Shujaat urges Bush to reassess registration policy

Staff Report

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday urged US President George W Bush to reassess Washington’s policy of registration of US-based Pakistanis with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

In a letter to the US president, the PML chief said, “We are perturbed about the reports of ongoing registration of US-based Pakistanis and hardships faced by the affected families, which is causing concern and even disappointment among the people in Pakistan.”

Chaudhry Shujaat, who is also the PML-QA’s parliamentary party chief in the National Assembly, said the US was known for its democratic freedoms and constitutionally protected fundamental rights, but the registration of US-based Pakistanis was sending a message that was neither helping the US interests, nor the regional stability.

He said the Pakistanis community was ‘an asset to the United States, a nation of immigrants’.

“They have enriched the United States through their sustained sacrifices, toil and contribution in various fields, but it is their misfortune to face the fallout of 9/11.”

The PML-QA president said Armenia’s name was also removed from the list of states whose nationals were required to register with the INS.

Chaudhry Shujaat said in 1986 about 3 million illegal immigrants were granted amnesty under a plan signed by the then US president Ronald Reagan.

The PML-QA chief said he was not expecting any favours but only fairness from the US.

He urged President Bush to reconsider the registration process and save innocent immigrants from suffering.

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