A DOCUMENTARY regarding a crackdown on asylum seekers in Thailand was aired on BBC television`s programme `Our World` on Feb 28. The documentary revealed the inhumane treatment of immigrants in Thailand.

The programme was particularly focused on 11,500 Pakistani immigrants belonging to the minorities who had travelled, rather escaped, to Thailand to seek asylum.

Hearing the stories from these Pakistanis about why they lef t their homes would be enough for anyone with conscience to feel ashamed of what has been happening in Pakistan.

Seeing the conditions in which they are kept in concentration buildings were no ordinary scenes. Hundreds of Pakistanis handcuffed and shackled, along with their women and children, are kept in detention camps where many have died as well.

All Pakistani asylum-seekers were waiting for help from UNHCR which has very meagre resources in Thailand.This alsoexposesthenegligence ofPakistani diplomats in Bangkol< who seem to be oblivious of the situation there.

Recently, the prime minister assured the nation that within 10 years Pakistan would be the most progressive country in South Asia.

Does he know that 11,500 Pakistanis are languishing in a South Asian country owing to religious and racial discrimination in Pakistan? Of what use is economic progress if citizens have to flee to save their souls in foreign lands? Abdul Kabir Kazi Karachi