Critics flay new US moves to monitor foreigners
‘These are discriminatory measures against the citizens
of Arab and Islamic countries’
Arabs and Muslims are reacting angrily to a US program to increase surveillance of foreign
visitors, accusing Washington of discrimination and “totalitarian practices” in
its so-called “war against terrorism.”
The new US proposal to require fingerprints and photographs from 100,000 foreign visitors
each year has also provoked anger among foreign business travelers, who fear they may be
targets of suspicion.
“It is a ridiculous step,” said Ahmed al-Ajeel, vice-president of Kuwait
Investment Projects Co., which invests in US equities and real estate.
“All of us in the (Gulf) area are accused, including America’s allies. They
should have better intelligence,” he said.
The Justice Department said last week that it will identify “risky” travelers
and require them to provide details about their plans in the United States. They will also
have to report annually to Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.
Attorney-General John Ashcroft declined to disclose the criteria used to decide which of
the 35 million foreign visitors who enter the United States each year might be a threat,
except to say that nearly all visitors from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria barring
some diplomats will face the new scrutiny.
“This system emits an ugly smell of racial discrimination, which the world
experienced only in the shadow of totalitarian regimes,” editorialist Salama Ahmed
Salama wrote Monday in a column of the Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram.
“The danger of these measures is to put every Arab citizen on the list of
suspects,” wrote Salama, who expressed fears that the measure would be “quickly
copied by the majority of European states.
“Visitors from Arab countries will become pariahs, treated as criminals without
charges and will be held at airports,” he predicted.
On the weekend, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa criticized the proposed US steps
to stop “terrorists” from entering the United States.
“These are discriminatory measures against the citizens of Arab and Islamic
countries,” Moussa said, vowing that the 22-member pan-Arab organization would
convene a study on the matter.
In Khartoum, Sudanese officials and locals denounced the measures as
“discriminatory.” A Sudanese government official, who asked to remain anonymous,
blamed what he called American anti-Arab and -Muslim lobbyists, especially pro-Israel
groups, for pressuring the US administration into imposing the new measures.
Many Muslims fear the West is trying to link Islam with violence in the wake of the Sept.
11 attacks, and some predict a backlash among foreign investors.
“Businessmen and investors are more prepared now than any time before to seriously
consider withdrawing from the American market if they are subjected to extraordinary
procedures or harassment in American airports,” said Qatari businessman Mohammed
al-Kabeesi, who has a multimillion-dollar portfolio in American equities.
Others have complained that the new US policy treats them like criminals.
“I don’t know if I’d want to fly there now,” said Ali Haidar,
assistant vice-president at an international bank in India and a frequent visitor to the
United States. “Why should I constantly be under tension that someone may stop me and
ask insulting questions about my motives just because of my name or how I look?”
Some foreign Muslims said they already feel like they are being singled out.
Indian actor Amin Hajee, who appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Lagaan, recalled how he
and 40 others, including Lagaan star Amir Khan, were questioned at length by US officials
on arrival at Orlando Airport in October as part of a promotional tour.
“It’s unfair to measure all Muslims with the same yardstick,” Hajee said.
“The Ku Klux Klan is racist. So should we think that all whites are racist?”
With agencies Copyright © The Daily
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