Islamabad: As pressure mounted over the issue of US directive to thousands of Pakistanis in America to register under the Immigration and Naturalisation Services (INS), Foreign Minister Khurshid Muhammad Kasuri has advanced by 10 days his scheduled visit to Washington to plead with the Bush administration to go "soft" on Pakistani nationals.

Amid increasing criticism of his government's failure to prevail on the US to exempt Pakistanis from scrutiny of INS, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on January 14 he was despatching Kasuri to Washington on January 18 – 10 days before schedule, to press American authorities to spare Pakistanis from the fresh registration process.

"We are constantly in touch with the US authorities about the new registration law and there has been some progress in this connection," Jamali told reporters on January 14 night.

He said he has directed Kasuri to advance his US visit in view of the urgency of the matter.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States has been continuously working to ease the situation, he said.

Jamali's directive to Kasuri came a day ahead of bye-elections to 10 national Assembly seats. The Jamali government has increased its majority in the Assembly from one to over 10 but survived due to defections from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Polling for the bye-elections takes place on January 15.

The INS issue has become the main poll plank as the anti-US Islamist alliance, Muthiada Majlis-e Amal (MMA), is using it to whip up anti-American sentiments.

Jamali also lashed out at the MMA for inciting anti-American sentiments in the country, saying it has had an adverse impact on the US policy towards Pakistan.

He said one of the main reasons for rough treatment being meted out to Pakistanis in the United States was the barrage of anti-US statements being issued by some parties.

Without directly referring to pro-Taleban MMA, he said, "Such statements create negative impact. When you don't spare the Americans, they will not spare your citizens."

This was the second time in recent days that Jamali attempted to take on the MMA, questioning the alliance's hard-line policies.

Addressing a public meeting in Rawalpindi a few days ago he had said MMA cannot monopolise claims to represent Islam. However, he toned down the criticism on January 14, saying, "I never said I am a 'thekedar' of Islam" and apologised if it hurt the MMA leaders.

Earlier, Kasuri was scheduled to visit Washington on January 29 on invitation of Secretary of State Colin Powell.

During the visit, the first after he took over as Foreign Minister, Kasuri would also go to New York to attend the Foreign Ministers' conference of the UN Security Council members scheduled to take place on January 20.

The registration of Pakistani and Saudi nationals along with nationals of 18 other countries started this week in the United States amid widespread protests.

Over one lakh Pakistanis, mostly illegal immigrants, were believed to be staying in US. Their possible return or deportation could cost the Pakistan government a massive $ 10 billion.

PTI