Announcement

HAPPY NEW YEAR

PAKPAC wishes its readers a happy and prosperous new year.  May 2010 adorn your life with many beautiful things like good health peace, joy and leave sweet memories to cherish forever. PAKPAC resolves to work for the benefit of Pakistani American Community, and improving US-Pakistan relationship.

USAID Request for Applications for Pakistan children's television grant

USAID/Pakistan will support the development of television and multi-media programming under the Pakistan Children’s Television (PCTV) program. Multi-media educational programming has been used effectively to reach both in-school and out-of-school children with measureable effects on school readiness, literacy skills, respect for diversity, and excitement for learning. These programs are particularly useful to reach children who may not have access to schools, effective teachers, or learning materials. USAID/Pakistan encourages the involvement of Pakistani institutions in all phases of the program. The estimated level of funding for this project is $16 million to $20 million over four years. Read more information. Applications are due by Jan 22^nd 2010.

United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan seeks EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Applications are invited for the position of Executive Director of the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEF/P) located in Islamabad, Pakistan. USEF/P is a nonprofit, binational foundation established in 1950 by a binational agreement between the governments of the United States and Pakistan to promote the goals of mutual understanding. It is managed by a binational Board of Directors.

To apply for this position, applicants must be U.S. or Pakistani citizens. Please e-mail a letter of application accompanied by a CV to fulbrightpakistan@state.gov by January 22, 2010. Three letters of recommendation should also be sent directly to the same e-mail address by the recommending persons. Information about the Fulbright Program can be obtained at http://www.fulbright.state.gov/ and http://www.usefpakistan.org/.

News

PAKPAC concerned about rise in extremism amongst Muslim youth

The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee is highly concerned about the situation where two Pakistani American youth were arrested in Pakistan. While the full information is not yet available and all the facts surrounding the circumstances are not yet available to anyone. However, the preliminary information that is shared through the media has been of serious concern.

PAKPAC is thankful and encouraged by the positive role that American Muslim organization CAIR has placed in providing the timely information that led to the arrest in Pakistan of the five youth, of which two are of Pakistani heritage. We are also thankful to the Pakistani American family coming forward and making the decision to reach out to authorities even when their own loved one may be involved. Such a brave and difficult action is highly appreciated not only by the Pakistani Americans, but all fellow Americans. This evolving story also highlights few more matters, which include the fact that the Pakistani and US authorities are working well enough together to prevent a potential future disaster. Moreover, this also shows that the traditional fear that the threat to US is from some elements in Pakistan, may also be modified to that concern that even the threat to Pakistan may be from some elements from United States.

This sad situation should also help highlight a future collective strategy for the communities in US.

We must realize that the internet while is a useful tool and part and parcel of our lives, it is being increasingly used by extremists to further their agenda of hate and use it to help change the hearts and minds of the innocent and the vulnerable. Safe internet browsing must be part of every family’s education and focus on their children.

United States must positively engage with the youth and refrain from actions locally and internationally which would allow people with the new web based communications to justify their ill ideas and plans.

While the Islamic religious institutions in United States have been working towards a focus on better understanding of faith for the youth, there are more areas of opportunities that must be evaluated. These include a focus on helping develop respect and better understanding with the people of other faiths. All institutions must have mechanisms of evaluating thoroughly the credentials, beliefs and background of the people providing sermons and in the long run focus on having religious scholars be local rather than imported from abroad with possibly a less engaging and more intolerant views that at times can be heard in other parts of the world. Civic engagement, integration and mainstream community participation should be a part of the education process.

An increase in local interaction and bridge building between the law enforcement agencies and the American Muslim community is critical. Unfortunately, immediate post 9/11, some of the actions of the law enforcement agencies may have alienated the American Muslim community. There is an acute need to move past this misunderstanding. There is a need to have local town hall meetings with the town police, state police and the FBI. All stakeholders need to demystify each others roles and stereotypes. Such activities will help the community strengthen relations, prevent misunderstanding and also help the law enforcement agencies deal with people who may have inclination for hate actions.

In United States we must identify mechanism to help reduce the hate speech as much as possible. The radio talk show hosts, some media outlets as well as few legislators have found it very easy to use hateful messages against Islam as a faith. Such talk about any faith is unhealthy and can easily alienate community members and the youth. Moreover, in the current world, when such hate speech is heard and seen via satellite and internet all across the world, leads to an easy recruitment for the extremists.

