New Delhi - Family members of Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef,
who has been detained in Australia in connection with the failed
bombings in London and Glasgow, said Wednesday that he had no
fundamentalist leanings and was coming home to see his 10-day-old
daughter.
Reports in the Indian media quoted members of Haneef's family,
fellow students and acquaintances as saying he was a quiet and
meritorious boy who worked hard to support his family which lives in
the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
The 27-year-old doctor, who was a registrar at the Gold Coast
Hospital in eastern Queensland in Australia, was arrested by
counter-terrorism police at the Brisbane International Airport on
Monday night, where he was trying to board a flight to India with a
single-way ticket.
'We presume it was an emergency visit since his baby who was born
10 days ago was suffering from jaundice,' Sohaib, Haneef's bother,
was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
Haneef had named his baby Haniya and was excited over meeting her,
his sister Sumayya said.
Haneef had graduated from Bangalore's BR Ambedkar Medical College
in 2002 after which he left for Britain for further studies. He
joined the Australian hospital about 10 months ago.
While at medical school in Bangalore he lived in a one-bedroom
apartment with his mother, brother and sister for three years. His
father had passed away while the children were teenagers.
'All his family members were very decent. Haneef was the
responsible person in the family looking after all of them,' their
former landlord was quoted as saying by Times of India newspaper.
'All of us wish to emulate him because he rose from humble
beginnings to earn meritorious scores in college and even moving
overseas to hold a good post,' Haneef's brother Sohaib said.
Asked about his religious inclinations, Sumayya said: 'You could
not describe him as an overly religious person. He offered prayers
(namaz) five times a day, read the holy Quran and visited the mosques
just like any other Muslim would. He did not go overboard with
anything. We follow the basic Islamic teachings and adhere to them
as any other Indian Muslim family would.'
Haneef's fellow students at medical school remember him as a quiet
and simple person who did not mingle much. At least two students and
a teacher said he seemed somewhat depressed in his last year at
medical school.
'He looked like a guy who had taken fun out of his life,' said
Manik Prabhu, who is now pursing a postgraduate degree in Delhi.
Haneef's family said the Australian embassy in New Delhi had
contacted them for some information and said that the young man had
been detained for questioning and had not been arrested.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Indian mission
in Sydney was closely monitoring the case. He said the mission would
get full information in a couple of days.
India's junior minister for external affairs, E Ahamed, said the
Indian doctor detained in Australia had been advised to have legal
counsel during his questioning.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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