Indian communities are easy targets

THE EDITOR: It seems that the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago is itself under a state of siege from a criminal element that is mainly African. That statement by yours truly is obviously going to generate much controversy. But in reality  it is a fact that can be proved. Many of the Indian victims of crime, will tell you that the criminals that robbed, kidnapped and terrorised them were African. While there is little statistical data to prove this point, statistical data is not always needed to prove the painfully obvious. The Indian community of Trinidad is powerless to defend itself from the crime onslaught. The police seem to be constantly losing the war against the criminals.  Indians constitute the vast majority of kidnap victims and Indian businessmen have become the bandits favourite target.

You will never hear about Indian bandits’ from Felicity going into Laventille to terrorise African people. You will never hear that Indian bandits from  Couva pounced on a helpless African couple in Morvant. I am not saying that all Indians are saints, far from that, there are criminals among the Indian community. But crime seems to be a cultural thing in Laventille, a way of life so to speak. Maybe the Indian community needs to get together and hire a private security firm to protect them. In this regard, no laws are being broken, in this regard people are acting well within their rights to self defence and self preservation. It will indeed be a great day if all Indian businessmen could unite and pool their money and resources to hire a private security firm to defend Indian businesses and Indian dominated communities. Indian communities are seen as easy targets for bandits. As a people Indians in this country need to wake up, we are under siege from the criminal element who see us as easy prey. It has to be a collective effort, Indian media, business, NGO, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Community Based Groups, the UNC and the ATSGWTU. Don’t expect the PNM to be sympathetic to our cause. Ask Satish Ramroop what happened to the police post in Lange Park.

MARTIN KR MAHARAJ
St Augustine