Panday said his intention was not to get involved in "a racial argument" and that the real question ought to surround whether Mohammed had spoken the truth. "If what Mr Nizam is saying is true, then we have a problem in the society and it has a right to determine that problem and to take remedial action," he added. Asked whether he felt there was a logical explanation which may have addressed the issue of ethnic imbalance within the Police Service, Panday said it was possible to look at it from an historical standpoint but was not sure whether those circumstances existed today. "If that is so, let us examine it. Maybe it used to be so a long time ago, maybe it is not now, I don't know," Panday said.
Rowley's take on the issue...
When interviewed yesterday, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley contended that while there may be persons with "a certain racial composition" in the hierarchy of the Police Service, there was danger in excluding the reason as to why that was so. "Yes you have certain people at the top who have a certain racial composition but in the absence of a proper explanation, you can get misrepresentation and that's the problem we have," he said. Rowley, in giving his "explanation", sought to distinguish historical facts from any perception of an intentional ethnic imbalance within the Police Service. He said: "Twenty to 25 years ago there were not very many East Indians coming through the system and those who came through went as high as commissioner (of police) and some are still in the system and they will rise to the top as anybody else. "Talk about ethnic imbalance and racial discrimination and meritocracy and police exams is casting aspersions on people."