Muslim Student Racially Profiled

A Muslim student was arrested and questioned by police after he took photographs of Canary Wharf for his architecture course. The young man has a beard and wears traditional dress and is very readily identifiable as a Muslim. He says "I was singled out for being a young Pakistani Muslim and I was humiliated".

The question here is not whether race/religion played a part in his arrest; it obviously did. The question is whether that was right or not. In my opinion it makes perfect sense to pay more attention to the person who fits the "profile" of a terrorist than a little old lady, for example. It is unfortunate that the actions of his co-religionists have brought this suspicion on him, but that suspicion should not be removed simply because it is uncomfortable to him.

If Muslims do not want to be associated with the Islamic terrorists than they need to start distancing themselves from them. At the moment there doesn't appear to be much gap between regular British Muslims and those prepared to carry out acts of terror. The situation is unfortunate for the moderates but they must surely help themselves.