Haneef arrives at Brisbane airport on Saturday. His wife Firdous in Bangalore. (Reuters, AFP)

New Delhi, July 28: Radio jockey Suneela Malik didn’t consider any political subject worthy of discussion on her hour-long programme that hits the Brisbane airwaves every Friday sharp at 7am.

Till earlier this month, when the 24-year-old Indian-born student made an impromptu decision to sandwich a plea for Mohammed Haneef in between popular Hindi songs.

Today, as Haneef prepared to make his way back to India, Suneela felt the prayers she invoked from her listeners had been answered.

“I’ve never felt better about being an Indian in Australia before,” she screeched into a crackling phone today.

NRIs across the globe — in Australia, the US, the UK and Canada — have been using the radio to drum up solidarity within the Indian community for the 27-year-old doctor.

From Suneela’s call for prayers to discussions with lawyers, doctors, immigration agents and intelligence officials, radio programmes have dissected the case to try and assuage concerns of “racial profiling” within the expatriate community.

Sameer Kedia, a Manchester-based radio jockey, said the need for the community to “organise” support came from the absence of any “strong assistance” from the Indian government.

Kedia, who discussed the flaws in the case against Haneef with a former Intelligence Bureau official on air, said his listeners were quick to seize the difference between Haneef and his cousins accused in a UK terror plot.

“The general opinion here seems to be that Sabeel and Kafeel (Haneef’s cousins) were probably involved in the terror plots, but Haneef’s arrest in Australia on flimsy grounds triggered fears even here,” Kedia said.

The concerns within the community are unprecedented, said 36-year-old Kedia, as Indians have never been linked to international terror attacks prior to the failed plans to strike London and Glasgow. “Yet, the Indian high commission here has done little to address those concerns,” Kedia alleged.

In Vancouver, Rashid Khan coaxed reluctant community leaders — Hindu and Muslim — to ask Indians to “stay united” on his radio show on 98.2 FM.

“The fear here was that Muslims might be socially ostracised even within the Indian community as they are seen as the trouble makers. Leaders from a local temple and a mosque were initially reluctant, but finally agreed to speak,” Khan said.

Khan said he knows of at least 50 radio programmes in the US — spread from coast to coast — that dealt with the questions arising out of Haneef’s detention.

Back in Australia, the State Broadcasting Service’s Hindi station brought an Indian immigration agent on air this Thursday to calm the nerves of Indians afraid that they, or their relatives, could face visa troubles in future.

A senior Indian doctor on a Sydney radio channel told fellow medicos from India they had no reason to feel insecure because of Haneef’s arrest.

Come next Friday, Suneela said she might thank her listeners.

“I watched Sourav Ganguly score a century in Brisbane, end-2004. That was a great feeling as an Indian here. But this tops it all. That match ended in a draw. This is a victory,” said Suneela.