News

PAKPAC establishes hotline to deal with potential fallout from Fort Hood tragedy

PAKPAC has established a hotline for the Pakistani American community to deal with Fort Hood, TX tragedy. The purpose of this hotline is to ease any concerns and fears that may arise within the community as a result of the tragic incident.  PAKPAC issued a community alert for the Pakistani American Community. Additionally for the benefit to community PAKPAC has put additional resources on its website to educate the community about the role of Pakistan Americans and Muslims in general in our country’s military. Please report to us any hate related incident that you or someone you know may have experienced at Report.Hate@pakpac.net or by calling 202-558-6404.

Health Care Debate Focuses on Legal Immigrants  

The debate over health care for illegal immigrants continues to percolate in Congress despite the Obama administration’s efforts to put it to rest, with lawmakers in both houses also wrangling over how much coverage to provide for immigrants who have settled in the country legally.

Some Republicans favor excluding immigrants who have been legal permanent residents for less than five years, as well as all illegal immigrants. Democrats broadly agree that illegal immigrants should be excluded, but many want all legal permanent residents to be able to participate in proposed health insurance exchanges and receive subsidized coverage if they qualify.

Latino leaders, worried that Congress might quietly cut back benefits for legal immigrants, have started an 11th-hour campaign to eliminate waiting periods for them in the proposed legislation and to cancel the existing five-year wait for Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Under some plans being considered by Congress, more than one million legal permanent residents and about seven million illegal immigrants who currently have no health insurance would be excluded from coverage, according to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. Read Complete article

U.S. to Pay $1.2 Million to 5 Detainees Over Abuse Lawsuit

The federal government is paying $1.2 million to settle the cases of five Muslim immigrants who sued over their detention and treatment in a Brooklyn jail after 9/11, when hundreds of noncitizens were rounded up and held for months before being cleared of links to terrorism and deported.

The five were part of a larger lawsuit, Turkmen v. Ashcroft, which will continue to press the argument that the roundups and physical abuse they say they suffered were unconstitutional.

The government admits no liability or fault under the terms of the settlements, filed late Monday in United States District Court in Brooklyn. Charles S. Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the government would not comment.

But Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents the detainees, said the amount the government is willing to pay speaks volumes.

In May, in a lawsuit involving similar claims, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that a Pakistani Muslim who was arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks could not sue John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, and Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, because he failed at a preliminary stage to allege a plausible link between the officials and the abuses he said he had suffered in the Brooklyn jail. (PAKPAC was one of the many organizations who had filed on behalf of the plaintiff). Read Complete story

Viewpoint

Defeating the Taliban in Pakistan By Mehreen Farooq and Waleed Ziad

It’s the strategy, stupid. Once again, we’re hoping that Pakistan’s latest offensive in the tribal belt will solve the Taliban problem. Our military-centric strategy, which has cost us eight years and $10 billion tax dollars, is incomplete. What’s missing is the complementary soft-power component necessary to secure the pivotal conflict zone in the war on terror.

The Taliban stronghold, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), is one of Pakistan’s most impoverished regions. In spite of all our resources, U.S. development assistance here has been underfunded, slow and ineffective. In contrast, the Taliban have been quick to provide economic benefits like profit-sharing schemes for workers in a captured emerald mine, and distributing land seized from oppressive landlords to peasants. In short, our strategy has rendered us unable to compete with the Taliban for hearts and minds.

Recently, we finally made a long-term pledge of $7.5 billion for civilian assistance to Pakistan. This five-year commitment can tip the balance in this war. However, unless six key challenges of implementing aid in FATA are tackled, we’re wasting our tax dollars. And if we lose FATA, we lose this war. Read Complete article

Bad News for the Democrats- Faiz Rehman

Forget November 2010! The Democratic Party didn’t have to wait for too long for the brusque awakening. After impressive nationwide victories in the last fall, with the takeover of both the houses, and having elected the first African American President after W.’s eight long years, the party was hoping for a good show in two key states on November 3^rd 2009 in the races for statewide and local offices. Instead, it got routed in Virginia and New Jersey! A sneak preview of the outcome of the congressional and several gubernatorial races in November 2010? Perhaps.

