As if fingerprinting and interrogation of pakistanis entering US was’nt enough..
US Checks for Pakistani Bruises
All Pakistanis arriving at key US airports are facing checks for injuries that might suggest they trained as terrorists, a US Customs bulletin says.
The arrivals, including those with US citizenship, will be checked for rope burns, unusual bruises or scars.
The document says individuals trained in Pakistani camps are “destined to commit illegal activities in the US”.
A Homeland Security Department official said the bulletin, dated 17 June, was a “regular border enforcement tool”.
‘Abseiling activities’
The bulletin was sent to Customs inspectors at international airports in Washington, New York, Newark, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The Homeland Security official told the Associated Press news agency there was “no hard intelligence connecting the camps to a threat against the United States”.
“It’s not unusual to have specific information to assist our inspectors. This is part of our process,” the official said.
The bulletin points out things to look for, including signs the individual may have been abseiling or “unusual bruises resulting from obstacle course activities”.
It instructs inspectors to look out for individuals who “exhibit evidence of suspicious travel, including short trips to Pakistan not related to family or business”.
This is blatant profiling, but what can the US do. Everyday, they can pick up Pak papers and read about LeT/JeM and other jihadi groups calling for attacks on US, Israel, India and anyone they don’t like. They are allegedly bnanned but not one person is in jail. Given that more and more people from Pak are being indoctrinated into this, they have to take this action.
Yar I dont think the last statement is true. Its true there are some bad apples, but more and more people are gearing towards a better life in the west, through education and certifications, just like in India.
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*Originally posted by Kamran-Khan: *
no end to stupidity! whats next? anyone with a name "Muhammad" could be a potential terrorist, hence should not be allowed to enter.
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This is already happening..people with name suffixes or first names as "Muhammad" already facing tough times in US..problem is a lot of people ( I would say 99.99%) who come to US for studies and in skilled workers category are affected as well . Special interrogation of people with cuts and bruises is certainly gonna put a halt to shia communty coming to US for obvious reasons of self ijuries and bruises they get during the month of Muharaam
Yar I dont think the last statement is true. Its true there are some bad apples, but more and more people are gearing towards a better life in the west, through education and certifications, just like in India.
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I'll take your word for it since we don't have the stats.
I didn't mean to say that most of the people are bad apples. What is happening here is the the guys who join these groups are ruining it for the rest of the people by being loudmouths.
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*Originally posted by Kamran-Khan: *
no end to stupidity! whats next? anyone with a name "Muhammad" could be a potential terrorist, hence should not be allowed to enter.
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Stupidity !!!
It is their country and they have the freedom to decide whom to let in and whom not to let in...
If you feel that the profiling is too much why dont u call it quits
Yar I dont think the last statement is true. Its true there are some bad apples, but more and more people are gearing towards a better life in the west, through education and certifications, just like in India.
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I quote you from an essay written by Khaled Ahmed who writes for Pakistan Daliy Times.
In Pakistan today it is the indoctorination of the transnational jehad that rules the minds of the people and any focus on the primacy of nation-state is regarded as heresay.
Precisely the reason that President Musharraf seems to be having such a difficulty of getting the Pakistani population behind him. In fact I suggest that since the time of Zia-ul-haq, pan-islaminization of Paksitan has worked to the detriment of your country. There are many well-respected political observers writing for many Pakistani newspapers (Dawn, Daily times) who have pointed out this. You think they are all wrong?
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*Originally posted by Arvind: *Precisely the reason that President Musharraf seems to be having such a difficulty of getting the Pakistani population behind him.
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What makes you think that he hasn't got the majority behind him? Need i remind you that in an election generally considered free of vote-rigging, the population elected a party loyal to Musharraf to be the largest single party in parliament and hence to government?
With all due respect to Mush (and I happen to think he is the best thing that has happened to your country), let him quit his jobs as COAS, call open elections and offer himself as PM or Prez whatever form of govt you want to have. If he gets elected then and only then I would agree that the Pakistani population is behind him. Meanwhile the links such as:
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*Originally posted by Talwar: *
What is happening here is the the guys who join these groups are ruining it for the rest of the people by being loudmouths.
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Talwar is right here, this minority of loud mouths is really a pain in the neck. The average Pakistani may or may not have favourable views on US, Uk, Burundi or Burkina Faso, but it does not lead him to support extremists.
A number of such groups operate on intimidation and people would rather nto get in their way or speak up. This is nto just true for religious extremists but for ethnic extremists as well.
But what is Musharraf sahib doing? He banned them in 2002, but everyone knows its a wink-wink affair. All the jehadi groups are back with new names. In 2003, he banned them again, but as if to make a show of the uselessness, jeahdi groups conducted rallies right after the new "ban."
Where is the will to arrest and jail these people? As long as these jihadi guys are roaming free in Pakistan with teh government doing nothing, can you blame the US for doing such things?
What makes you think that he hasn't got the majority behind him? Need i remind you that in an election generally considered free of vote-rigging, the population elected a party loyal to Musharraf to be the largest single party in parliament and hence to government?
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Both the referundum and those elections were staged events...
My Pakistani neighbour has laready cancelled her trip to the US. She can not be bothered to explain the bruising on her wrists from being tied to a four poster bed ;)
NEW DELHI, July 11: Angered by the treatment meted out by US airport officials who twice strip-searched him at the Washington airport, former Indian defence minister George Fernandes swore on Sunday never to visit the United States again.
Mr Fernandes told reporters in Muzaffarpur in Bihar that despite repeated requests by the Indian ambassador in Washington, the American officials strip-searched him, once when he was on an official visit to Washington as defence minister, and on another occasion, when he had a brief stopover on his way to Brazil.
Press Trust of India said Mr Fernandes informed the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about the incident, but it did not say what response he got from Mr Vajpayee. “I cannot forget the ordeal which I underwent in the US and have decided not to go there in the future,” Mr Fernandes, on a tour of his parliamentary constituency, said.
Given that more and more people from Pak are being indoctrinated into this, they have to take this action.