While Pakistani govt. is allowing US FBI to roam around Pakistan and arest Pakistanis when this what’s happening to Pakistanis in US. We have have no self respect!!! :mad:
By Our Monitoring Desk
Hundreds of Pakistanis were arrested during a countrywide operation by the American immigration authorities, reported a private television channel on Monday.
According to the channel, the arrests were so widespread that the US officials faced shortage of handcuffs and the prisons became overcrowded.
Pakistanis in the US are in a state of shock and fear, their businesses are facing closure.
The areas where Pakistanis live in majority are giving a deserted look whereas the Pakistani Embassy has miserably failed to come to their rescue.
A large number of Pakistanis are living illegally in the US as their visas have expired. In accordance with the new American law, hundreds of Pakistanis were arrested in California olone.
Leading American newspapers maintain that Pakistanis feel that they are being targeted.
According to the television, the surveillance of Pakistanis in the US has been increased and women are also being arrested but there are reports that some of them have been released on bail.
The Pakistanis are horrified over these new developments and are also pondering over to adopt a joint strategy to deal with the situation.
Plain-clothes FBI agents have increased their vigil in the areas where Pakistanis are living in majority. Pakistanis are preparing to shut down their businesses because they are now living in fear following the incident in California.
They are demanding resolution of the issue at the government level.
It is reported that a meeting of Pakistani doctors are being held in Islamabad which is expected to be attended by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and American Ambassador.
The channel remarked that the future of Pakistanis living in the US would become bleak if this issue was not resolved.
First of all this news article gives a very sensational outlook, and is extremely low on verifiable facts. It doesn’t talk about where the arrests were made, on what charges and how many. It is deliberately vague on almost all details. The story is not even credited to any specific column-writer or news columnist. Nation/Nawa-e-Waqt have deliberately maintained a strong anti-West stance since a long time, but such uncorraborated news stories is really pushing it.
Faisal, grow up. I’m sure next time they will contact FBI and verify facts b4 reporting. Hundreds of muslims were arrest in US last week while US media was almost silence on the subject. Only BBC reported it. So it not surprising.
This is pathetic sensationalism that might pass for journalism within Pakistan. The wording and the words have been lifted off from the article a few days ago about iranians in LA. So vent when there is some real reason to. BBC reported about muslims (from category-2 countries ) and not Pakistanis. Go check you BBC sources again.
Though the US has harrassed Pakistanis a lot since last year, and has arrested 100s without legitimate cause, this news item has definitely gove overboard. From what I know, the registration period for Pakistanis in the US starts from Jan 13, and runs to Feb 21. What this news item has done is quoted the excesses done against Iranians, Syrians etc, and replaced their names with Pakistanis. The deadline for Iranians and Syrians expired a couple of weeks ago, and they are the ones being group targeted for now. Pakistanis will probably go through this cycle of harrassment (which for the most part, is an exercise in futility) next month.
as if a potential terrorist is going to use legitimate means in order to commit terrorism.
Akif, that doesnt bother me the way the Americans treat the people over there, as its their country, and the people they will find suspicious they will treat them harshly according to their laws. There is one place where one considers himself to be safe, where no one can touch him, and thats one's home country. The recent events that are unfolding in the region the Pakistanis arent even safe in their own country. Anyone of us could be arrested and handed over to the American authorities as an Al-Qaeda suspect. This development is heart breaking.
Rvikz..the only non-muslim country in the list is N.Korea.
Zaavia. I agree with you 110% on that. Its a damn shame that civil rights of American citizens are being ensured at the cost of the civil rights of Pakistani citizens.
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*Originally posted by rvikz: *
if you are a non-muslim illegal you dont have to report?
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All illegals are supposed to report. It is assumed that people who will be coming in for registration are here legally. USA has the technology to sift through large databases of fingerprints very quickly and it is getting awfully close to real time. So many people rattle off that terrorist would not be coming in legally. The best way for a terrorist to hide is to hide among plain view, and that is among the legal vistors and appear as common and average as possible. The fingerprinting database will allow verification of identity independently of false names, identities, passports, etc. It is known and has been shown many a times that Afghanistan trained terrorists have many multiple passports ( saudi, pakistani, yemeni, qatari, egyptian, etc.).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Akif: *
Rvikz..the only non-muslim country in the list is N.Korea.
