Getting Your Retaliation In First?

A Muslim police officer claims he was forced out of his job by colleagues who made fun of his beard and called him a 'f***ing Paki'.

Really?

Because in today’s post-McPherson police service, I’d say there’s about as much chance of any police officer doing that as there is of them using their initiative or settling for a warning to a speeding driver instead of a fixed penalty.

PC Javid Iqbal, 38, said white officers openly discussed in front of him how they were ' better' than their ethnic-minority colleagues.

The married father of two also claims officers pulled faces at each other if told they had to go out on patrol with him and forced him to walk home from a job instead of picking him up.

So why isn’t he bathed in the warm comfort of a racial grievance case, rather than out on his ear and suing for wrongful dismissal?

Mr Iqbal says he was sacked after fellow-officers in Luton launched a 'smear and witch-hunt campaign' during which they lodged a string of complaints about his performance.

Hmmm, complaints about his performance, eh?

Mr Iqbal, who was born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, told the Daily Mail: 'My beard is an important part of my identity which helps other Muslims relate to me.

'I am disgusted that I was bullied by other officers because of my beliefs. I became a policeman because I believed in putting something back into society.

'I have found that institutional racism is still very much around.'

Have you? And when did you ‘find that out’, I wonder? After they sacked you, or before?

Mr Iqbal was working in Hertfordshire County Council's finance department when he became a special constable for the Bedfordshire force, one day a week.

Following the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, he volunteered to go on patrol every night after work for two weeks to help reassure the large Muslim population of Luton, who were concerned about revenge attacks.

I’m sorry…?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we don’t (yet) have separate police services for each minority culture, so if Iqbal thought his main concern should have been ‘the Muslim community’, he is, indeed, not fit to be a police officer, possible boorish treatment from his colleagues notwithstanding…

He says the first racist incident came in early 2006. He claims he was in a van with seven PCs and three 'tutor' constables - including one other Muslim - which stopped for food at a shop which did not sell halal products. When he asked if they were stopping anywhere else, he was told: 'This is it.'

Diddums!

Do you really think you were treated any differently to a vegetarian, or anyone else who believed that his ‘rights’ were paramount and should be adhered to by all present under pain of a tantrum?

Want halal food when the means of conveyance isn’t under your control? Pack sandwiches!

Mr Iqbal had only recently returned to work after a ninemonth leave of absence on full pay owing to depression when he was sacked for poor performance in August last year. He says he was the victim of untrue allegations, such as failing to report a rape claim. He insists the woman complained only of harassment at the time.

Nine months of full pay for ‘depression’, paid for by the taxpayer. Nice...

A source at Bedfordshire Police claimed Mr Iqbal was sacked because he was 'not cut out to be a police officer'. A spokesman added: 'We can't comment on a case that is yet to be heard but the evidence will speak for itself.'

Yes, it’s going to be interesting, I suspect. It will either show that racism is rife in the police ranks and is condoned by senior officers (thus putting Sir Trev’s nose out of joint).

Or it’ll show that cries of ‘racism’ are the last gasp of those who’ve been found wanting in their jobs and given the push.

Thus making the lives of those real victims of racism just that little bit harder...