“But there is a serious problem and Hindus within the PNM are concerned.

“Every single decision the Prime Minister has made has helped to aggravate relations between the races.

“People are saying the police are acting independently but we know better than that.

“Manning has made it clear he does not trust Indians (Indo-Trinidadians) in positions of power or in senior positions within the executive.

“A lot of Indian Permanent Secretaries within the Government Service were acting in the positions but when the time came for the appointments to be confirmed, they were overlooked.

“I think five of the six Permanent Secretaries were of East Indian descent.

“The Prime Minister has veto power over Permanent Secretary, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Chief Technical Officer, Heads of Departments and Advisors in the Public Service.

“Manning also has veto power over the Commissioner of Police, Assistant Commissioner of Police, the Judiciary, including the Chief Justice, Appeal Court Judges and the DPP.

“Under the Constitution (of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago), he has extensive powers of veto, and he has been using it to deny people of East Indian descent promotion or confirmation of their appointments.

“Race relations are going to deteriorate and it is going to make Indians (Indo-Trinidadians) in the PNM very uncomfortable.

“But Manning is not going to relent; he has too much money at his disposal.

“We in the PNM will just have to accept it; it will not be confirmed but we will have to accept our second class status.”

A senior parliamentary source that has been monitoring race relations under the Patrick Manning administration also believes there is a serious race problem in the country.

“There appears to be a clear racist bias being perpetuated by the State,” the parliamentarian stated.

“Just look at the way Hindus are being treated, from the closure of Caroni Limited to the denial of the radio licence to the Maha Sabha.

“This government finds it prudent to close a State company that provides sustainable employment to thousands of people, while expanding employment in non-productive areas like the URP and CEPEP, which are glorified social assistance programmes.

“Caroni, however, had to be closed, although it provided tangible employment to thousands of workers, and, despite it being a financial drain on the State, was a company that earned foreign exchange for the country.

“The decision to close Caroni was racially motivated; nothing will ever change my mind on that because there are so many other companies that are a drain on the Treasury but the State will never think of closing them down.

“The former Opposition Leader (Basdeo Panday) was deliberately humiliated in front of visiting Indian dignitaries when the police went to his office to arrest him, and now the Chief Justice, one of the most powerful officials in the country, is being bullied by agents of the State.

“You had a Prime Minister of this country saying he did not trust an East Indian doctor because he was associated with the Opposition United National Congress (UNC).

“He made this statement when he did not have to.

“But it was deliberately said to fuel racial tension.

“And then he went further to suggest there would have been a racial war in this country if anything had happened to him while the doctor was attending to him.

“This is the zenith of misinformation.

“The doctor involved does not perform surgery; he has an administrative position, he merely organises the procedures; the operations are conducted, I believe, by a team of foreign doctors.”

The parliament source then added: “Only Afro-Trinidadian police officers were used to arrest UNC Leader Panday and only Afro-Trinidadian officers are being used to investigate the Chief Justice.

“The PNM Government is always in denial; Manning never knows anything, never does anything deliberately, has nothing against the Chief Justice but they have already convicted him in their ‘kangaroo court’.

“Look at the ethnicity of the investigating officers in the Sharma case.

“Look at the ethnicity of the officers who went to arrest Basdeo Panday.

“Is it purely chance that all the police officers are of African descent? What is the likelihood of that?”

The insider then added: “In your newspaper, you carried a story recently about ethnic cleansing in the Police Service.

“How is it possible that there is only one Assistant Commissioner of East Indian descent?

“Why is it so difficult for police officers of East Indian origin to reach the top?

“The most experienced officer in uniform is Assistant Police Commissioner Nazamul Hosein with 41 years active service, but he is going on pre-retirement leave in June.

“When Hosein goes there won’t be an East Indian officer at executive level in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.

“Not one police officer of East Indian origin was promoted during the recent promotion exercise.

“Not one!

“Look also at the case of Devant Maharaj of the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB); the Prime Minister has no jurisdiction over a state enterprise but the PM used his position to deny Maharaj promotion.

“This is the PNM policy; they have been trying to force racial bias in every action of the executive.

“The Police Service is a clear example.

“This PNM Government is politicising the Police Service based on ethnicity, with officers of African origin getting the nod all the time ahead of officers of East Indian origin.”