Adil Najam
Hassan Abbas from WatanDost just alerted me to this most deplorable and shocking news. According to the Daily Times:
Renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi was interrogated by US immigration officials at the JF Kennedy Airport in New York, who also seized his passport and other documents, a private TV channel reported on Monday. Edhi told Geo News that US immigration officials had questioned him for eight hours at the airport. “They asked me why I don’t reside permanently in the US despite having a green card,” he said. “I told them that I’m a social worker and I have to travel extensively around the world, and so cannot live there permanently,” he added.
Edhi said he had faced the same behaviour from US immigration officials when he visited America in June last year. According to Geo News, the immigration officials allowed him to leave following the intervention of Pakistani officials, but did not return his passport and other documents. Edhi said the US officials, through a letter, had also asked him to appear in court for a hearing on February 20. Separately, talking to News One television channel, Edhi said US authorities apparently wanted to hinder his social work. He said he, his wife and their granddaughter had been living in a small room for the last month as the US authorities were refusing to return his passport.
In an earlier news story, Dawn had reported:
US authorities have threatened Pakistan’s most respected citizen Abdul Sattar Edhi with deportation, he said. “I just received a telephone call from someone, telling me that I am being deported,” Mr Edhi, who is now in New York told Dawn. He said he was stopped at the airport in London when he tried to board a plane for New York on Jan 8.
Mr Edhi then contacted the US Embassy in London who gave him a letter which allowed him to proceed to New York. The letter also advised him to see US authorities on Feb 18 to clear whatever misunderstandings they may have about him. Mr Edhi arrived in New York on Jan 9 and was detained at the airport for eight hours. “They were questioning me why I look the way I look,” said Mr Edhi who has a long beard and always wears traditional Pakistani dress along with a traditional cap.
“They also wanted to know why I visit the United States so regularly,” he said. “I told them I am a social worker. What else I do? I only do social work,” said Mr Edhi who has branches of his trust in several US cities. “If they do not let me work here, I will work somewhere else.”
ATP know of my reveration - aqeedat - for the amazing humanitarian work that Abdul Sattar Edhi does (also see here, here and here).
Indeed, this admiration is shared not only by many other Pakistanis but by so many around the world who follow daily miracles that Edhi Foundation performs in some of the most telling places in the world. A look at the over 250 comments on my post about him which suggested that he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is testimony to this admiration, indeed devotion.
Here are excerpts from what I had written then; events since then have again highlighted just how important a human treasure he is not just to Pakistan but to the world:
Here is a man who has dedicated his whole life to serving the most marginalized and the most wretched in society. The destitutes, the mentally ill, corpses left by the roadside, children abandoned at his doorsteps, women kicked out by their families. When there is no one to go to, there is always Edhi Sahib to go to.
As importantly, he has done this - in his words - ‘wholesale’. He has single handedly built - literally by begging - a social services structure at a national scale. Bigger than what governments have. He has never taken a ruppee as salary himself. He lives in a two room apartment that most middle class Pakistanis would not call home and he oversees the largest ambulance network in the world, now with airplanes and helicopters, a multi-million dollar enterprise of relief, of goodwill, and of humanitarianism. If he does not deserve the Nobel Award, I do not know who does.
The Nobel Peace Prize has not come yet. But this humiliation has. Deplorable.
I must say that many of the comments here are quite petty and sad. Seems like little concern about Edhi Sahib and his stature and trying to score cheap points about whatever one’s hobby horse is. But most funny are comments from people (at least some of whom from previous comments are themselves Pakistanis living abroad) about how pathetic Pakistanis abroad (i.e., they themselves) are! All these Najoomi types seem to know exactly what other Pakistanis abroad (like themselves) would NOT do. Wow. Speak about self-importance and arrogance, these guys can read other’s minds.
But most sad is that for all of this big talk most comments seem to be about making cheap political points rather than commenting on why a great man was treated so shabbily.
1-Holder of GC may legally enter after less than 1 year of absence from U.S.
2-Getting a GC instead of longterm visa – so as to have the ability to operate an social welfare entity, get the licenses, conduct all sorts of banking relationship, get lease or purchase of office/branches, etc.
3-There are “red-neck” types of immigration officers, but many are not.
4-Prominent Muslims like Mr. Edhi go to the West because many rich Muslims live there. (The check is in the mail does not always work – personal involvement in charitable work is the main reason for Edhi’s success).
5-Questioning a nearly 80 years old man for 8 hours and withholding his passport – even though he had the letter from US Embassy allowing him to proceed to NY.
6-This is NOT your typical rule-of-law – it is the same phobia as the Native Americans, African-American, Japanese-American and many others have undergone throughout U.S. history. But it is selective to race, religion and color. Is it any wonder that the people from Ireland/Northern Ireland whether American citizen or not did NOT face such encounter because of the IRA.
1) I do like it that this thread has moved at least a bit away from what I call ‘All too Pakistaniat’ by bringing in the influence of foreign factors in Pakistan. Much of what ails Pakistan currently, indeed the imposition of Musharraf by Americans, is related to the perpetual war on terror.
2) It is easy to expect a ‘lowly’ clerk at the immigration counter to racially profile when the topmost Republican presidential candidates are blowing the trumpet of ‘Islamic Fascism’ everyday.
3) http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=92156
“Yes, there are alternatives to the US. One, beg Saudi Arabia to buy 30 percent of all our exports (Saudi Arabia currently buys 1.8 percent of our exports). Two, beg China to invest $1 billion every five months into Pakistan (for July-November 2007 China invested $7.3 million and the U.S. $1 billion).”
4) Once one of our leaders may have said that we could ‘eat grass’ but we now have no fortitude like that, not even like that of Brazil who is paying in kind to the citizens of America at Brazil’s airport.
5) Finally, indeed Mr. Edhi was targeted because of his ‘looks’ and that makes it very sad, considering that we human need to build bridges instead of bringing down the few that exist. He may have been in violation of some immigration law but the crassness of the ‘lowly’ clerk cannot be ignored either.
Can someone advise Homeland security what kind of a PR debacle this is for the United States,
especially in Pakistan?
Maybe Senator Biden? Kuchineck? Atleast someone can
use this as fodder in a debate? How do we make this a
shameful event into an example.
Like I said earlier, expats are so awesome in their pontifications on what Pakistanis should do; in fact, they keep referring to how the system in Pakistan is so backward. However, they find it difficult to even write a letter, which is their legal right, in defense of this person. It does not surprise me though; the same people gave perhaps the most rousing welcome to people like Musharraf not too long ago.
Can it get any worse?
At least an official apology from US shall immediately be demanded by Pakistan foriegn office.
This is shameful and embarrasing especially for those who are trying their damn most to encourage peace and dialogue between the US and Muslims.
The only thing Edhi sahib is guilty of is caring and working for other people, we need to get this out to all people muslim and non musli, pakistani and non pakistani - the racist and bigoted treatment Maulana Edhi has suffered is a blot against us all - let us defend Edhi regardless of our backgrounds, write to all your freinds with a brief description of who Edhi sahib is and why we defend him and let all protect him and people like him.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=637197927
Is there any way we can contribute in getting a wider attention….I think this is the last nail in the coffin of our national pride….or whatever is left of it. Thanks ATP for letting us know but, please don’t get me wrong, what can we do about it except for mulling over it.