New Jersey police team cancels Gujarat visit

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jan 8 (PTI) In the wake of a terror alert in
India, a New Jersey police team has cancelled its visit to the
western Indian state of Gujarat to participate in a bicycle
tour in honour of those officers who laid down their lives in
line of duty worldwide.

Five police officers from New Jersey, the US state that
has a sizeable population of Indian Americans, in particular
those from Gujarat, were scheduled to leave for India this
week for the 'Sardar Patel World Police Unity Tour', a
115-mile bicycle ride in Gujarat that was scheduled for
Saturday.
"We understand that safety is the ultimate concern,"
Bridgewater Police Officer, Scott Hobbs, was quoted as saying
by the local 'Somerville Courier News'.
Hobbs was one of the five New Jersey police officers who
were to travel to India. "I'm a little disappointed. This was
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said.
The police officers were using their own vacation time
for the India trip, which was sponsored by Albert Jasani, an
eminent Indian-American who supported and sponsored the entire
tour.
Ahead of the New Year, India had sounded a country-wide
terror alert, especially for Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa and
Bangalore, after getting intelligence inputs that
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning to strike.
Hobbs said it may be difficult for the organisers to
reschedule the event, with the schedules of the US officers,
who were expected to participate.
An additional 50 Indian police officers were expected to
join the tour, he said.
According to the newspaper, the Sardar Patel World Police
Unity event was inspired by the Police Unity Tour, an annual
ride every May from the World Trade Center in New York City to
Washington, to bring attention to officers who died in the
line of duty.
"Right now we'll focus on the (Washington) D C ride in
May," Hobbs told Somerville Courier News.
Meanwhile, the Indian-American Muslim Council, an
advocacy group, met officials of New Jersey's Police Unity
Tour (PUT) and expressed apprehension over PUT's earlier
decision to visit and meet Gujarat state police.
"... It is unfortunate that those individuals, who
facilitated this trip of the Police Unity Tour to Gujarat,
kept them (New Jersey police) in the dark about the shameful
record of the Gujarat police," it alleged. PTI LKJ
EKA