| June 1, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424 |
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Plight of Pakistanis in US
AMNESTY International’s annual report, which has just been released in London, contains its traditional country-wise analyses, and there is scathing criticism of the human rights situation in both Pakistan and India as well as in several other states. But it is the report’s overall theme that most acutely reflects growing international concern over the current trend towards neo-imperialism that threatens state sovereignty and human rights and the civil liberties of millions of people. Amnesty points out that the US-led “war on terror”, which was supposed to make the world a safer place, has actually made it more unsafe. What would have been unacceptable before 9/11 has “now become almost the norm”, the organization says, with the US continuing to pick and choose which bits of its obligations under international law it will use and when and where it will use them. This has not only led to the virtual occupation of Afghanistan and the outright conquest of Iraq, but has encouraged governments to step up repression of political opponents, introduce sweeping so-called anti-terrorist laws, and undertake a spate of arbitrary arrests.
The report covers the year 2002, but it does take note of the invasion of Iraq and says there is every possibility that this country too will go the way of Afghanistan, whose people continue to face an uncertain future. Some of the reports and pictures that have come out of Iraq in recent weeks graphically depict the plight of Iraqis under the jackboot of the occupation forces and the chaos and confusion into which their lives have been thrown. The report does not directly take into account the future political implications of the attack and occupation of Iraq, but the warning signs are clear and ominous. Iran and Syria are already feeling the heat from the Bush administration, and the Palestinians are being bulldozed into accepting an agreement that will give them a state with its borders dictated by Israel. There is no way of knowing where Washington under Bush will next try to impose its will and its version of democracy. Even within America, civil liberties are under threat, particularly for immigrants from countries suspected of producing militants. The conditions in which detainees from Afghanistan are being held in Guantanamo Bay have driven many of them to attempt suicide. In some countries, US actions have led to a resurgence of virulent fundamentalism that threatens to aggravate social and religious tensions. Amnesty International’s report should help focus minds on the many frightening monsters that have been let loose in the aftermath of 9/11 to stalk the world. On Pakistan, the report underlines the continuing trend towards systematic human rights violations and abuses against women and children. It also refers to arbitrary detentions, deaths in custody, sectarian violence and victimization, and the attempt to impose a system of political governance that runs counter to the spirit of the country’s Constitution. In relation to India, Amnesty deplores the penetration of institutions by right-wing elements, resulting in increasing fragmentation of society on religious lines, and says the right of minorities to live as equals is being undermined by both state and non-state actors. It refers to Kashmir in the context of the “war on terror” and the international sympathy and support that Indian allegations of infiltration appear to have gained. But the dispute over Kashmir is also responsible for encouraging revivalist trends and intolerance on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border, and has particularly stifled the prospects of political progress and liberal democracy in Pakistan. That is why the present efforts to normalize relations between the two countries and take practical steps to tackle the Kashmir issue should be unreservedly welcomed and supported.
Amnesty and other similar organizations such as our own Human Rights Commission can only draw attention to what is wrong, but for the wrongs to be corrected, the responsibility rests on civil society in each country. The fight against undemocratic and exploitative trends has to be strengthened. Pakistan’s legislators can play a notable role in this if they can agree at least on the measures that need to be taken for the social and economic emancipation of the people. The present parliament and provincial assemblies, whatever their other shortcomings, have a larger proportion of women members than ever before: they can set the pace for an aggressive new drive to protect human rights from being abridged by state encroachments or by trespasses by obscurantist forces or by retrogressive customs.
REPORTS appearing in the American media as to how life has changed for the 120,000-strong Pakistani community living in the greater New York area since 9/11 speak of all manner of harassment and persecution. Since the US Homeland Security Department decreed all Pakistani males aged 14-40 years to register themselves with the Immigration and Naturalization Services five months ago, a significant number of people have gone missing. According to the Pakistan embassy sources, nearly 15,000 have emigrated to Canada seeking political asylum citing the new US Homeland Security Act as an instrument of persecution. Many more have been deported or are being held in custody by the US immigration authorities and the FBI. It is the last group that is the cause of acute worry and concern for their families and friends: many young men who went to register with the INS never returned. Officials at the Homeland Security Department, when contacted, keep mum about the fate of the ‘missing’ persons, so much so that they won’t even confirm whether a certain person is being held by them or not.
It is clear from the media reports that a certain witch-hunt of sorts is going on, targeting innocent Pakistani residents, who generally enjoy a good reputation in their neighbourhoods. FBI inspectors routinely go around stuffing the mail boxes of Pakistanis with their visiting cards with a message asking them to report to the FBI. Many of those who did report, went missing thereafter. This has spread fear and panic among the Pakistani community. Still others have complained of phone tappings and Internet monitoring by the FBI. This has forced many Pakistanis to relocate elsewhere, or quickly go ‘missing’ in panic after they have been asked to contact the FBI. Consequently, many apartments in the once lively Brooklyn neighbourhood of ‘Little Pakistan’ have become ghost houses as the FBI agents come and take young people away for questioning. Pakistan embassy sources say that the targeted group includes an estimated 30,000 young Pakistanis, among them medicine, engineering and business students, who make a living by hawking newspapers, working as labourers at construction sites or driving taxi cabs, and who may have overstayed their visas. The community lawyers are denied access to the detainees and barred from pleading their cases under the new law.
It is true that the opportunity to enter, live and work in a foreign country is a privilege and cannot be claimed as a matter of right. But the way the American authorities have been selectively applying the law in the aftermath of 9/11, targeting the nationals of Muslim countries, negates all the values of justice and fair play on which their founding fathers had based the American democracy. It is indeed shocking that the FBI should be specifically targeting the Pakistani community when no Pakistani has so far been found to be associated with Al Qaeda. The Pakistan government would do well to take up the matter with the US government when President Musharraf visits Camp David later this month.