US President Donald Trump’s fiat banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US initially for four months is true to his promise during his election campaign, but a rash and brazen move that has caused deep consternation especially in the affected countries. While Pakistan has been spared from inclusion in this category, Trump has indicated in an interview with a television network that both Pakistan and Afghanistan will be among the countries whose citizens will have to go through an “extreme vetting” process before entering the US. On the visa ban countries he said he was focussing on the people who came “with evil intentions. I don’t want that. They’re ISIS (Islamic State militant group). They’re coming under false pretence. I don’t want that.” The seven countries covered by the visa ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. In the most sweeping use of his presidential powers since taking office on January 20, Trump paused the entry of travellers from the seven nations for at least 90 days, saying his administration needed time to develop more stringent screening processes for refugees, immigrants and visitors. There are clear indications that the order will be challenged legally. Even legal permanent residents – people with “green cards” allowing them to live and work in the United States – were being advised by lawyers to consult immigration attorneys before travelling outside the country, or trying to return. In the TV network interview, referring to the involvement of a Muslim Pakistani couple in the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, the President said: “I don’t want terror in this country. You look at what happened in San Bernardino…. You look at what happened in the World Trade Centre.” The order seeks to prioritise refugees fleeing religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping Christians in Syria.
Trump’s attitude towards Pakistan has been a cause for speculation especially after he was effusive in his telephonic talk with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The latest move of placing Pakistan on an “extreme vetting” platform should dispel doubts in India that he would be indulgent towards Islamabad. Whether this would lead to attempts to leash Pakistan from fomenting and encouraging terror against India only time will tell. But there can be little doubt that the US would be tough on terror in the US and that this would put him on a collision course with Muslim-majority countries in general. Trump’s executive order of Friday calls for the secretaries of state and homeland security, the director of national intelligence and the FBI director to develop and implement new immigration screening procedures. But how far terror incidents would be obviated by these measures is a big question mark.
