Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Discriminatory body screening at US airports: FATA MPs approach Senate with a resolution

* US embassy spokesman says lawmakers were pre-informed about screening
* Senator Rasheed rejects statement, says no country should insult its guests

By Iqbal Choudhry

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to press the US authorities to relinquish discriminatory body scanning, parliamentarians belonging to FATA submitted a joint resolution before the Senate parliamentary secretary on Tuesday to take the issue in both houses.

“We submitted a joint resolution against the US law for body scanning, particularly for Pakistanis,” Senator Hafiz Abdur Rasheed told Daily Times.

Rasheed expressed anger over the US authorities’ attitude towards local parliamentarians and said he would take up the issue at the highest level.

A parliamentary delegation led by Senator Abbas Afridi went to the US on an invitation by the US State Department. However, officials at the airport asked the parliamentarians to undergo the “routine body scanning process”, which angered
the lawmakers and they cancelled their trip.

The delegation comprised Senator Hafiz Muhammad Rasheed and MNAs Sajid Hussain Toori, Akhundzada Chattan, Jawad Khan and Kamran Khan.

Pre-informed: When contacted, US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said, “We are sad about the decision of the parliamentarians. We told them before the visit that they would [have to] face the body scanning process”.

Denial: Senator Rasheed categorically rejected the statement by the US embassy and said no country should insult its guests.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said his ministry was getting details of the unfortunate incident.

According to sources, the FATA delegation had reached the US under the international visitors’ leadership programme of the US embassy. They did not inform the Foreign Office or the Pakistani mission
in the US about the purpose of their visit. When they
passed the security-scanning process at the Reagan International Airport, a State Department official came and negotiated with them about their decision to return to Pakistan in protest.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, President Asif Ali Zardari and the Foreign Ministry had urged the US many times to remove Pakistan’s name from
the list of nations whose citizens are to be subjected to stringent screening.

Pakistan’s name is in the list of 14 countries whose citizens would have to go for full body screening. Under the new rules, all citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen must receive a pat down and an extra check of their carry-on bags before boarding a plane bound for the US.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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