New York, Sept 15: Pakistan has criticised Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain for not defending the rights of Muslims and their citizens in the wake of the "discriminatory treatment" of Pakistanis by the US after the September 11 terror attacks.
Several Pakistanis were deported or forced to leave the country after the terror strikes, second secretary of Pakistan Embassy Imran Ali and Faiz Rehman of National Council of Pakistani Americans told reporters here.
They admitted that most of more than 1,400 Pakistanis deported were working in the US illegally or on expired visas.
However, they argued that Pakistanis were singled out for the tough treatment apparently implying that citizens of other countries with expired visas were not touched.
The press conference organized by the United Nations Correspondents' Association (UNCA) attracted only five reporters.
Ali and Rehaman said but for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia, most of Muslim countries abandoned their citizens to vagaries of the American discriminatory laws.
Asked for a reason, they said it could be because those are autocracies and do not understand the pain of their citizens. But they ignored the question that Pakistan too is a military dictatorship.
They claimed dozens of Pakistani students, who had gone back home on vacation, were not allowed to return to continue their studies. Bureau Report