Washington: A Pakistani newspaper editor was nabbed by American Immigration officials and subsequently released on the intervention of a reputed US institute.

Ejaz Haider, editor with Pakistan's English language newsweekly 'The Friday Times' and a visiting research scholar at the Brookings Institution, was picked up by two armed officials from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service on January 29. He was released on Brookings' intervention.

"We were stunned. I never thought I would see this in my own country, people grabbed on the street and taken away," said Stephen P Cohen, head of the Brookings South Asia programme for which Haider worked.

The Justice Department said that Haider missed a deadline to check with Immigration authorities but the editor said he was specifically told at the Dulles International Airport upon arrival recently that he should register within 40 days.

Haider also attended a meeting visiting Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri had on January 29 with US Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez was unapologetic, saying Haider would not have been required to register simply because he arrived from Pakistan.

Other factors, such as al-Qaida activity in that nation, may have come into play. "We don't know if everyone is telling the truth," he said.

However, Matinez said Immigration officials are looking into Haider's case to determine if disciplinary action is warranted.

PTI