The US government's treatment with Pakistani nationals after the September 11 attacks has become intolerable and inhuman. Thousands of Pakistanis are languishing in the US jails without being involved in illegal activities, but they have been subjected to interrogations and are subjected to severe torture, but our government is not paying any heed to it.
Had similar number of US nationals been put behind the bars in Pakistan's jails, by now the US had attacked Pakistan to get them free.
This is a bad example of our government's relations with the US, as I could not see any logic behind it - except that Islamabad wants to maintain cordial relations with Washington in order to secure F-16 jets and remain in the good books of US President. Bush, until Pakistan is fighting US war on terror on Pakistan's soil.
Refusal of US visa to Justice Javed Iqbal is one of the worst examples of denying a right of entry on the US soil to a person whose credentials in Pakistan is as high as it can be the credential of a retired US judge in the United States.
Justice Javed Iqbal is not an ordinary person whose credentials could not convince the US visa officer to stamp visa on a retired justice's passport. The only apprehension of the US government for refusing visa must have been that if a retired Pakistani Judge would land on the US soil, the Pakistanis, who are kept in confinement and their families would make an appeal to the retired Justice Javed Iqbal to seek justice in the US and that the US government does not want to do that.
Pakistani Senators have rightly joined hands to reach a consensus that US citizens should also be given a reciprocal treatment in Pakistan.
US treatment with the confined Pakistanis in US needs to be changed, as in the long run, it would not be the only Pakistanis who would suffer, but it would also be the Americans who would suffer ultimately.
Minister of Foreign Affairs should summon the US Ambassador in his office and ask her as to what was the reason of denying a US visa to retired Justice Javed Iqbal.
In case if the US Ambassador does not want to disclose the facts under the "Rule of Privacy" then US should ask her press secretary to reveal the facts with full justification of denial of US visa.