INDIAN-ORIGIN SIBLINGS ARE DEPLANED OVER 'IS CLAIMS'

Three Indian-origin Muslim siblings, including two Hijabclad girls, have claimed that they were hauled off a plane at an airport here and questioned on the tarmac by British policemen after a passenger accused them of being members of ISIS.

Sakina Dharas, 24, Maryam Dharas, 19, and Ali Dharas, 21, had boarded the easyJet flight from Stansted to the Italian city of Naples last week when they were approached by a cabin crew member and asked to accompany her off the aircraft without explanation, media reports said.

The trio, born and raised in London, were hauled off the plane and grilled for an hour by officers, who first asked them, "Do you speak English?", according to Sakina, who narrated the ordeal in The Independent newspaper.

According to her, they were asked by one of the officers, "Right, we have to speak with you. A passenger on your flight has claimed that you three are members of ISIS."

"They saw you speak in Arabic and say ‘praise be to Allah’ on your

phone," the officer was quoted as saying by Sakina.

In their reply, the siblings said, "Firstly, that's part of the Quran, our religious text, so even if we did say it, it wouldn't signify that we're a part of ISIS at all."

"Regardless, we've had nothing on our phone remotely Arabic this morning. Also, we're Indian by ethnicity, so we wouldn't even have Arabic in conversation with anyone," they told the officers, according to Sakina.

During their one-hour interrogation on the tarmac, Sakina said she was asked to

explain the details of various entry stamps on her passport. She also showed a MI5 agent her recent WhatsApp messages. The siblings provided answers relating to their personal lives and were questioned on their home addresses, workplaces, social media history and parents' professions, Sakina wrote in her post. "The MI5 and police officers later apologised for the 'inconvenience' and assured us that, at a time when we are all 'on edge', they have to respond to threats such as these.