Washington: In an effort to escape embarrassment at home, Pakistan is going to seek "some sort of amnesty" for thousands of its illegal immigrants in the US, who are likely to be deported if they register with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS).

"If they (Pakistanis) have been here for 10 to 15 years and are peaceful citizens and they have got no criminal record, then we would ask the American administration to grant some sort of amnesty," Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, who is visiting US next week, told 'Washington Post' on January 21.

Kasuri had to advance his visit by 10 days as protests grew against the US inclusion of Pakistan in the list of countries whose citizens in US should register, have themselves photographed and fingerprinted with INS, which is trying to screen potential terrorists.

Kasuri said that he sympathised with US efforts to prevent terrorist attacks but he wanted the programme be applied with "consideration and flexibility to Pakistan".

The registration programme applies to some two-dozen countries with large Muslim populations and where al-Qaida terror network is reportedly active.

The Pakistanis in the US who have to register, except green card-holders and US citizens, are estimated at half a million, including 200,000 in the New York area and large Pakistani communities in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.

There are thousands without visas or whose visas have expired and who will be subject to deportation if they register.

Kasuri said the registration process has fuelled a major political crisis in Pakistan.

PTI