March 08, 2007	Thursday	Safar 18, 1428

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RAWALPINDI, March 7: A batch of 72 Pakistani detainees, including two women, arrived at the Islamabad airport on Wednesday from the United States by a chartered flight.

The Boeing 757 aeroplane was guarded by 15 US security officials who remained on board when the flight took off.

All the Pakistanis who were on the plane had been handcuffed. However, the handcuffs were removed a few moments before the flight landed at the airport.

US security officials guarding the Pakistani deportees handed them over to Pakistani immigration authorities on arriving at the Islamabad airport. The Pakistani authorities after recording the deportees’ statements allowed them to go.

An Immigration officer said that all deportees were allowed to go as none of them had been involved in any crime in Pakistan. Pakistani Immigration Authorities revealed that there were 96 Pakistani deportees expected to arrive today as they had been informed by the authorities concerned. However, only 72 arrived.

Of the 72, some were captured by US authorities on charges of over-staying and some on using forged documents while some others had been arrested on criminal charges. Those in the last category were put behind bars by US authorities and later deported to Pakistan after their sentences had been completed in US jails.

Today's batch of deportees included four members of a family. The family was headed by Mian Tariq, his two sons Wahab Tariq and Waqas Tariq, and his daughter, Amina Tariq. Mr Tariq's two sons were medical students while his daughter a college student. However, a five-year-old son of Main Tariq is still in the United States with his mother.

Another deportee, who identified himself as Gul Maula, told reporters that he had been staying in the United States for the last 32 years where he had an established business. He had divorced his American wife and had a daughter who was still living there.

He said that he was put behind bars by US authorities concerned and was kept in various prisons for 11 months.

More than 2,000 Pakistanis have been deported from the US since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.