Saturday, Jan 18, 2003
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By Haroon Habib
In a crucial decision, Washington added Bangladesh, despite its being an ally in its "war on terror", to a list of countries to face stricter restrictions in the immigration process under the post-September 11 vigilance against terrorism. The Foreign Secretary, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, said under the restriction, Bangladeshi males in the 16-45 age bracket would be required to register with the U.S. immigration authorities . They are required to visit the local Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) office to be photographed and fingerprinted and also to produce certain documents. The registration is part of a broader INS plan to set up, by 2005, a comprehensive system detailing who is entering, leaving and staying in the U.S. The U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, Marry An Peters, explained in a statement, "The registration system applies only to temporary visitors to the U.S. and does not apply to arriving immigrants, permanent residents and American citizens of Bangladesh descent." This would not, however, affect U.S. citizens, diplomats, refugees or permanent resident aliens holding green cards. Along with Bangladesh, four other countries — Indonesia, Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait — have also been included in a fourth "call-in group'', which raised the number of such countries to 25. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were included in the third group in December last. Some countries included in the lists are considered "potential havens for terrorists". Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen and the UAE were listed in the first two groups. The only non-Muslim country included in the list is North Korea. ``This is unfortunate... . Dhaka voices deep concern and feels hurt at the U.S. decision,'' Mr. Chowdhury said, adding, "We trust and hope that it is a temporary measure and its impact will be limited in scope and form.'' He said Bangladesh was firmly committed to fighting against international terrorism. Bangladesh's business community, meanwhile, expressed serious concern at the development, this would hurt trade seriously and discourage businessmen from travelling to the U.S. Meanwhile, reports from the U.S. said the decision had sparked off panic among illegal immigrants. Some 100,000 Bangladeshis living in the U.S. without visa or other documents might come under the new law, said a New York-based Bangladesh journalist. They can no longer stay in the U.S. as before and must return home or face arrest, he added. The Opposition political parties have described the U.S. decision as "unfortunate" but blamed it on the failure of the coalition Government and its foreign policy. The president of the Jatiya Party, Anwar Hossain Monju, said, "I fear that we are gradually losing our friends all over the world." The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader, Hasanul Huq Inu, said, "The decision, despite Bangladesh's support to the U.S. war against terrorism, proves that Bangladesh is friendless on the international front. However, the secretary general of the ruling BNP, Abdul Mannan Bhuyan, said the U.S. might have been influenced by the propaganda launched against Bangladesh by some vested groups both at home and abroad.
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