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[Fwd: WASHINGTON POST blasts surveillance of Muslim immigrants] by Saima Alvi 28 March 2002 19:35 UTC |
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DAWN INTERNET EDITION (dawn.com) 28 March 2002 Thursday US paper blasts surveillance of Muslim immigrants ================================================== By Our Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, March 27: The Washington Post came down heavily in an editorial on Wednesday on the Bush administration's surveillance of Muslim immigrants , saying it almost appeared as if the administration believed that the US was better off without the immigrants. Dwelling particularly on the case of a Pakistani, Ansar Mahmood, detained and now facing the prospect of deportation, the paper said in a second leader: "The government should not tolerate lawbreakers. But by rounding up aliens from Muslim-majority countries, and then finding something, anything, to pin on them, the government seems to be saying: Terrorist or not, we are better off without you." >From what was known about Ansar Mahmood's case, the paper said, "it >doesn't seem to us that America is better off without Mr Mahmood" and asked for his release. Mr Mahmood was detained shortly after the Sept 11 attacks when he went to a picturesque hilltop in the small New York state town where he lived and worked and asked a security guard to take a snapshot of him (Mahmood) to send to his family in Pakistan. The hill overlooked a waterworks, and that was a time when the anthrax scare had led to fears that terrorists might try to poison water supplies. During questioning, it transpired that Mr Mahmood had signed rental papers on behalf of a Pakistani family that was not properly documented and he was immediately detained. He has been in jail in New York since October and faces the possibility of having his green card, legitimately earned through a visa lottery, revoked. Mr Mahmood's plight was highlighted by The Washington Post in a news story on Sunday which had pointed out that while most of the 1,200 immigrants detained since Sept 11 had been cleared of any connection to terrorist, most were being deported anyhow. Mr Mahmood was in the US legally and worked hard as a pizza delivery man. His only crime was that he had helped a Pakistani family find an apartment, and he was charged with harbouring an illegal immigrant - a charge that before Sept 11 was rarely invoked, and that too in cases concerning shelter given to smugglers. Cleared of any charges related to terrorism, Mr Mahmood has now appealed against his deportation orders, but doesn't know whether he will be able to raise the money to fight his case. His case is among several highlighted in the US media in recent days. Muslim organizations have been protesting against the singling out of immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia for questioning and investigation. They have also protested against raids carried out last week on some Islamic groups as part of an investigation of financial links with Al Qaeda. Several hundred Muslims attended a meeting in the greater Washington area on Monday to criticize raids on houses and businesses of Muslims and what they perceive as a pattern of discrimination against Muslims. -- Saima Alvi Research Assistant Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Opposite Sector U, DHA, Lahore-54792 Tel.: 5722670-79; Ext.: 2165 -- Saima Alvi Research Assistant Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Opposite Sector U, DHA, Lahore-54792 Tel.: 5722670-79; Ext.: 2165
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