One Day in The Life of a (legal) Alien

Thank God! They are not doing all this in UK, but I have a sneaking feeling that sooner or later the British gov will alsao follow suit. Farooq

Zia,
such a great way to write about the registration process. I went with my fiancee last week and it was exactly how you described it. Wonderfully detailed!!! :)

sara

Zia...thank you for this. What an experience!

{Feel much safer knowing all the scary people are on record now.}

-ah, the irony of it all.

apologies! i thought this was somewhat relevant.
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Patriot Act Sequel Worse Than Original
by Rajeev Goyle

JUST WHEN we thought the Bush administration`s assault on our constitutional protections had begun to subside comes news that Attorney General John Ashcroft is prepared to go even further.

The Justice Department over the last several months has prepared draft legislation - the USA Patriot Act II - that expands the war on terrorism in dangerous ways. It enlarges many of the controversial provisions in the first USA Patriot Act, which passed Congress in the shocking days after Sept. 11.

Overnight, that bill weakened constitutional safeguards that took us decades to build. This bill, if enacted in its present form, would do even worse damage. By giving itself unprecedented power to wiretap citizens, detain people in secret, revoke citizenship and disseminate citizens` confidential information, the administration has trained its sights not only on terrorists but on the very freedom it purports to uphold.

After all, it was President Bush who famously admonished us that we should not let the terrorists win by changing our open, free society and that we should live normally, go on about our business, travel and spend money. Many of us heeded his advice, albeit somewhat anxiously.

But the administration did not respond in kind. Instead of upholding America`s great tradition of respecting the rule of law, it has decided that no power is too great. Consider some of what is in Patriot II:


Wiretapping individuals for 15 days, without consulting a judge, if the government declares a national emergency.

Sampling and cataloguing genetic information without court order and without consent.

Permitting and encouraging the dissemination of confidential, sensitive information about citizens` credit cards and educational records among federal, state and local law enforcement officials.

Encouraging people to spy on one another by giving businesses blanket immunity to phone in false terrorism tips, even if done with reckless disregard for the truth.

Prohibiting the release of information about people the government has detained, even if they have not been charged with a crime, by creating loopholes in the Freedom of Information Act.

Stripping Americans of their citizenship if they associate with an organization that the Justice Department unilaterally determines to be related to terrorism.
And this is just a sampling.

The problem with the administration`s approach is not its vigor - people from all racial, political and religious groups want to bring terrorists swiftly to justice - but its overreach and its vast potential for abuse. Preventing abuse is the reason we have constitutional checks and balances in the first place.

All al-Qaida members caught in the United States should be investigated and dealt with. But what about the innocent people who, because of law enforcement`s mistakes, incompetence or prejudice, end up as ``suspected`` terrorists? Once suspected of terrorism, constitutional protections evaporate, leaving people in fear and subject to harm.

Hundreds of people with no connection to terrorism have been detained and deported in secret since 9/11 without access to counsel. Too many innocents are being caught in the web.

It was not so long ago that this nation went down a very slippery slope. Hindsight makes the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the FBI`s ruthless prosecution of civil rights leaders in the 1960s and 1970s universally condemned. We must be mindful of those lessons today.

Thankfully, these concerns are not limited to one side of the political spectrum. Bipartisan majorities have emerged that are deeply skeptical of the Justice Department`s power grab during this period of national anxiety.

Some of the loudest voices denouncing the administration have been powerful Republicans, including columnist William Safire and former conservative congressmen Dick Armey of Texas and Bob Barr of Georgia. And Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York termed Patriot II ``little more than the institution of a police state.``

President Bush and Mr. Ashcroft have not formally introduced Patriot II to Congress and the public. But as they deliberate, perhaps they should heed their own advice. Don`t let the terrorists win. Keep America safe and free. We like America, and the Constitution, just the way it is.

i dont see what is so exciting about visiting a government office to get some paper work done. You might as well write about how you got your driver`s license. Or your exciting journey via PIA from Islamabad to New York via Manchester.
What would have been exciting is if you had overstayed your visa by a couple of years, were wanted on felony charges in five different states, had warrants for your arrest issed from the Lahore High Court with the Pakistan embassy actively seeking your extradition from the US. THEN you would have something exciting to report when you went to register yourself...
:-)

``Indian?`` Familiar question-in-a-word.


``No, I`m from Pakistan.`` Familiar answer-in-a-phrase.


``Pretty much the same actually,`` I add after a pause.``

You should have said it boldly, instead of writing it large on your face `` I am sorry, I am from pakistan``. I have seen it on the pakistanis face, time and time again, the shame of being apakistani.

Great, pretty much the same, what is same. No sir pakistan is the land of the pure, upholder of individual freedom to presue jihad, a country on a path to a past 1400 years old. Never, never again say that, you can try the familiar desi line. Never again say that india and pakistan are same and soon that will be a crime at par with supporting taliban.

