‘This travel ban is completely nonsensical to me’

A LEADING member of the Islamic community here in Kerry has labelled US President Donald Trump’s recent travel ban on seven Muslim majority countries as ‘extremely confusing’ and ‘completely nonsensical’ and said that it will only serve to isolate and marginalise the Muslim community around the world even further.

Dr Rizwan Khan is a promiment figure in the Kerry Islamic Outreach society here in Tralee and he said in an interview with The Kerryman on Tuesday that the logic behind President Trumps ban makes no sense to him and that he knows of fellow doctors whose career plans have been derailed as a result of the new ruling.

“There are some Sudanese doctors who I know that are working here in Ireland; some of these people have passed their medical exams and they were going to apply for their get your H1 work permit visa but this visa is now completely idle for them now as they will just be rejected when they apply, “said Rizwan.

“These are highly professional and skilled doctors we are talking about, they have been studying for the past two years for this work permit and now their careers are in jeopardy because of this ban.”

“The President’s argument is that he put this ban in place to stop the radical Islamic terrorists; the thing is now though; the countries that he has banned are countries have actually little to no connection with terrorist attacks on US soil, putting those countries under the ban does not serve any purpose whatsoever in my opinion.

“The whole situation is extremely confusing and it doesn’t serve any purpose with regards to stopping radical Islam; it is just going to help further isolate and marginalize the major Islamic community all around the world. The people who are going to suffer mainly here are those highly skilled professionals such as dentists and doctors who will now not be able to help society in the right way.”

“This ban is completely nonsensical to me and to many others in the local Islamic community; I would just like to add that we have been touched by the support that our community has received in messages over the past few days,” he finished.