NEW JERSEY, June 6: Reacting sharply to Attorney-General John Ashcroft’s proposed new anti-terrorism visa regulations, Pakistanis here called it a ‘bolt from the blue’.

“General Musharraf is Bush’s top ally in fighting terrorism and has even allowed hundreds of American agents inside Pakistan to nab Al Qaeda men. Is this how America is rewarding Pakistanis living in the US?” ask angry Pakistanis living, studying, working and visiting America.

“My mother has a 5-year multiple visitor visa and is with me these days,” said Ali, a student at NJ Institute of Technology, in Newark.

“I am in a fix right now because according to this proposed law if my mother overstays by 30 days the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and FBI can come knocking at our door and take her away for deportation.” He does not know whether to hastily dispatch his mother back to Pakistan or apply for her extension.

Another elderly Pakistani living with his only son, a green card holder, has had no problem getting two extensions to his visitor visa ever since he came here three years ago.

“I have gone back once, but now my visa expires next month and I will be out of status if I don’t get another extension.” Asking not to be named, he said: “I am simply terrified by this news. It’s a nightmare and I don’t know where to go.” He knows well that he is endangering his son and daughter-in-law’s status for sheltering an ‘illegal immigrant’.

Zahid, a Pakistani activist at Boonton’s Islamic Center, is critical of extensive powers bestowed on FBI by Mr Ashcroft to spy at mosques: “After Sept 11, we played a pivotal role in explaining Islam to our fellow Americans from other faiths by inviting them to our Center and also going to their places of worship every Sunday. I am disappointed at the kind of mistrust Mr Ashcroft is forging.”

Many Pakistanis who came to the US on H-1B visas after being sponsored by their employers have since been laid off due to job cuts caused by a depressed economy, particularly after Sept 11.

Arif is one of them who is working as a delivery boy for a pizza outlet owned by a Pakistani: “My parents back in Pakistan think I am employed by a computer company. How can I tell them that their son is now surviving delivering pizzas?”

People like Arif are called ‘benchers’. According to an immigration attorney, the law allows such people to stay on in the US while looking for another sponsor not beyond 30 days.

“If the last pay stub is older than 30 days, INS usually does not approve H-1B transfer petitions and they are required to return to Pakistan,” says the attorney. With Mr Ashcroft’s proposed law expected to come into force this fall, all visa violators will be “targeted for arrests, fines, deportation, and barred forever from re-entry into the US,” warns the attorney.

Farkhunda Rashid, in legal status (H-1B) but not a green card holder, says: “I have been working in the US for the last four years.

Paying taxes. Contributing towards social security. I feel very humiliated at the thought of getting fingerprinted and photographed like a common criminal.

Just because I happen to be a Pakistani? It’s not fair that I am being singled out. Is this the kind of freedom Bush never tires of touting abroad?”

The State Department, reportedly unhappy at Mr Ashcroft’s proposal, however declined to be drawn in the controversy: “It is an internal matter between two departments (Justice and State) which is not meant for public consumption,” said a senior official when reached for a comment.