SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 21: Alarmed by mass arrests of Muslims in southern California this week, the Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF), a leading American-Pakistani organization, has launched a campaign to remove Pakistan from the US Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) list of countries whose visitors are required to register with the INS.

Hundreds of men and boys from Middle Eastern countries were arrested by the US immigration officials in southern California on Dec 17 when they complied with orders to appear at the INS offices for a special registration programme.

The registration is part of new US security guidelines following the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks. In the next phase, male visa holders from 13 additional countries, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon and North Korea, will be required to register by Jan 10.

Males from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia must register by Feb 21.

As the American Muslim organizations condemned the mass arrest of Muslims, the PADF also launched a countrywide petition drive urging the US administration to reverse its decision to include Pakistan in the list of countries whose all male visitors, 16-year old and above, on temporary visas are required to be photographed and fingerprinted at local INS offices.

The petition said the US decision “has not only come as a shock to the Pakistani Americans but also an eye-opener that the current administration is working without any principles, ethics, morality and conscientiousness.”

The petition pointed out that Pakistan is and has been the country which has been with the US from day one and that it suffered very significantly, financially as well as politically, but the support that Pakistan provides to the US has been unstinted. “The president and the secretary of state have on multiple occasions publicly acknowledged Pakistan’s friendship and overwhelming support to the US,” the petition said.