Domestic and international observers were paying close attention to the voting trends and popularity ratings in these two states to forecast the results for the congressional elections in November 2010 when the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be up for grab.  Observers have pegged Obama’s foreign policy and domestic agendas with the Democratic Party’s performance in 2010. In spite of controlling both the houses in Congress, and the White House, Obama’s legislative agenda has not been a smooth sail, particularly, his signature healthcare reform bill is not going anywhere, at least not this year, according to his own Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid.

Even though the most opinion polls had predicted so, nevertheless, most Americans, and folks around the world, with interest in US politics, received the news of Republican victories in two key states, Virginia and New Jersey, with a shred of disbelief. So big--albeit symbolic--a loss and so soon! In New Jersey as well as Virginia, President Barack Obama had campaigned for the Democratic candidates. In New Jersey, the incumbent Jon Corzine, the nationally known and a financial powerhouse, who had spent his own hundreds of millions dollars  in his previous successful races for the governor and senator of the state, lost to a relatively lesser known and--relatively speaking--much poorer  Republican challenger, Christopher Christie. Only consolation prize, which was claimed with much fanfare and bravado by the Democratic leaders, was the capture of a congressional seat in upstate New York. The seat was previously held by a conservative Republican.

In the adjacent-to-Washington state of Virginia, a Republican, Bob McDonnell, defeated the Democrat Creigh Deeds with an impressive wide margin giving the Republican Party a much needed shot in the arm. Due to a constitutional bar in Virginia, a governor can only serve one term, therefore, the incumbent Tim Kaine was not a candidate. In addition to the governor’s office, all major statewide offices in Virginia, too, were swept by the Republicans.

In November 2008, for the first time in more than three decades, the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, won Virginia with quite an ease. Furthermore, the state, setting another record, elected both its senators, Senator Jim Webb and Senator Mark Warner,  from the Democratic Party, effectively handing the Democratic Party a formidable and filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

That was a year ago. The results in November 2009 are no good news for the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party! President Obama and the big wigs in the party, and the administration, had put their prestige on the line.  President Obama, Vice President  Joe Biden, and even President Bill Clinton, visited the states and campaigned on behalf of the party’s candidates.  To compound the humiliation, the outgoing governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, is Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

In New Jersey, the incumbent governor, Jon Corzine’s  re-election bid was thought to be a safe bet in a state in which only 20 percent of the registered voters are Republican. President Obama visited the state three times to sway the voters in Corzine’s favor. It sure didn’t work.

No sooner the results were out the evening of the elections on November 3^rd, did the Republicans excitedly and gleefully term the outcome as repudiation of Obama’s policies and a setback to his legislative agenda. This is despite the fact that Obama’s personal ratings in both states remain high.  

What do these Republican victories mean for Pakistan, which is bracing itself for Obama’s decision on a new policy for Afghanistan? This is definitely a setback for the lobby headed by Vice President Joe Biden who has been pushing for a drawdown and an eventual pullout from Afghanistan. The hawks in the party of a president who had invaded Afghanistan and initiated much of the current policies vis-à-vis Pakistan have been emboldened by the relatively smaller but symbolically much larger victories in Virginia and New Jersey. Traditionally aligned with the mindset of the armed forces, this group will now push for the surge in troops and will push US policies toward tougher posture. Furthermore, these smaller victories for the conservatives will pave way for much bigger payoffs in November 2010 for the Republican Party.--Email: faizrehman1@yahoo.com

The American Way of Abandonment by Patrick J. Buchanan

When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States. When Chiang Kai-shek, who fought the Japanese for four years before Pearl Harbor, began losing to Mao's Communists, we did not blame ourselves for being a faithless ally, we blamed him. He was incompetent; he was corrupt. We did not lose China. He did. When Buddhist monks began immolating themselves in South Vietnam, the cry went up: President Diem, once hailed as the "George Washington of his country," was a dictator, a Catholic autocrat in a Buddhist nation, who had lost touch with his people. And so, word went out from the White House to the generals. Get rid of Diem, and you get his power and U.S. support. Three weeks before JFK was assassinated, Diem and his brother met the same fate.

