October 29, 2001	Monday	Shaba'an 11, 1422

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NEW YORK, Oct 28: Pakistan has expressed deep concern over the death of one Pakistani in custody and the reported mistreatment of Pakistani nationals at the hands of various US law enforcement agencies.

Ever since the Sept 11 attacks, Pakistanis living in the US have been under intense scrutiny by the US law enforcement agencies who have detained a number of Pakistanis for interrogation. Besides, Pakistani nationals have been victims of hate crimes.

Stopping short of a protest note with the US government, Pakistan embassy in a representation with the US State and Justice departments on Friday, has sought the whereabouts of 12 Pakistanis who, according to their relatives, were reported to have been detained by the US agencies.

A Pakistan embassy official told Dawn that so far the Justice department has located nine Pakistanis, of which eight are in custody of the US Immigration and Naturalization services and one has been detained by the FBI.

Those in the custody of INS include, Syed Shakeeb Raza Shah, Syed Musharraf Raza Shah, Sajjad Ismail, Basit Hasan, Muhammed Wasim, Faisal Islam, Amjad Ali Jafri and Mohammed Aslam Pervez is in FBI ‘s custody.

Meanwhile, Pakistan embassy has sought explanation from the US authorities of the death of Mohammed Rafique Butt while in custody of US Immigration authorities in New Jersey jail.

Butt was found lying on his back on his bed early on Tuesday in his cell at the Hudson County jail in New Jersey. The 55-year-old Pakistani was detained by the FBI on Sept 19 for questioning in connection with the World Trade Centre attack investigation. It was determined that there was absolutely no link between him and the attacks. However, he was being held by because he had overstayed in US.