Washington: Asserting that Indians should not be included in the Immigration Naturalisation Service (INS) list as the Indo-US relations continue their upward swing and are close allies in the war against terrorism, an influential American Congressman has said the registration programme was "unfair".

In letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, Congressman Frank Pallone, co-founder of the India Caucus, said, "India is a country that has enjoyed over a half-century of vibrant Democracy."

"Relations between the US and India continue their strong upward trend in economic, political, diplomatic, scientific, cultural, military and security areas. In particular, the US and India are strong allies in the war on terrorism. At this time, I see no justification for requiring individuals from India to participate in the NSEERS programme," he said.

While the Justice Department says that every nation will be included on the list by 2005, Pallone said India should not be added to the list until it has determined that the current pattern of targeting countries based on race, religion and ethnicity is eliminated.

"Although the Justice Department plans to cover every nation under the NSEERS programme by 2005, I am deeply concerned by the criteria with which your department has chosen to target certain countries," Pallone wrote.

"By listing 25 countries that are predominantly Muslim countries within the first and second round, I am led to believe that the NSEERS programme is being implemented to methodically round up Arab and Muslim males," he told Ashcroft.

PTI