When the establishment wished to be rid of a war into which it had plunged this country, suddenly it was "the corrupt and dictatorial Thieu-Ky regime" in Saigon that was simply not worth defending. Lon Nol, our man in Phnom Penh, got the same treatment. "In this world it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but to be a friend is fatal," said Henry Kissinger.  The army of South Vietnam and the Saigon government, the boat people of the South China Sea and the million victims of Pol Pot's genocide can testify to that before the judgment seat of history

Thus the daily attacks on Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- who sat beside Laura Bush as guest of honor at the 2002 State of the Union and got a standing ovation -- as the corrupt ruler of a corrupt regime, whose brother, a narcotics trafficker, has been on the CIA's payroll, seems a signal that the ritual is about to begin. The Karzai brothers should probably read up on the fate of the Diem brothers.

Yet never has an ally been more egregiously insulted in wartime than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's insulting of the Pakistanis on her "fence-mending" trip last week. In a meeting with editors, Hillary was asked why the United States was focusing its Predator strikes in the war on terror so heavily upon Pakistan.  Said Hillary, "Al-Qaida has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002.  I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to." This is charging the Pakistani government, army and intelligence services with cowardice or collusion with bin Laden and al-Qaida in the war on terror. That it was made within hours of the bloodiest in a long series of terror attacks that have killed hundreds of Pakistanis only magnifies the insult.  So, too, does the fact that the Pakistani army, after cleansing the Swat Valley of the Taliban, is now fighting in South Waziristan in the most critical battle of the war.

But, if this is what the Obama administration and the Congress believe, why are they sending $7.5 billion in new aid to such a regime? Moreover, the charge is, on its face, demonstrably false. If Pakistan's intelligence services, army and government all knew the exact location of bin Laden, we would know it. For we have people inside sympathetic to us, just as some are sympathetic to al-Qaida. And if people inside discovered the exact location of bin Laden or al-Qaida, they would leak it to us, if only because the money on the table for such intelligence is irresistible.

Is Secretary Clinton suggesting there are people throughout the Pakistani government who have information that could make them rich for life, but refuse to reveal it out of purest loyalty to a gang of terrorists who are massacring their countrymen as well as Americans?  That there are warlords who are war criminals, allied with the Afghan regime and us, that drug-traffickers are abetted by high officials, that Karzai stole the election, no one denies.  That the Pakistani intelligence services are shot through with elements loyal to a Taliban they helped bring to power in Kabul, that there are Pakistani army officers who believe they should be defending their country against India, not fighting America's war in Waziristan, is also undeniable.

But what does it avail us to insult these people who have cast their lot with us, many of whom will, with famines and friends, pay a far more terrible price than we if we lose these wars.  And if we are going to abandon these people, as we have so many others in the past, let us at least tell them, and ourselves, the truth. We didn't know what we were getting into. We don't have the stomach for a long war. We're sorry we got you into this. Your big mistake was in trusting us. You folks should have known better

A stern, unyielding version of Islam is replacing the kinder, gentler Islam of the Sufis in Pakistan - Pervez Hoodbhoy

The common belief in Pakistan is that Islamic radicalism is a problem only in FATA, and that madrassas are the only institutions serving as jihad factories. This is a serious misconception. Extremism is breeding at a ferocious rate in public and private schools within Pakistan’s towns and cities. Left unchallenged, this education will produce a generation incapable of co-existing with anyone except strictly their own kind. The mindset it creates may eventually lead to Pakistan’s demise as a nation state.

For 20 years or more, a few of us have been desperately sending out SOS messages, warning of terrible times to come. In fact, I am surprised at how rapidly these dire predictions have come true.

A full-scale war is being fought in FATA, Swat and other “wild” areas of Pakistan, resulting in thousands of deaths. It is only a matter of time before this fighting shifts to Peshawar and Islamabad (which has already been a witness to the Lal Masjid episode) and engulfs Lahore and Karachi as well. The suicide bomber and the masked abductor have crippled Pakistan’s urban life and shattered its national economy.

