All Pakistanis now subject to special scrutiny at US airports
All Pakistanis now subject to special scrutiny at US airports
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Immigration inspectors have been ordered at all large American airports to examine all travellers of Pakistani descent – including US citizens – for minor injuries such as “rope burns,” “unusual bruises” and “scars” possibly suffered while training in terrorist camps, according to internal US documents.
The secret documents were obtained and excerpts from them published this week by the online journal, WorldNetDaily (WND).
A two-page “action” bulletin, labelled “For Official Use Only,” warns that recent intelligence gathered in Pakistan and elsewhere indicates that individuals travelling to train at terrorist camps in Pakistan may be planning to carry out terrorist activities within the United States between now and the presidential election in November.
Even Pakistanis who have become American citizens are not exempt. The bulletin directs agents at major international airports in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles to “increase scrutiny” of passengers who are naturalised US citizens or legal permanent residents of Pakistani descent, and “who exhibit evidence of suspicious travel, including short trips to Pakistan not related to family or business.”
According to WorldNetDaily, the closely held bulletin, dated June 17, orders primary inspectors at the airports to refer suspicious persons to secondary inspections areas for further questioning. The special inspections are authorized to run at least through late July. “If we see any irregularities,” an immigration inspector told WND, “we escort them to secondary for a very in-depth interview and search.” Inspectors also have been advised to examine travellers of Pakistani descent for physical signs that they’ve engaged in paramilitary training in Pakistan.
For example, “officers should look for indications the individual engaged in rappelling activities (rope burns on arms/legs),” according to the internal action report. In addition, it says they should look for “unusual bruises resulting from obstacle course activities,” and “wounds” or “scars” suffered from the discharge of firearms.
The document lists several other key clues airport inspectors should look for to identify potential Pakistani terrorists, including details about travel documentation. WND has decided not to disclose them for security reasons. Agents are advised to report data from the “intelligence-driven special operation” to field operations official Brian J. Humphrey, who is listed as the point of contact at Customs and Border Protection headquarters here. Customs and Border Protection is a bureau within Homeland Security. Asked about the Pakistani terrorist camps, Humphrey declined comment. “I really don’t have any information that I would be at liberty to discuss,” he said. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Jim Michie also declined comment. “We can’t discuss any enforcement operations.”
This would explain why many US citizens of Pakistani origin on arrival from abroad at a US airport are taken to a special office, their passport and customs declaration, having earlier been placed in a red folder. If the traveller asks why he is being given this extra attention, he receives no answer or even sometimes reprimanded and warned not to ask unnecessary questions. Most people decide to go along with whatever they are being subjected to, afraid that were they to argue or question the treatment, something worse might happen to them. “This is paranoia, that is what it is, and it is the Bush administration that has created it, questioning even the loyalty and patriotism of its own citizens who come from Muslim countries,” said one Pakistani who had received “the treatment” at Washington on arrival from Europe last week.
According to WND, most, if not all, of Al Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan have been shut down since the 9-11 attacks. The publication reports, “But the news of still-active terrorist training camps in Pakistan is troubling. After 9-11, the US made the Islamic nation an ally in the war on terrorism, even though it was one of only three nations in the world to formally recognise the Al Qaeda-sheltering Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and even though some of the high-level 9-11 Al Qaeda plotters met in the Pakistani city of Karachi. President Bush repeatedly has praised Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for cracking down on terrorists in his neighbouring country. Even so, the US security bulletin says that ‘recent terrorist activities in other parts of the world document that persons of Pakistani descent are increasingly being identified with many of these extremist activities, including supporting (and) protecting the operations of terrorist training camps in Pakistan.’ It adds, ‘Recent police raids and military operations in Pakistan also documents the terrorist-related threat posed by individuals travelling to train at terrorist camps in Pakistan,’ specifically in the northwestern tribal areas of Waziristan. The bulletin goes on to say that the US government believes that ‘many of the individuals trained in the Pakistani camps are destined to commit illegal activities in the United States.’”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-6-2004_pg1_2
When is all this going to end?
