police personnel. "They were taking orders from the U.S. personnel," said Ms. Malik.

Around 3 p.m., the area Station House Officer entered Ms. Malik's residence on the pretext of a routine check. "A constable had already been stationed in the balcony of my house. The Inspector asked me not to shout any slogans. We assured him that we did not want to shout any slogans or hamper Ms. Bush's visit in any way. We just wanted our banner to be displayed," said Ms. Malik.

But the police officer allegedly ordered the constable and a sub-inspector to remove the banner, said Ms. Malik. "We objected and said that this was a violation of individual rights because the banner was within my premises. But they confiscated the banner. When we objected, they began questioning the occupants in a threatening manner. The sub-inspector remained stationed in the balcony."

"In our own country, in my own residence, I am denied the right to speak the truth in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner. A white banner was a security threat to the Bush establishment!" she said, adding that local residents were not allowed to leave their homes during the period of her visit.