Deplorable: Iconic Humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi May Be Deported From US, Passport Siezed
January 29th, 2008According 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.