Very well written. It is writing of the simple things that is so difficult. Requires perception and an acute sensory capability.

Barring exceptions, the Americans still remain humane and good people.

Imagine, if some Americans had banged aircraft into our buildings.

Our mobs would have simply lynched them. No questions asked.

Our people keep killing each other routinely simply because another person has a different belief. We also have laws to do it. Blasphemy law.

indians and pakistanis

Two indians and two pakistanis were traveling by train. The pakistanis bought two tickets, indian bought only one. The two indians, when they saw the ticket inspector got into the toilet, the inspector knocked, one ticket was shown through the door.

The pakistanis marvelled the great idea, on the return journey, they bought only one ticket, the indians did not buy any. Pakistanis were puzzled. The pakistanis got into the toilet as the indians did before. The indian knocked at the door, the pakistani showed the ticket, indian took it from the pakistani, and the two indians went into another toilet and locked themselves.

This is the problem with the pakistanis, they can only imitate. See the bomb, they copied india and now they have lost all of their independance because of it. The americans are at their airports, the FBI are operating in pakistan, they are kept under the economic yoke, no right off of the loans only differment so that it baloon again in a few years.

The yanks will go only with their islamic bomb. If there is another attack on the US, every body knows where the bosses are. Zia, take it from me, never try to look at india, look to saudi arabia, move to faisalabad and change your name to zia bin ahmed. good luck.

#7 by jay
I have never been mistaken for an Indian. Thank God.
I guess we Pakistanis think of ourselves as better looking
not to mention fair in complexion than the Indians, I have friends
who get extreamly offended if someone ask them if they are Indians.
I am always surprised at the fact that you can spot an Indian a mile away, because they have such a typical look, dark, ugly, skinny. I am a proud Pakistani.

Reply Jay #7

The only principled polititicians in Pakistan are the Wali Khan and their party. I have followed their track record since long.

He once explained his identity as follows:

I am a Pathan for the last 5000 years.
I am a Muslim for the last 1400 years.
And I am a Pakistani for the last 50 years.

I liked that.

#8 & 9 by Jay

Jay, you are right. We Pakistanis and you Indians cannot be same. You are educated, we are not. You are democratic, we are not. You are progressive, we are anything but progressive. Your constitution guaranties freedom of expression, freedom of faith and belief, ours is biased against minorities. You are pragmatic and open-minded, we are clung to a rotten ideology and a retarding belief. It can go on and on.

I am ashamed to be a Paki but cannot get rid of the tag attached to me by the virtue of my birth in Rawalpindi.

jay:

are u always this high-strung? not good for the heart u know :(

#10 by hrrehman on February 22, 2003 0:32am PT

After readying hrrehman`s racist remarks, my shame on being a Paki has increased exponentially.

jayjay 11,

That is really pathetic, what is needed is to change it. What really pi$$es me of is that no pakistani accepts that it is their support for jihad that has put them in this position. I had been calling for the iraquisation of pakistan for the last three years, now even mushy says that after iraq it could be pakistan. If there is another attack by al quida, it will defenitely be the turn of pakistan, and india will be in the proxy to do the task, the weatern alliance of afghanistan, the kurds of irq.

No pakistani seem to realise the sh$$it they are in, it is always the talk of zia did it, it is the poverty, it is the mullah. No sir it is the likes of you who has to speak out.

No doubt in the last few months there has been some change, dawn is publishing at least letters to editors about reviewing of kashmir, the need for kashmir day etc.

Even on the anonymity of chowk peple do not dare to say against jihadic killings. Jihad is quick sand, only hope to survive is to pi$$ on it.

I am simultaneously nostalgic and alarmed when i read your article. You bring back such memories of Boston. I took the T to Alewife every morning for work - my office was just down the street from the station. I lived off Govt. Centre for a bit too. You know what my favorite part of the T is? On the red line, going over the Charles, either early in the morning or late evening. It`s a beautiful view of the Boston skyline spread against the river.

But articles like yours remind me that Boston may not be the same as i remember it, even if the skyline (unlike NYC`s) still remains. Aside from your experience of INS registration, i`d be interested to know if your day to day experiences have changed any in the last few months. Have you felt any difference in attitudes towards you as a Paki or a Muslim, even in a city like Boston or Cambridge? I hope you say no. I don`t want to have lost the Boston i knew just two years ago.

This article brought back flashbacks of the day I went for my registration.
I couldnot sleep the night before. I was in the line at 7:00am, and I finally got interviewed at 11:00am. Because the new computer system was down that day, no questiones were asked and the lady told me that I could go after collecting the form from me. Guess I was very lucky! But I have observed one thing. Because of the pressure of Pakistani government, the attitude of the INS officers with Pakistanis has been better than with the people of other countries. I don`t know this might just be my observation and might be wrong.But a good description, I must say.