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Close Topic OptionsAttorney Israel Khan Resignation
Attorney Israel Khan Resignation - Trinidad, Tobago / Caribbean - Posted: 13th Aug, 2009 - 12:18pm
Posts: 1 - Views: 1384
Racists remarks against whites?
Attorney Israel Khan Resignation
Well, I thought he did the right thing after his statements on a letter were made public. I was surprised a lawyer could keep a "grudge" against white lawyers for all these years.
| QUOTE |
| Attorney Israel Khan has resigned "in the public interest" as a member of the Commission of Enquiry into the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd and the construction sector. His resignation letter, dated August 11, follows a letter of the same date from Attorney General John Jeremie to Commission chairman Prof John Uff, in which he (Jeremie) expressed concern about a previous letter written by Khan to UDeCOTT's attorneys, Pollanais, Blanc and de la Bastide. In that letter, Khan, responding to allegations of bias from UDeCOTT, had slammed its boss, Calder Hart.... ....Khan's ten-page letter to UDeCOTT, dated August 5, in which he made several controversial remarks, was in response to allegations of bias and to a demand by UDeCOTT that he and all other commissioners "stand down forthwith", or else it would apply to the High Court for an order that further hearings of the commission be suspended until a judicial review of the conduct of the commission can be obtained. UDeCOTT had charged that Khan's statements, made in two separate television interviews, about Lord Mustill and about the historical racism of white lawyers suggested that there was a xenophobic undercurrent in his "psyche" and contained an undertone of racism. Khan hit back, noting that criticism of one white person did not translate into racism against all whites. "It seems that Mr Calder Hart is of the view that the white man is a sacred cow, and no matter what the reasons or context and whether it is justifiable or not, no criticism must be made of such a man...In these circumstances, I am constrained to point out that Mr Calder Hart appears to be paranoid.... He is obsessed with the issue of race and xenophobia," Khan said. Khan, who also castigated Lord Mustill in the interview, confirmed in his letter to UDeCOTT that he did state that Mustill behaved like an old colonial (in his report of the tribunal into former chief justice Sat Sharma). He defended his comments in his letter to UDeCOTT, stating that he referred to Mustill as a "massa"..."when massa suggests to you, come here, you must attend, and I drew the example that when a Canadian, a white Canadian tells you 'would you like to move this', it is not an option, you must move it." Khan, who spoke of the "historical racism of white lawyers", stated that this had nothing to do with Hart or with UDeCOTT attorney Andrew Goddard. Dismissing UDeCOTT's claim that there was an association between the two issues, Khan wondered whether it was a case of if you "touch one white man, you touch all". |
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