We, as a society also need to identify mechanisms to help mend individuals who are impacted by the ailment of extremism. If we are to look at this situation as a disease, we may better understand how it can occur and then develop institutions for developing a comprehensive rehabilitation mechanism for the ones who are impacted by this.

PAKPAC remains committed to continue to work with our legislators and the US administration along with the larger Pakistani American community to help better understand these newer shapes of challenges. This should allow us to develop a comprehensive community prevention strategy.

Related News

Post-NRO frenzy  - Dawn Editorial

In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO, the ever-churning political waters in the country have been stirred to a frenzy. Uncertainty, if not panic, is detectable in the ranks of the PPP brain trust as the judicial wheels have swiftly started turning with unknown consequences. Meanwhile, sections of the media have gone into overdrive against ‘tainted’ and ‘immoral’ NRO beneficiaries, regardless of whether the cases had resulted in convictions or not.

Panic, glee, consternation, joy — amid the welter of emotions, few have thought to step back from the cacophony and find a way to protect the system and the transition to democracy. The post-NRO political landscape need not degenerate into a zero-sum game where the fate of individuals is elevated in importance above the fate of the system.

First things first, the judicial process unfolding to take the 8,000-odd beneficiaries of the NRO to their pre-Oct 5, 2007 status must be conducted with deliberateness and thoughtfulness. It is a process with no precedent in the country and it should be guided by the experts, unaffected by the political polemicists with barely concealed agendas. At the moment, it seems anyone who may or may not have ever seen a legal textbook or may or may not know the difference between civil and criminal proceedings is expounding on the effects of the NRO judgment. Such ‘expertise,’ whether well-intentioned or not, is certainly undesirable. It is imperative that the judiciary in consultation with the relevant parts of the executive be allowed to develop a road map based on the Supreme Court’s judgment to restore the pre-Oct 5, 2007 position of the NRO beneficiaries — undoing an illegality, however blatant, must be done along legal principles, not political expediencies.

Next, the political forces on both sides must proceed with caution. The PPP-led government at the centre must resist the urge, if any, to ‘respond’ to its detractors. Instead, it must demonstrate a genuine will to implement the Supreme Court’s order and allow the law to run its course. After years, if not a decade, of claiming that ‘political persecution’ was behind the cases registered against its member, now is truly an opportunity for them to clear their names and get a fresh start. The opposition, meanwhile, needs to be mindful that any short-term ‘gains’ to be had by rocking the system can morph into long-term damage if it creates space for extra-constitutional forces to create mischief. The democratic system can emerge stronger from this watershed event, but only if everyone keeps one eye on weeding out corruption and the other on protecting the democratic system.

Read Related NRO Survey

Viewpoint

Pakistan's Year of Decision -Shuja Nawaz

Even in its waning days, 2009 continues to be a ‘Year of Decision' in Pakistan, as its fractured polity struggles to right the ship of state while tackling the rising insurgencies inside its borders. This was the year that Pakistan took the battle to the insurgency, first in Swat and Malakand and then into the heart of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The Pakistan Army's decisive actions in South Waziristan deprived the Tehreek-e-Taliban of Pakistan of its tribal base in Mehsud territory. Public sentiment against the violent insurgency helped the military's decision to take the battle to the TTP's home turf. And although the TTP's leadership has apparently escaped into adjoining areas, the logistical heart of the insurgency was damaged. The militants retaliated by stepping up attacks on soft targets inside Pakistan, attacking mosques and markets alike, killing innocent civilians and children.

On the economic front, after decades of wrangling about revenue sharing between the provinces, the National Finance Commission under former Citibanker Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin produced an agreement on a new formula that increased the share of Baluchistan and rearranged the shares of other provinces in a more equitable manner. The NFC award will help reduce the centrifugal forces that threaten the federation.

Then, on December 16, 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance under which former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari could return to Pakistan, having been absolved, along with thousands of other beneficiaries, of all past crimes and misdemeanors, real or imagined.  Read full article

End Racial Profiling now - Benjamin Todd Jealous and Margaret Huang

The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) will soon be reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, and Sen. Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin. Numerous incidents throughout American history have taught us that racial profiling not only fails as a law enforcement tool but ultimately makes us all less safe. Passage of ERPA would be an important step toward ending racial profiling.

Over a century ago, Leon Czolgosz walked up to President William McKinley with a concealed weapon and shot him. The Secret Service agent assigned to search the president's visitors was focused on a "dark complexioned man" in line behind Czolgosz. Ironically, the same man whose appearance made the agent suspicious - Jim Parker, an African-American former constable - saved President McKinley from a third bullet.


