August 22, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani 12,1423

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WASHINGTON, Aug 21: A chartered plane with up to 100 Pakistani detainees is set to leave the United States for Pakistan soon, some in the group told United Press International on Wednesday.

This is the second batch of illegal immigrants to be repatriated this summer and includes 40 people from Karachi and 25 from Lahore. The rest are from other parts of Pakistan.

The detainees were collected at a federal prison facility in Tensas, Louisiana, from across the United States.

During the current drive, the U.S. government plans to deport 300,000 “deportation absconders” -— a term used for those who have already been ordered to leave the country but are refusing to do so.

Tragic scenes were witnessed at Tensas detention centre where Pakistani and the United States officials have been interviewing the detainees for the last three days. Several detainees were married to U.S. nationals and are having to leave their spouses and children behind.

But unlike the first batch, most people in this group said they wanted to go home instead of staying back in the United States and try to legalize their status.

“We have suffered enough. We want to go home now,” said M.A. Jindani, a former Karachi resident who was arrested from Orlando, Florida.

He was left behind at the last moment because his lawyer had filed a stay order.

Jindani, however, insisted on going with other detainees and had to be forcibly separated from them.

Asked to comment on the information obtained from the detainees, Pakistani consular officer, Imran Ali, who is accompanying the prisoners, said: “We have no comments. We cannot talk to the press.”

Some of the detainees had spent up to 10 months in prison and included those kept at New York’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Centre, criticized recently by the Washington Post for mistreating inmates.