Zaavia. I agree with you 110% on that. Its a damn shame that civil rights of American citizens are being ensured at the cost of the civil rights of Pakistani citizens.
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Not to go off the subject, but other than the very small percent of the people at the top when did the average pakistani ever had any civil rights? When the constitution has been a document that can be shredded and rewritten on the go by a single person, how can one even define "civil rights". Even Habeus Corpus is a concept that only applies to a very select few in Pakistan. Perhaps I have been reading the history and news of an another Pakistan. When Pakistanis don't treat other pakistanis well, how can we expect anyone else to treat pakistanis any better? Beleive it or not, I am agreeing with you but merely trying to see facts as they are.
Not to go off the subject, but other than the very small percent of the people at the top when did the average pakistani ever had any civil rights?
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If a woman has just been raped, is it ok to go ahead and rape her yet again, since shes already been raped?
And to repeat my original point, the rights of Pakistani citizens are being plundered in order to ensure the rights of Americans. What you are referring to are the rights of Pakistanis compared to the rights of Pakistanis....and that I agree with. Corruption and malice has ensured the fact that only a handful of powerful elite get their rights, rather more than their rights. But there is definitely a difference between 'home' and 'abroad'. You would never allow your neighbor, or an outsider to come to your home and teach your child how to behave.
Anyways, everyone whom I know, who was legal, and here as a student or on a work visa has gone, registered and come back with no hassle. The only hassle they complained about was the long wait and having to take a day off to go do this.
I agree that it is a pain to go register for this, although some sort of registration is required in many other countries as well, and has been for sometime.
THE arrest of thousands of Pakistanis during a countrywide operation by the US Immigration authorities has further raised the level of insecurity being felt by this community in America. The majority of the arrests have been made in California but areas where there are concentrations of Pakistanis throughout the US remain a prime target. US security agencies have stepped up their vigilance of these areas and armed with increasingly draconian laws are in a position to persecute any community. In this particular case the Pakistanis were highly vulnerable to this action as their US visas were not in order. There is no official version to corroborate or clarify the situation and in its absence we must assume that these Pakistanis are not illegal immigrants, but merely people whose visas had either expired or whose applications for renewal were still under process. From all accounts, this is quite a common situation among immigrant workers in the USA, especially the Mexican community. In fact a large number of them are supposed to have been working in the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and are believed to have perished there. There seems no apparent move to round them up as part of the strategy employed against Pakistanis in a similar situation. Therefore, it raises suspicion about a purge of Muslims, Pakistanis being in double jeopardy because of their religious affiliation with, and geographical proximity to, the people who are the prime target of the US War on Terrorism.
One cannot rule out the possibility that the US may be entering another dark chapter reminiscent of the ideological witch hunt it undertook in the worst days of McCarthyism or the ethnic cleansing its policymakers initiated against the Japanese in World War II. There are signs that the same mood prevails in the US today and is supported by two powerful lobbies, mainly that of the Jewish-American and Indian-American communities. There is more than a little frustration about the manner in which the citizens of a partner in the US War on Terror are being treated.
Islamabad must also activate its representatives to perform their responsibilities to these Pakistanis in distress, by ensuring that they get the legal support they require and that a diplomatic and lobbying programme is put into action to deal with the situation.
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*Originally posted by zaavia: *
Akif, that doesnt bother me the way the Americans treat the people over there, as its their country, and the people they will find suspicious they will treat them harshly according to their laws. There is one place where one considers himself to be safe, where no one can touch him, and thats one's home country. The recent events that are unfolding in the region the Pakistanis arent even safe in their own country. Anyone of us could be arrested and handed over to the American authorities as an Al-Qaeda suspect. This development is heart breaking.
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Hundreds of muslims were arrest in US last week while US media was almost silence on the subject. Only BBC reported it. So it not surprising.
… u softy you .. u make me laugh 
