For a change, the Indian government has protested, asking for the justice the Australian government had promised. Diplomacy can sometimes be a farce. But India may not cooperate with the ‘friendly exchange of information’. Rightly so. India should not allow ‘fishing expeditions’ against her own people on flimsy grounds.

McCarthyism of the early fifties in America had its counterpart in the Australia of those days. In the fifties, the communists were victimised. Today, Muslims may be victimised by association just as the communists were earlier. America’s fatal mistake was to convert its wars of predation into anti-religious wars against Muslims. America’s posture makes all this sound like the last crusade. Such crusades have never won. But people caught in the crossfire of such communal racism get traumatised. Haneef is caught in the crossfire. So, indeed, are Muslims all over the world. Prime Minister Howard’s Australia needs issues for its elections. Targeting and framing Muslims appears to be one of them.

The writer is a senior advocate