“Why were you in China?” – Reading Paul Karl Lucaks
Reading Paul Karl Lucaks extraordinary story:
“Why were you in China?†asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron.
“None of your business,†I said.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Excuse me?†she asked.
“I’m not going to be interrogated as a pre-condition of re-entering my own country,†I said.
This did not go over well.
…She picked up the phone and told someone I “was refusing to cooperate at all.†This was incorrect. I had presented her with proof of citizenship (a U.S. passport) and had moved the bag when she asked. What I was refusing to do was answer her questions.
A male Customs and Border Protection officer appeared to escort me to “Secondary.†He tried the good cop routine, cajoling me to just answer a few questions so that I could be on my way. I repeated that I refused to be interrogated as a pre-condition of re-entering my own country.
…The officer changed tack to bad cop. “Let this guy sit until he cools down,†the officer loudly said to a colleague. “It could be two, three, four hours. He’s gonna sit there until he cools down.â€
…An older, rougher officer came out and called my name. “We’ve had problems with you refusing to answer questions before,†he said. “You think there’s some law that says you don’t have to answer our questions.â€
“Are you denying me re-entrance to my own country?†I asked.
“Yes,†he said, and walked away.
…Finally! It took half an hour and five federal officers before one of them acknowledged that I had a right not to answer their questions.
It is a sobering tale..Do read in full (and many of you will find the follow-up interesting too).
Any guesses on what would happen if you try the same thing in India?
By the way, does any body know the relevant law in India? Comments, thoughts welcome, as always.
Uniformed officers have a duty. They do go overboard sometimes. Good to have individuals challenging them once in a while. Pretty normal stuff. To an extent, this happens everywhere, in India, too. Unless there is some real risk, the official will try to pressurise as much as possible. In India, the risk (for the officials) is much lower than in the Western countries so they will succeed in softening most if not all. That is why, not many try to take them on.
Also, typically, Indians don’t regard the law of the land as supreme. The system, for most any Indian, is the Law + the Loopholes, not the law alone. That is why, there is hardly any attempt (with the notable exception of H.D. Shourie of Common Cause, and exceptional lawyers like Ram Jethmalani) to get the law streamlined.
I am sure this sort of event happens everywhere at all levels. I will just quote one example. Long back, when I had to renew my passport, they called me for a police check. At the polic station, hawaldar asked to see the ration card. I didn’t have one and I refused to produce one as my application had all the necessary documents. As I did not need to travel in near future, I was quite happy to let the issue pending. Just after I left the police station, the hawaldar came running after me as his officer had asked to see me.
The officer explained the rules to the hawaldar, told me that I didn’t have to produce a ration card, and that I would get my passport in so many days etc…
You may read Rajesh Jain’s experience in Passport office: http://emergic.org/2010/09/09/passport-office-part-3/
That is US! A hispanic friend of mine is married to a Lebanese (both US citizens). Every time they fly, she and the kids are allowed to go hassle free but he is almost stripped naked (owing to his religion after 9/11).
I wanted to share this with you about my current country of residence i.e Nigeria. It is mandatory to have a yellow fever vaccine when one travels to any country in Africa and is expected to carry that document upon entry and departure. (random checks are made, not a routine affair). One artist came from India to perform during a temple anniversary. He forgot to bring his document….here comes the best part. The guy was taken aside, asked to pay Naira 5000(about 33 USD), was issued a fresh document with a doctor’s stamp. The guy at the airport had several such “stamps” and an ink pad to issue the documents whenever needed without the hassle of one going thru the shots and subsequent pain. This is the other extreme!
US and world at large are turning bizarre. There are ideologies that can turn you into an enemy against your own. I recently read about a group that wanted to stop violence against animals threatened violence against a judge in US, what could be more bizarre? So paranoid governments and the insensitive bureaucrats would try any trick, be it illegal or immoral, to keep themselves safe.
While he makes a good point about the master-servant relationship, I can’t help feeling that he acted in a somewhat self-absorbed manner.
As for the airport security making a note of whether he had been un-cooperative before, they’re doing their job in these days of Richard Reid. If something untoward happened resulting in the loss of life, which could have been prevented by the officials recording such an incident and sharing it with others, then this dude would likely be the first one to take them to task. And while a big part of airport security is theater, I wouldn’t take that out on the people who work there. Did this person even think of approaching his Rep or Senator and registering his complaint, or writing to the decision-makers? I very much doubt it, given his sanctimonious tone.
What would happen if someone tried a stunt like this in India? Shantanu, you should have your answer in the link you posted on FB a while ago about the female cop who tried to stop her colleagues from taking bribes.
All such questions should be asked in the disembarkation card. That’s what happens in Australia (e.g.purpose of visit: family/business, etc.). That’s for statistical purposes (unnecessary, but Governments are nosy beasts and they will always ask such things to earn their livelihood). Plus, at least one knows that these are authorised questions. We may not agree with them, but we still comply with our country’s laws.
There is no cause, in my view, of direct questioning unless there are reasons to believe something is actually wrong with the responses.
Regards
Sanjeev