Hyderabad: Foreign students accuse top cop of racism

Hyderabad: A day after the Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma pointed fingers at foreign students while talking about the increasing drug supplies in the twin cities, many of them reacted strongly, going to the extent of terming his remarks 'racist'.

“Everybody would like to party once in a while and how could one in a respectable position be prejudiced against foreign students?,” questioned Sheikh Ahmed (name changed) who hails from Nigeria and is currently in the English and Foreign Languages University for his master’s course.

The Police Commissioner had said on Sunday that of the 49 arrested in the last one year in drug related cases, 18 were foreigners and revealed that they had sought the cooperation of universities and college managements in the city to keep an eye on foreign students.

“A few might be into drugs and all that. How can you blame the entire foreign student community for wrongdoings of a few?” wondered Ahmed Nizar from Iran, who studies at the Arts College in Osmania University. With the top cop’s comments, some of the foreign students fear the situation might worsen further for them.

“We are already targeted by the society. This spoils the name of the city among foreigners. We are anyway constantly monitored. To what extent will the move to keep an eye on us help?” fumed Khadeer from Ethiopia who is student of Nizam College.

There are others who seek some sense of understanding from the society. Charlie Brown of EFLU, who also hails from Ethiopia, says, “People should behave more responsibly and not judge others based on the colour of their skin. This is pure racism. There are criminals among the natives too. We are Africans but it does not mean we are the perpetrators,” he fumed.

Echoing similar views, Muhammed Ahmed from Sudan, who studies at OU, said, “All are prejudiced against us. The society needs to be more mature and find the culprits instead of targeting everyone who is a foreigner.”

The commissioner made his comments following a raid on a rave party in Banjara Hills on Saturday night. During the raid, the police seized Methylene Dioxy Methamphetamine (MDMA), cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs and apprehended over five including Donald, an Ugandan national.