February 18, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 16, 1423

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SAN FRANCISCO: Feb 17: Dozens of Pakistanis remained in detention after they went to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service offices for special registration and failed to post high bail bonds or the INS kept their cases pending.

Community sources say many families are facing financial problems as heads of the households are detained by the INS, which is setting bail bonds at up to $25,000.

They say the Pakistan embassy has failed to assist those in detention.

When friends of Ahsan Farooq - a student who was detained on Jan 29 at Houston airport while returning from vacation - contacted the embassy in Washington for assistance, they were told to contact the consulate in Los Angeles. But at the consulate nobody picked up the phone. Then they contacted Samina Faheem, coordinator of the hotline established by Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF) to help Pakistanis in registration.

The PADF has hired Attorney Altaf Adam for Mr Farooq, whose parents in Pakistan want their son back safe. The student is detained on charge of working on college campus. International students can work on-campus for up to 20 hours per week. Many international students come to the US only when they have secured such jobs.

Many Pakistanis released from the INS detention relate stories of maltreatment. Asem, a 29-year-old student, who was detained in Chicago on Feb 6, was released the next day after payment of $7,500 as bond money by his relatives but the INS did not return his passport and driving licence.

“The experience of getting detained is horrible and the detainees are being treated inhumanly. The INS is demanding bond money up to $25,000 in some cases,” he said. When contacted, the University of Southern California confirmed that Asem was being ‘in-status’ to date according to its records.

Community leaders have expressed disappointment at the way the Pakistan government and embassy have handled the registration.

“Firstly the Pakistanis were given false hopes that Pakistan’s name would be removed from the registration list, later they were told that Pakistanis would be dealt with leniently when they went for registration,” said Ms Faheem.

Raja Mohammad Yaqub, president of Chicago-based Coalition of Pakistani Associations, said it appeared that the embassy used the INS registration issue as a propaganda exercise. “Probably, the embassy misled the government in Islamabad about the INS registration program.”

Organizations like the PADF and Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA) - an umbrella organization of 17 Pakistani groups - have established a legal help fund and hotlines to assist those in detention. The registration has created a humanitarian problem as many wage earners are in jail. Pakistani organizations are also trying to help such families by raising funds.

No firm data of those in detention is available from the embassy. Pakistani organizations and civil right groups are keeping track of the people detained by the INS.

A visit to the INS office here showed that a small number of Pakistanis was appearing for registration that began on Jan 13.

The INS has now extended the deadline for the registration of non-immigrant Pakistani men to March 21. Previously, the deadline was Feb 21.