In 1995, after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City , Timothy McVeigh, the white male assailant, fled while law enforcement officers looked for "Arab terrorists" whom they thought responsible.

Racial profiling does not always target minorities. In 2002, during the sniper attacks that terrorized Washington-area residents for months, police conducted surveillance searching for a disaffected white man with an accomplice, driving a white van. During that time, the actual culprits - an African-American man and boy who fit many of the characteristics of a serial killer, except that they were black - came into contact with police at least 10 times without being apprehended. How many lives would have been saved had race not been a part of the profile?
 Read Complete article

Readers Corner

Give peace talks a chance - Mehlaqa Samdani

President Obama's troop surge is designed to "strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan's future". It is estimated that one-third of the 30,000 additional troops will be devoted to the training of Afghan police and army so as to "increase Afghanistan's capacity over the next 18 months."

While sending an additional 10,000 troops to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces sounds good in theory, many challenges remain in the development of these forces:

1.                   Desertions in the Afghan army. According to data revealed by the US Defense Department and the Inspector General for Reconstruction in Afghanistan, one in every four members of the ANA has quit the national army this past year. 

2.                   Enemy infiltrations. As evidenced by the killing of five British soldiers in Helmand last month, Taliban infiltration into Afghan security forces is a real concern. A recent, independent report commissioned by the EU cautioned "that desperate recruiters dropped their vetting standards in order to replace officers killed in dangerous southern provinces such as Helmand and Kandahar, making it easier for insurgents to infiltrate police ranks." Read Complete blog

Events & Activities

PAKPAC President Saud Anwar Farewell message

As I come towards the end of my term serving as a president of PAKPAC, I will try and share some things with you. We have had many positive changes within our organization.  We have been fortunate to have a critical mass of very well-qualified board members who are showing efforts and commitment towards the progress of our mission and vision.

The board members are of various political, experience and occupational backgrounds, thus stagnation of mindset and approach is not an issue with us by any means.  We have been able to complement each other’s qualities, networks and workload to strengthen our capacity to initiate our preventive and therapeutic response to some of the challenges we face.

In this communication, I will not write much about the successes we have achieved. The people who are following the organization and the work should be well aware of what we have been able to achieve and are continuing to pursue.

The challenges that are ahead of us as a community is something we should all be cognizant about.

In the next few years, our challenges would include the following:

a.       ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES:

Keeping the momentum within the organization and expanding the board with other qualified and committed individuals. Increasing and further strengthening our presence in Washington, D.C. within the various legislative efforts, as well as, with close collaboration with the US agencies to discuss and manage our community’s collective challenges.

b.      PAKISTANI AMERICAN COMMUNITY ISSUES:

As our community grows, there are potential of some more challenges that we may have to evaluate and devise a strategic plan to avert problems.

The recent situation where some US citizens and few with Pakistani heritage were found in Pakistan with some radicalized thoughts should be a huge concern not only to us as PAKPAC, but to all the Pakistani American community members. While, we do not have all the facts around the situation together, but the initial information that is coming out is quite concerning. 

We need to develop mechanisms to help identify way of raising effective American citizens of Pakistani heritage who take on the responsibilities that are ahead of us and make a positive influence in strengthening their presence and strengthening United States as envisioned by the forefathers. 

This is a situation where community organizations, as well as, the community members would have to take a leadership role and work together to achieve this.

c.       PAKISTAN-UNITED STATES RELATIONS:

With respect to Pakistan-US relations, there remain clear areas where there is commonality and unity of purpose.  However, there are strategy issues of minor disagreements between the two countries.

Both the countries unfortunately suffer from poor perception about each other in their respective Medias and subsequently in the views of the general population. 

The Pakistani-American community find themselves in the midst of this challenge where we are not only impacted by this lack of clear understanding, but also are a solution to this growing poor perception challenge.  Building bridges of understanding is one of our community’s collective responsibilities.

As the anticipated potential challenges in the war in Afghanistan unfold, there will unfortunately situations where misunderstandings may increase.  The Pakistani-American community needs to remain focused and available to play their important role in strengthening the understanding between the two countries and empowering both countries to eliminate the “trust deficit”.

As Pakistani-Americans, we are well aware that there are no two types of people similar in values, understanding and their capacity to give to others than the people of America and Pakistan.

