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US has given us a raw deal: Pakistanis
Thousands of Pakistanis living illegally in the United States are facing expulsion under new immigration rules, despite Islamabad's demands for special treatment as a key ally in the war on terrorism. Pakistanis at home and abroad are livid. "The US would not have been able to crush the Taliban and al-Qaeda without the help of Pakistan," said Waheed, one of several hundred Pakistanis expelled several months ago under an earlier crackdown on illegal immigrants in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. "So they should let us maintain a fifth column in their country..." "I did nothing to hurt Americans. I was illegal but so were millions of others," he fumed, claiming he was being "made to pay for the crimes of others". Along with his own... Waheed's sentiments echo the mood gripping Pakistan and its leaders, furious that Pakistan was placed last month on a list of 20 suspect countries whose male nationals are to be subjected to rigorous checks by immigration authorities. "Since Pakistan was a key ally in the fight against terrorism," it deserved "special treatment," Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told US Secretary of State Colin Powell in a telephone call last week. Kasuri asked Powell to lobby for a review of Pakistan's inclusion, and like other officials has called on Washington to delete Pakistan from the list. Pakistan is also crawling with homicidal religious fanatics that the government's been ineffectual at curbing. It not only allows the existence of a jihad machine that aggravates neighboring states to distraction, is heavily involved at the government level with the care, feeding, and breeding of jihadis, but the jihadis fully expect at some point not too far in the future to take over the country. Large and favored elements of Pakistani society assiduously cultivate ignorance, brutality and xenophobia â and they want the right of unretricted export to our country? Waheed and Naeem, who both preferred not to use their real names ... because they can't remember them... for fear of endangering their chances of returning to the US, were among 312 Pakistanis who were repatriated between June and November. They had both spent several months in American prisons and both have left behind wives who have American citizenship or residency. Naeem, 29, had lived illegally in the United States for 10 years and succeeded in setting up a trucking business and buying a house. "My wife is a Fijian national and we were living happily with our two daughters until September 11," he told AFP. INS officials in California discovered he had submitted forged documents three years ago ... because Paks generically prefer to use them instead of real documents... in an attempt to legalise his status, and he was thrown into a jail "with people involved in heinous crimes". My heart just broke... No. Sorry. It was the brussels sprouts. "Despite all the humiliation, I want to return, because my wife and my children cannot live in Pakistan," he said. Why can't they live there? See above: the place is crawling with xenophobic religious loons... Waheed described his treatment during his arrest and deportation process as "unbearable humiliation". Whoa! "Unbearable humiliation" makes fundos kill people... "In jail they gave us food which dogs would refuse. They made us sleep in tiny triangular cells with the toilet inside. What for? What have we done?" Something having to do with forged documents, wasn't it? You know, like spies and saboteurs have been known to use? US guards treated them "like animals" on the plane back to Pakistan, he said. "They chained our hands and feet... Only when we made a lot of hue and cry did they permit us to use the toilet, but only with two officials watching us," he recounted. "A 25-year-old girl was also chained and subjected to same treatment. We lost our temper. We could do nothing but start shouting 'Allah-o-Akbar' " That certainly alleviated the situation, didn't it? "It gave us great relief when we saw the American guards' faces turn pale with each of our chants. We kept it up for hours." "Bob, would you put a bit more speed on the plane, please? These false document fundos we've got back here are howling like wolves!" "I'm flyin' as fast as I can, Albert." "Yeah, well fly faster. A couple of 'em are trying to gnaw through the straps!" Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-12 |
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