February 14th with the INS

tahmed sahib:

well said. these law breaking, shalwar-kameez wearing, urdu-medium-type pakis deserve to be taught a lesson for despoiling the reputation of law-abiding scions of armywallahs, bureaucrats and landowners. and full marks to uncle sam for recognizing that these people are up to no good because no one in their right minds would leave a merit based society that has so many opportunities for all citizens and come to an alien land and work twenty hour days driving cabs or patrolling condos or pumping gas. (a most unpaki like behavior you must agree). so glad that these people and their families are now subjected to the terror of the midnight knock. we can also play our part in securing our new homeland. i am now going to infiltrate desi circles to compile a database of all illegal paki immigrants. this information will be mailed to ins every two weeks. please wish me success in this noble endeavor.

adnan_rafiq #30 Rafiq sahib, legal honaiN ka gharoor zaroor hai. Laikin legal immigrant honaiN ka nahiN. Siraf kanoon kee izzat karnaiN ka gharoor hai.
The VIP culture in Pakistan glorifies law breaking. The bigger the VIP, the bigger the laws they break. I am sorry, but I reserve my compassion for those who do NOT break the law.
And no, simply becoming a legal immigrant one day (as you say) will not make you equal to those who never broke the law to begin with. You will no doubt one day hold what you obviously rate highly, namely the precious ``blue passport`` of US citizenship, and (from your post) no doubt on that day you will consider yourself superior to those who chose to live an honest life even if it meant returning to Pakistan. But rest assured, you and your kind will always be a notch below those who had enough self-respect to make a life for themselves the proper way - the honest way.
And please dont give me this excuse of not being well connected in Pakistan or prospects and family to support. When one door closes on you, God opens ten other doors. No one starved because he or she respected the law.

FJ #31 I think the last part of my post to adnan rafiq respond to your point as well. Here is a story my father once told me:
The thief is walking around a neighborhood one evening with his son. ``Son`` he says proudly, ``You see that big house where there is a party going on. Well, I robbed that house a couple of years ago``. He walks by another house, and says ``Son, you see that brightly lighted house. Well, I robbed that one too``. And thus for several houses.
Finally the son asks ``But father, how come those houses are still well lighted and the inhabitants are seem to be still living a good life, while our house is always dark?``
As I wrote to adnan, no one starved by respecting the law. ``Honesty is the best policy`` is more than just a feel good thing.

After the personal experience with my always-America-hating-nudee-bars-visiting pakistani classmate in TAMU, I wished America would teach these collective behinds a strong lesson about how privileged they are to be awarded with an American visa thereby saving them from their good for nothing, wretched places. Hope this is the lesson.

tahmed saahib: hur ooNt kubhee naa kubhee puhaaR kay neechay zuroor aataa hai ... mugur lugtaa hai kay aap ub tuk buchay hoo`ay haiN :) tauba tauba, upnay ``legal`` honay pur itnaa ghuroor?

How about a little compassion for those who are not so fortunate to arrive here on student visas? How about a little compassion for those who did not betray an innocent ``gori`` to become naturalized? How about a little compassion for those who have no land, military-connections or any prospects back home? How about a little compassion for those who support their families back home? How about we all stop being so smug and judgmental?

mugur aap fikur naa keejeeya, jub Patriot Act II paas hojaaye gaa to aap meiN or is lowly illegal crowd meiN khaas furq nuheeN reh jaaye gaa. Aschroft kaa dundaa hur simut ek turaah say chulay gaa ... kuheeN aisaa naa ho kay junaab-e-waalaa bhee zud meiN aajaa`eN?

improving their economic livelihood is more important to them than respect for the laws of a given society

tamed, you mean to say financial security is of zero importance to you?

SaraJ: Myself and my wife also went to the INS offices some time back as part of our immigration application (first to get fingerprinted and next to get interviewed). I dont think it was any different than what you and your fiance did, and we found it to be quite a pleasant experience (as you and your fiance seem to have found too). The process was orderly, they did not keep us waiting beyond the appointed time, and the officials were efficient and polite. And I was pleased to see that those fingerprints were actually going to be used (since they were carefully taken, and went to a computer database), and were not merely pro forma blobs of ink on paper that the our Pakistan government requires for various purposes and which cannot conceivably identify anything beyond the fact that I have five fingers on each hand. :-)
I think the real problem is not with people with papers in order (like your fiance) but people who are in the US illegally. I dont feel very sorry for them, though. I came as a student to the US, and while I was concerned about being able to legally work in this country after graduation, and looking back now I can say that never once did I think about staying here illegally in case I was unable to do so. For these people who are universally treated as some kind of victims (both in the Pakistan press and in the US press), improving their economic livelihood is more important to them than respect for the laws of a given society. So let them be scared about doing something illegal. Let them be very, very scared. Then make them legal or something so they can stay, but at least let them not act as if they are victims and let not the US government officials who are merely trying to do their job be the ones being ridiculed.

Sara,
Well done; quick flashes of humor and tenderness, but not too sentimental.

The interactors who see nothing unseemingly about govt. officials behaving boorishly or that Pakistanis as well as other South Asian Muslims are being ``criminalized`` as the right wing would have any undocumented worker-don`t want to admit that the writing is on the wall.

Perhaps they`ll understand when it starts hitting home...

ahmadzai # 10

``And Pakistanis (the fundoos included), like the entire world, had protested the former Talibans on making it mandatory for their minorities to wear the mark of identification in Talibani Afghanistan.``

I am sure the protest included the continuation of weapons, fuel supplies to the Taliban.

ahmadzai # 11

``This seems to be a Pakistani response in kind to India`s dowry deaths. ``

dowry deaths are crimes punishable by Indian law. cops do enforce the laws ocassionally.

Are honour killings illegal in Pakistan ?

ahmadzai # 11

``This seems to be a Pakistani response in kind to India`s dowry deaths. ``

You do not have any political party or ethnic group defending dowry killings.

I was finger-printed, photographed and tested for AIDS/TB to get my green card. What is the hoopla ?

does the registration affect legal immigrants in any way ?

As far as illegal immigrants goes they choose to break the laws of this country. They are on their own.

Tipu-
Fiancee is mungaiter...someone you`re engaged to be married/nikkahed to. :) We`re planning the nikkah/ruksati at the end of this year.

arjun_m-
you are allowed to critique or attack the writing ..not the person.

Ansari-
Whitman rocks!

Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?

- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

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arjun_m at # 13:

``Yup...we know how much you pakis hated the taliban and NEVER NEVER sympathized with islamic militants anywhere... ``

or how much the Americans hated the Islamic Militants and NEVER NEVER sympathized with them anywhere, inculding Afghanistan in the 80s, Bosnians in the 90s, etc.

;)