NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Aug. 8, 2002

The first government crackdown after Sept. 11 focused on those suspected of having links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. More than 1,200 people were arrested during this phase, which lasted from Sept. 21 to Nov. 30, 2001.

Out of these 1,200, the Immigration and Naturalization Service short-listed 170 people as "material witnesses," a term used to define people who could provide information about the hijackers and other suspects.

Others were charged with immigration violations. Most of them have been deported.

The U.S. government's second phase, which started April 15, targets 300,000 illegal aliens, not all of them Muslims.

INS Apologetic Toward Illegal Aliens

During meetings with representatives of Muslims, INS officials assured them that neither of the two campaigns was targeting Muslims. In the first phase, they said, U.S. officials only focused on those who had strong resemblance to the hijackers.

The INS also said many of the deportation absconders it is seeking during the second phase are from the Americas.

Hundreds of Muslims have been arrested during the second phase as well.

During the second phase, INS officials also raided jewelry stores that employed many illegal aliens. These people were spared during the first phase, although the INS knew that most of these workers did not have work permits.

"The INS is now holding 294 Pakistanis, including seven held in the first crackdown," said Imran Ali, the Pakistani diplomat who deals with Pakistani detainees. "The majority has been in jail for the last four months, waiting for a decision."

Out of these 294 people, 140 have already lost their appeals and are awaiting deportation. Seven from the first crackdown, who applied for political asylum but were rejected, are also ready for deportation.

Although the embassy has agreed to help those stranded in jails, it does not have the funds to repatriate them. That's why it depends on the INS for assistance.

Media Interfere

Initially, people were sent on commercial flights, which was time-consuming and expensive. So after consulting the Pakistani mission, the INS sent its first chartered flight to Pakistan on June 26. It postponed further flights after the media, in Pakistan and the United States, strongly criticized the move.

"We are hoping that the chartered flights will resume soon," said Ali, rejecting the criticism that INS officials mistreated the prisoners on the first flight.

He was supported by Mohammed Akram, a Pakistani arrested from Baltimore and sent home on the same flight. "All such allegations are totally false. The INS officials were courteous and helpful."

As many as 30 INS officers accompanied the deportees on the first flight, along with two nurses to look after the prisoners.

The nurses were sent because a Pakistani prisoner, Rafique Butt, had died in a Hudson County jail in New Jersey last year, supposedly because of psychological stress. The INS had also agreed to send a doctor on the next flight.

The INS officers accompanying the deportees had been dealing with them for months and had developed a good rapport with their prisoners.

'Free [Taxpayer-Funded] Legal Advice'

"During the flight, they distributed forms and offered free [sic] legal advice to those they thought qualified to file an appeal against their deportation at the embassy in Islamabad," said Malik Naeem Akhtar, who was arrested in Massachusetts and sent home on this flight.

Under U.S. immigration laws, once a foreign national has been ordered to leave the country, he cannot remain but can file an appeal against the decision from outside the country.

"Yes, prisoners had to wear flexi-cuffs [handcuffs made of elastic] to fulfill international legal requirements, but they were so loose that the deportees could easily move about and eat," said an INS official.

Don't Want to 'Inconvenience' Illegal Aliens

"The intention was not to cause inconvenience. International laws require that prisoners on an airplane must be handcuffed."

There were also six drug criminals on the first flight who were deported along with other offenders and had to be handcuffed and watched as common criminals.

INS and Pakistani officials say the flight was a test of physical endurance for the detainees. Most of them had already traveled for hours in the United States before boarding the 24-hour flight to Pakistan.

Pakistani lawyers who helped the detainees say some of them faced lengthy investigations. One of them, Qasir Rafique of Hartford, Conn., was initially charged with petty larceny. Later, police officers discovered two tickets for the World Trade Center in his apartment and linked him to terrorism. He is still at the Suffield detention center as he is unable to raise $1 million bail set by the state court.

The other captive, Syed Babar Ali of New York City, like Rafique, was charged with petty larceny. The charge was changed to terrorism when police discovered dozens of aircraft models in his apartment.

When the Pakistani Embassy investigated his case, it discovered Ali was a dropout from the Risalpur Air Force Academy in Pakistan. Because he had wanted to become a pilot but failed to do so, he was obsessed with aircraft.

After the embassy intervened, the state court reduced his bail from $1 million to $20,000 and he was released on bail, but the investigation against him continues.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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