Members of the area's Pakistani community, faced with a requirement that they register with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service by next month, gathered with the Pakistani ambassador to air their concerns and hear his advice.
The questions came from a couple of dozen people among the 250 gathered in the Pakistani Embassy's chancery in Northwest Washington about a law that all male Pakistani nationals 16 and older report for fingerprinting and photographing. The requirement, first applied to nationals of Muslim countries that the United States considered high risks for exporting terrorism, has been extended to a much broader group of Arab or Muslim countries, including Pakistan.
At the meeting, concerns ranged from a sense of hurt pride that they would be required to register to fear that registration might result in arrest — a complaint that led to a recent lawsuit by a group of Iranian men in Los Angeles.
Pakistani Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi fielded questions and comments and said he shared the concerns about the law, which requires registration from Jan. 13 to Feb. 21, under threat of deportation. "There is a perception that the Pakistani people are being profiled," Qazi said.
While he urged attendees, most of them men, to comply with the Department of Justice order, he said he found it disconcerting that the law applies only to Arab or Muslim countries. Qazi also said the requirement is an affront to the law-abiding and productive members of the U.S. Pakistani community, as well as to the friendly relationship that Pakistan has had with the United States.
"Pakistan should not be included on this list," Qazi said.
In August, the Justice Department announced the registration requirement to track all foreigners and their reasons for being here. By Oct. 1, that plan was in place for five countries that the State Department had designated as sponsors of terrorism.
In November, a rule was published in the Federal Register to require males 16 and older from any one of 13 additional countries to register with the INS. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were added Dec. 18, according to the Justice Department. Spokesmen have said the system should be fully implemented by 2005.
"This law is against the spirit of America," said one attendee yesterday, Nisar Chaudhry, president of the Pakistani American Congress in Washington.
Qazi and others at the meeting said they were concerned by actions that prompted a class-action suit against Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and the INS. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, followed the mass detention of hundreds of immigrants — most of them Iranians — who came forward to register under the anti-terrorism program and were handcuffed and locked up, sometimes for days, for overstaying their visas.
Qazi said yesterday that he feared that the mass arrest has sent a shock wave through the Pakistani community, leaving many men afraid to register with the INS. "We don't want people to stay away from the [INS] centers and, therefore, lose their [visa] status," Qazi said, "but we hope they will not be subjected to the kind of justice that was meted out on the West Coast."
Faiz Rehman of the National Council of Pakistani Americans was at yesterday's meeting. He said the registration requirement sends a chilling message. "I feel we are being racially and religiously profiled."
Others spoke passionately about the issue, saying that Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, should intervene. They also questioned U.S. relations with Pakistan.
But Qazi repeated that "the vast majority of people in Pakistan consider the U.S. a friend." He added, "America is a friend, but friends can sometimes disagree."
Several immigration lawyers who were invited to the meeting said Pakistani nationals should go to the INS prepared with all their government-issued identification. Proof of residence, employment or school attendance also is required.
Said lawyer Denyse Sabagh: "It's supposed to be a registration. It's not supposed to be a witch hunt." Nevertheless, she said, "don't go without a lawyer, especially if you're out of status" — in violation of any part of immigration rules.
She also urged Pakistanis not to wait to register.
An INS representative who was at the meeting said she was not allowed to answer questions from the news media.
Jorge Martinez, a Justice Department spokesman, defended the new law by phone yesterday.
"We feel very strongly about the great relationship that the U.S. has with Musharraf and our combined efforts to fight the war on terrorists," Martinez said. "But the law, which was mandated by Congress, is solely based on national security concerns and intelligence information about terrorist threats. In no way whatsoever is this program based on race or religion."
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