WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK, Jan 13: A last-minute rumour caused many Pakistanis to return home from the INS centres on Monday afternoon where they had gone for registration.

The rumour was based on a report published in a section of the Pakistani press which said that Pakistan was being removed from the list of the countries whose nationals were required to be registered with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The report also said that Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri was coming to Washington in the last week of January and Pakistan’s deletion from the INS list would be announced during his visit.

“We have practically received thousands of calls about this rumour,” said Imran Ali, the embassy official dealing with the registration. “And we are telling everybody that there’s no truth in this rumour. Please go and register but people still do not believe us.”

When this correspondent visited INS registration offices in the greater Washington area, officials informed him that they also had received calls from Pakistanis asking about the deletion. They said that many Pakistanis came to the centres earlier Monday but left without registration after inquiring about the deletion.

An official at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington confirmed that the foreign minister would visit Washington in the last week of this month but said that so far there was no indication that the US government was taking Pakistan off the list.

“Please do not pay attention to such rumours, go and register,” he added.

A similar situation was seen in New York as well where Pakistani journalists earlier saw a long queue outside the Federal Building in Manhattan.

“The line was still there Monday afternoon but Pakistanis were not going inside to register,” a report from our New York correspondent said.

The embassy in Washington said that only 15 Pakistanis had registered in New York by the afternoon and none in Washington.

“Reports from Missouri and other states indicate a higher rate of registration,” said Imran Ali. “But not as high as we had expected,” he added.

Apparently, the rumour was having an impact in other states.