SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 12: American Pakistani community was deeply disappointed that despite persistent efforts by the government and the community, Pakistan’s name was not removed from the list of states whose nationals are required to register themselves with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

It wondered why Pakistan’s name was not removed from the special registration list while Armenia’s name — previously listed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — was immediately removed after protests by the Armenian government and its community.

According to Dr Agha Saeed, Chairman of American Muslim Alliance, a leading organization of American Muslims, Armenia’s name was immediately removed because no lobby was working against it. “However, in the case of Pakistan, Indian, Zionist as well as Christian Right lobby vigorously worked against it.”

The third phase of special programme begins on Jan 13 when Pakistani and Saudi non-immigrants are required to register by Feb 21.

However, the community seems little relieved that despite fears of a new round of mass arrests, the second phase of the registration programme ended on Friday without reports of large-scale detentions or other problems. It was in sharp contrast to the first phase of the INS registration programme, which ended on Dec 16 when hundreds of Muslims were arrested in southern California when they went for voluntary registration.

Eight Silicon Valley Muslims were detained at the INS office in San Francisco during the latest round of registration. Activists and attorneys say many of those detained have been approved for green cards but are in limbo only because of the notoriously long backlogs by the INS.