We must devise mechanisms to help these two groups of people to learn more about each other on a firsthand basis and continue to work together for some of the most challenging times the two communities are currently going through. 

I am very confident that Dr. Suleman who will be taking on the role of the president starting January 1^st, 2010 is well-equipped, experienced and focused on many of these challenges. He has a strong group of volunteers and workers within PAKPAC including myself, who would provide him all the support to continue to take the organization to the next level.

M. Saud Anwar

PAKPAC BOD thank Dr. Saud Anwar for his services

PAKPAC Board of Directors in their working conference call thanked Dr. Saud Anwar for his dedication and service to make PAKPAC an established and recognized player in Pakistan American Advocacy arena. Under his leadership PAKPAC was able to favorably influence many decisions with US legislation,  US Administration, and Government of Pakistan. PAKPAC Board look forward to work with Dr. Saud Anwar as Immediate Past President.

American Pakistan Foundation Inaugural Benefit

American Pakistan Foundation held its Inaugural benefit on Dec 11^th in New York. Over 550 guests attended the benefit. The inaugural benefit raised in excess of $750,000 including pledges with donations from Pakistani Diaspora and Corporations from US and Pakistan. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the keynote address at the event. Secretary Clinton said "we must go further in two areas: helping Pakistan strengthen its democratic institutions and improving security by defeating the extremists groups who are waging a campaign of violence against Pakistan and threatening stability in South Asia and beyond." The secretary also spoke about the U.S. government's commitment to a strengthened partnership with the Pakistani American community for a stable and prosperous Pakistan. Secretary Clinton pledged that the United States would abide by a paramount principle of full respect for Pakistan's sovereignty, saying "we come as a partner not a patron." Read Secretary Clinton’s complete address

U.S. Former Secretary of State General Colin Powell and Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Moeen Qureshi served as honorary co-chairs of the inaugural benefit and the foundation. Dr. Nafis Sadik, a special adviser to the United Nations Secretary General who chairs the American Pakistan Foundation, said the group comes about at a crucial time because of such tensions between the two countries. 'There is a certain amount of mistrust between the US and the Pakistani public,' she said. Sadik said the group will enlist the help of the Pakistani Diaspora and pursue financial support from corporations and individuals to build partnerships on the ground in Pakistan.

PAKPAC was a patron of the event. Following PAKPAC BOD’s attended the event Dr. Saud Anwar, Dr. Mohammed Suleman, Dr. Shahid Tahir, Faizan Haq, Rafat Mahmood, and Irfan Malik.  PAKPAC Directors in their individual capacity raised over One hundred thousand dollars for the foundation.

Immigration

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Introduced

Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois took a step forward in improving immigration laws by introducing the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Safety and Prosperity Act of 2009" (H.R. 4321). This bill includes provisions that will impact the immigrant community, including:

• Addressing family- and employment-based visa backlogs by recapturing previously unused visas; reclassifying dependents of green card holders as "immediate relatives"; and raising annual and per-country visa caps.

•  Increasing due process protections for immigrants by ensuring detainees have access to medical care and legal assistance; and requiring timely notice of immigration charges.

• Establishing a path to earned legalization and permanent residency for undocumented immigrants who undergo background checks, pay taxes and reasonable fines, and contribute to American society.

• Minimizing security background check delays for immigration applications by requiring they be done in a timely manner and the system's efficiency be evaluated.

•  Providing worker protections by exempting certain skilled workers in science, technology, engineering, math, and nursing fields from annual visa caps; and increasing oversight over H-2B recruiters and employers.

(Click here for a summary of the bill developed by the Immigration Policy Center.) . To learn more about immigration issues affecting the South Asian community, visit SAALT's page on immigrant rights.

US Citizenship Application filing location changed

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced revised addresses for applicants filing an Application for Naturalization (Form N-400) at USCIS Lockbox facilities in Phoenix and Dallas.  This filing address change takes effect immediately.   The U.S. Postal Service will immediately forward mail from the Lewisville Post Office to the new post office in Dallas until December 31, 2009.  After that date, the Postal Service will forward the mail through normal channels, which will likely delay receipt at the Dallas Lockbox facility. Read Complete Announcement. For more information on USCIS programs, visit www.uscis.gov or call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

Upcoming Seminars at Think Tanks

To get information about future seminars and events relating to US-Pakistan relations, please visit the following websites

Atlantic Council

Brookings Institution

Heritage Foundation

Middle East Institute

SAIS