15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

WASHINGTON, Oct 14: The United States Congress has granted green cards to the wife and four daughters of a Pakistani grocer who was killed in Dallas four days after the Sept 11 attacks.

Waqar Hasan, 46, died after being shot while working at Mom's Grocery. He had been earning money to move his family to Texas from New Jersey. Facing deportation because Waqar, the applicant for a green card, had died, his family found itself in legal limbo until lawmakers stepped in.

Democrat Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey, where the family lives, moved a bill in Congress for allowing them to stay in the US. The bill was adopted this week. "It would have been a blot on America if they were sent to Pakistan," said Congressman Holt. "They consider America their home. The girls have grown up here and think of themselves as Americans," the congressman said.

Waqar's wife Durreshahwar said the family was thankful for the congressman's support and excited about a future in America. She said she bore no grudge against Texas and had a sister living there.

"It was only one man's action," she said. For America's Pakistani community and other Muslims the case embodied fears that Americans would turn on neighbours whom they associated with the 9/11 terrorists.

"We had people shot. We had stones thrown at mosques," said Waseem Nasrallah, president of the Texas-based Muslim Legal Fund of America. "But there were also acts of kindness," he said.

The US Patriot Act allows immediate relatives of legal immigrants killed in the 9/11 attacks to continue progress toward citizenship. "Waqar was murdered four days later, but he was very much a victim of Sept 11," said Congressman Holt, who had been working with government agencies for three years to keep the family in the country.