work or a spouse, and find it difficult to re-integrate into society. 126 Some detainees who were wrongly detained at the DFIP, held for years without charge or trial, demand compensation and other forms of redress from the U.S. government. According to Ayaz, who spent six long years in detention: It was very cruel treatment, especially if you were young like me. I was only 15. I was thrown in jail without charge or trial. They did not make any difference between children and adults. I could not even complete my studies. I don’t have any skills, I couldn’t learn any. I want compensation. I have mental and kidney problems because of what they used to feed me. 127 But for most family members, after years of waiting for their relatives to return, anger has given way to despair. While several NGOs have declared their willingness to pursue a legal remedy against the United States for the prolonged detention of their relatives, families, in general, just want their loved ones to return home, and their ordeal to end. According to Mubashar, an NGO offered to sue the U.S. government on his family’s behalf. But Mubashar refused. ”We don’t care about suing the U.S. government. We want him back; that is all we care about.” 128 Both Nargis and her brother say they are in no state of mind to seek any legal remedy against the U.S. government. In their own words, they could not “dream of doing anything to the U.S. We do not have the energy or the power to file a case against the U.S. We just want Maqsood to come back.” 129 Saimah’s son, Malik, has been in detention since 2004. After nine long years, Saimah feels resigned, and says she harbors no-ill will or anger towards the U.S. military: I just want my child back with me. I bless them. I will not curse them for fear of being asked to account for it in the afterlife. It was my son’s fate, so be it. I just want him back. I bless them. 130 126 Justice Project Pakistan interviews and conversations with ex-detainees (names, dates, locations withheld). See also “‘Guantanamo and its aftermath: U.S. detention and interrogation practices and their impact on former detainees”, Human Rights Center University of California Berkeley, November 2008, http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/Guantanamo_and_Its_Aftermath.pdf; “Returning home: resettlement and reintegration of detainees released from the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba”, Human Rights Center University of California Berkeley, March, 2009, http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/ReturningHomeDownloadable.pdf. 127 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Ayaz, November 2012 (real name, location withheld). 128 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Mubashar, December 2012 (real name, location withheld). 129 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Nargis and Mukhtar (real names, locations withheld). 130 Justice Project Pakistan interview with Saimah, April 2013 (real name, location withheld). 33