I have just recovered from the shock of reading National Security Minister Major General Edmund Dillon’s statement that Isis is no threat to T&T at this time.
French President Francois Hollande, in a rare speech to the members of both upper and lower houses of Parliament in the Palace of Versailles, yesterday, said that Isis is a threat to everyone. He, of all world leaders, should know!
I have no access to the intelligence that our National Security Minister has, but I vaguely remember similar comments being made about the Jamaat-Al-Muslimeen before they launched their failed coup effort in July 1990.
What logic drives the National Security Minister and by extension the PNM government to make such a deduction? Did they not see the several videos which showed citizens of T&T training with Isis abroad? Did they not see our young children being schooled in the Isis art of guerilla warfare?
Have they not seen the brutality inherent in the Isis group?
In November 2014, the British government passed legislation to ban any British citizen who goes to fight for Isis, from returning to the UK for two years and imposes very tough conditions for those who do. The laws also made provision to take away the passports of teenage jihadists to prevent them from returning.
Airlines flying into the UK could also face sanctions if they fail to provide advance passenger information to the relevant authorities.
So what do we do, here in T&T? Wait until something happens to react? It is time that we start moving beyond such a myopic mindset and become proactive as a nation.
Linus F Didier,
Mt Hope