Keelty, Haneef and al-Qaida

The fact is the dossier is a very dodgy piece of “evidence”, which looks like it has been put together post facto to further smear Haneef. The Dateline program appears to have been used. Running the story has done nothing to enhance the reputation of the program.

On the August 3, the Joint Police Commissioner of Bangalore, Gopal Hosur, dismissed as false the report that Haneef had links with al-Qaida. He said that his officers had conducted an inquiry into the background of Haneef and they had found nothing incriminating. In view of this statement Dateline needs to provide more information on the status of the document they used as the basis of their story alleging Haneef had links to al-Qaida.

We also need to know why the AFP gave credibility to allegations contained in the dossier in the light of the statement by Commissioner Hosur. Is Keelty accusing the Indian police of incompetence or of lying to protect Dr Haneef?

The way this investigation has been conducted and politicised has done harm to the Australia-India bilateral relationship and made a lot of influential people angry. The incompetence, spinning and partisanship of the AFP has exposed them as a second-rate police force.