ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: Acting secretary-general of Pakistan People’s Party, Mian Raza Rabbani, on Saturday said the decision of the United States to place the country on the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s list was because of failure of the government’s foreign policy.
“The placing of Pakistan on the INS list by the US is a failure of the foreign policy of the Pakistan Muslim league (Quaid-i-Azam) government,” Mr Rabbani said in a statement.
The government, which was per-occupied with horse-trading, failed to convey to the
US that Pakistan was an ally in the war against terrorism and it should not be in the list, he said.
He said the government was insensitive to the anxiety of the Pakistani community in the United States and their families at home.
“As a consequence, Pakistani citizens will now be treated as suspects and required to pass through an embarrassing and time consuming process involving special interviews, filling of endless forms, submission of photographs and be finger printed,” he said.
He said the PPP shared the concerns of the community about registration and urged the US administration to reconsider its decision.
“It also calls upon the government to address this issue and explain to the people why appropriate diplomatic steps were not taken before the announcement.
Pakistani-Americans: Another group of Pakistani-Americans on Friday lambasted the Bush administration’s requirement that Pakistanis who are not permanent residents register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service by Feb 21 or be deported, our New York correspondent adds.
Shaukat Sindhu, President of Chicago-based Pakistani American Association of North America, told a press conference in Rahway (New Jersey) that “Pakistanis are being targeted unfairly”
“If the new measures adopted by the US Justice department would make America more safe it would be OK but its not working out that way”, he said.
“We are Americans who have chosen to live here,” Sindhu said adding suddenly, we are foreigners in this country. We have done nothing wrong, and now we have to register with the government.
By the end of February, young men from at least 20 nations will be required to submit to fingerprints, photographs and interviews as part of the government’s efforts to better keep track of who is in the country.
The nations include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
An immigration attorney Sohail Mohammed pointed out that Armenia was originally included on the list, but was removed just days later after an uproar from the Armenian-American community.
“This shows that it’s not about security; it’s about politics,” he said.
“If Armenia was such a threat on Friday, how come they’re
no longer a threat on
Monday? Their political power paid off.”
Most Pakistanis here are shocked that their country has been included on the list of suspect nations given the fact that Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf has aligned himself with the United States. Pakistan has become a front-line state in the United States war against terrorism they noted.