WASHINGTON, Nov 21: Officials at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington said they had given up to $100 to each detainee for travel inside Pakistan, but several deportees said they had not yet received any financial assistance.
“I have received nothing yet, although Mr Imran from the embassy had assured me that he will financially assist me and other detainees during the flight”, Jamil Mohammed told Dawn .
He said: “I have nothing. I had to sell my watch to pay the attorney, who did nothing for me.”
Many detainees told Dawn through collect calls that they feared they might be arrested and further harassed after they landed in Islamabad.
In August, detainee Nasir Ali Mubarak had been held for many days at an unknown location in Pakistan after being repatriated, said Stephanie Mubarak, his American wife.
But the embassy officials denied that claim.
“There has been no harassment of those Pakistanis who have been repatriated on chartered flights,” said Imran Ali, the embassy consular officer. “In fact, two FIA officers ... received the detainees warmly and helped them reach home. Even the INS has officially commended FIA’s efficiency”, he added.
Most of the ‘deportation absconders’ repatriated on Wednesday had sought asylum on dubious grounds in the 1990s, and their applications were denied.
But some others had better luck.
Families of Mohammad Shakeel, Jamal Khan and Haroon Wilson told Dawn that the embassy helped in stopping their deportations on humanitarian grounds.
“We have nobody in Pakistan. We do not even know the names of the cities. We did not know where to go and where to stay,” said one of them.
These detainees, however, face prolonged incarceration in US jails and an uncertain future.
Many of the 87 detainees were desperate to return to Pakistan and their families were keen to see them.
“I need my son back, I hope he is on the flight. (We were) assured ... he would be, but I am not sure,” said the mother of detainee Haroon Abdul Rashid, who said she called daily from Bahrain. “I will die if I do not see him ... I want my son back.”
The father of Farrukh Kamal, another detainee told Dawn from Dubai, “He is just a boy. He has never seen hardship. We should not have sent him to the US.”
Pakistani officials confirmed that both detainees were on the flight and informed their parents.
Many detainees said the embassy’s Washington office was very responsive to their concerns.
“There are Indians in detention centres, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, who have been crying for their embassy’s help for months and even years, but nobody listens to them,” said detainee Mohammad Jamal. “Many have gone mad in jails here. We just have to pick up the phone and dial 202-939-6200 and our collect call is taken. I have even talked to the officer at his home way past midnight,” he said.
An INS officer, when contacted by Dawn , rejected the claim that Pakistanis were being targeted. “Pakistani deportation absconders are not even in the top 10. Ninety-five per cent of the 3 million absconders we are looking for are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and the American hemisphere”, he added.
The INS sources said that 20 unarmed INS officers accompanied the flight to ensure security. Second Secretary Imran Ali also travelled with the deportees “to guide and assist them with Ramazan related religious practices and to attend to all other needs”, said an embassy official.
There were two doctors on the plane to deal with any medical emergencies.
The detainees, however, were forced to wear elastic handcuffs. The embassy requested the US authorities to remove the restriction but they said international travel laws require that all prisoners aboard a plane must wear handcuffs.
Annoyed by such restrictions, some detainees said the Pakistan government had failed to get any concessions from the US government for the Pakistanis living in the United States.
“While our soldiers are being killed while searching for the Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives, Pakistanis in the United States are treated like common criminals. The country is full of illegal immigrants but they are not chased and deported like us”, said detainee Imran Sugger.
Others complained that despite his promises to do so, President Pervez Musharraf did not raise the issue when he met President Bush in New York earlier this year. Pakistani ministers, the deportees said, also lacked courage to discuss such issues when they met people like Secretary of State Colin Powell.
They said the issue was dealt by junior officials at the embassy who had little influence on the US government.
“If we have honour and dignity as President Musharraf is so fond of declaring again and again, the arrests and deportations should stop?”, said a prominent member of the Pakistani community in Washington.
“Registration at airports, detentions, delay in visas, we seem to be taking everything lying down. Where is dignity?”, he asked. “Is it a crime to be Pakistani?”
