Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Zahid Hussain and Pakistan's Faultlines

Zahid Hussain’s “Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam” makes for interesting reading these days. President Musharraf is the current dictator of Pakistan, and has delivered some success, and failed on other fronts (like nuclear proliferation) in the US ‘War Against Terror’. Both Hussain’s book and recent events indicate the precarious situation of Musharraf, the choices facing Pakistan, and the resulting consequences for the rest of the world. Democracy and the rule of law have eluded Pakistan for most of its post-Independence existence. This has been quite evident for the past 2 months since Musharraf’s arbitrary suspension of the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Here's a good article on the Judge vs. the General. Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, has now been witness to the massacre of Chaudhry’s supporters who were protesting Musharraf’s unilateral action, apparently by members of the pro-government ethnic based MQM (Mutahida Qaumi Movement) party while Pakistan’s security forces stood by and watched. Hussain feels that that the “war against militancy and Islamic extremism can be best fought – and won – in a liberal democracy”. Musharraf’s proximity to the US and its unpopular policies in the region has resulted in (or exacerbated)... Read more →

Emergency Protection Order Program and Alberta Law Line

The Family Law Office is providing the Emergency Protection Order Program - designed to assist (free of charge) victims of family violence. Contact: 780-422-9222 (Edmonton) and 403-355-4868 (Calgary) Also note the Alberta Law Line - a toll free telephone service providing a centralized easy to access source of legal information, resource referrals and legal advice. 1-866-845-3425. Read more →

Bush Administration to Push for Tighter Visa Requirements

Fall out from the UK 'Operation Crevice' arrests and convictions: The Bush administration is so worried about the terror threat posed by radical young British Muslims that it is pressing Congress to tighten U.S visa rules. The new regulations will require visitors from the United Kingdom and other allied countries to fill out detailed online background questionnaires before they board American-bound flights. MSNBC Article here. Interestingly, the official line is that ethnic/country specific 'profiling' will not be utilized in issuing visas (at least from visa waiver countries): U.S. officials emphatically deny, however, that one way they might try to tighten the visa system was to specifically restrict the granting of U.S. visas to Britons of Pakistani or any other ethnic group. "We reject any suggestion of ethnic profiling," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke told NEWSWEEK. Knocke was commenting on a New York Times report suggesting that Britons of Pakistani ancestry might be singled out. Knocke insisted that U.S. authorities would never use ethnic, religious or country-of-origin profiling as a method of selecting travelers from waiver countries for added scrutiny. Here's an article on "Racial Profiling in an Age of Terrorism". Read more →