Soldiers, policemen, factory and hospital workers, mourners at funerals and ordinary people praying in mosques have all been reduced to globs of flesh and fragments of bones. But, perhaps paradoxically, in spite of the fact that the dead bodies and shattered lives are almost all Muslim ones, few Pakistanis speak out against these atrocities. Read full article

Readers Corner

An American perspective of Secretary Clinton visit to Pakistan

Dear America and Pakistan,
 
I can't believe how insensitive, corrosive, arrogant and flat out wrong U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was with her statements while in Pakistan on what had been billed as an opportunity for the U.S. to reach out to the Pakistani people in a positive way. Thanks to her corrosive attitude and evasiveness when pressed a bit by fair questions from ordinary Pakistanis, the plan backfired. I can't imagine what she was thinking or what got into her. I had really looked forward to her visit and believed she would use her time wisely to be charming and statesmanlike while encouraging Pakistan's people, acknowledging their suffering and extending a hand of committed friendship and making a pledge that America will never again abandon Pakistan and leave them to clean up the mess. Instead, I feel terribly disappointed and feel as though a great opportunity to improve relations was trashed by ill-timed, ill-tempered and divisive remarks.
 
As she "scolded" Pakistan, bombs were going off all over the place even as even she disrespected her hosts while sitting in a secure environment, while Pakistani citizens who aren't so lucky are dying in their own streets and the Army is going after the bad guys and their extremist ideology that America planted and then abandoned in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan after the Soviet Union was defeated in the 80s, leaving a poor nation to deal alone with the brutal and destructive aftermath of 3 million refugees in Pakistan (still there) and a severe shortage of schools, hospitals, rehabilitation... and Hope. It's not Pakistan's fault that America didn't live up to its lofty principles and instead made horrible decisions that helped steer the world towards a collision course with disaster. If we could spend enormous amounts of money to rebuild our big enemies of Japan and Germany after World War II, why then couldn't we spend some of our money to rebuild our FRIENDS after they helped the U.S. become the World's lone superpower? It's a question that each and every American who loves their country should think deeply about before they go shooting their mouths off about how Pakistan hasn't done enough to fight the terrorism that we allowed to metastasize into a cancer on the entire world though short-sightedness, selfishness, arrogance and probably some greed and racism too.
 
Americans should take a hard look at our past foreign policy towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan region with regards to collecting, sending, training, arming and supporting extremists to help fight our ideological battles and then abruptly leaving the scene (once our short term strategic global objectives were met) without repatriating foreign fighters, debriefing and disarming indigenous fighters, aiding heartbroken mothers and traumatized children who had never known anything other than war and sorrow, providing better education, opportunity, infrastructure and healthcare so a war torn place could start anew and begin building a brighter future. Resources were desperately needed and we ignored our responsibilities and forgot about what we and our founding documents stand for. Americans should see our leader's abandonment of the region in the 90s like someone helping to start a wildfire and then leaving the scene, then coming back later while peoples houses are burning to the ground and human beings are engulfed in the flames of terror to publicly scold the brave firefighters who are putting their lives on the line about how they're not doing enough to fight the fire- and then have the arrogant audacity to criticize the victimized families who live in the neighborhood about fire safety.
 
Americans who are ignorant of the facts or don't understand them should study their history more closely and be willing to "look in the mirror" with some thoughtful introspection on what Afghanis and Pakistanis have suffered for so many years.
 
As an American who dearly loves his Country and Pakistan and who has spent most of the last four years working on ground to help Pakistanis rebuild their lives from disasters, I wish to apologize to Pakistan's citizens for The Secretary of State's undiplomatic behavior in your suffering nation.
 
Respectfully,
Todd Shea    toddshea@cdrspakistan.org

Community Action

Ask Congress to Fix Patriot Act

PAKPAC supports efforts to revise provisions of the Patriot Act to protect the civil rights and liberties, and call on all Americans, particularly members of the Muslim community, to respond to a call for action put out recently by the Muslim Advocates.

Congress is currently debating reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act. Troubling provisions of the PATRIOT Act permit-

·                     prosecutions of those who work with or give humanitarian aid to those in conflict areas: under the "material support" provision, the government can prosecute a charity or individual if they provide so much as a glass of water or medical assistance to someone in need in a conflict area.

·                     the government to obtain information about an individual's phone calls, emails, finances, travels, the types of books read or websites visited, without evidence of criminal activity.

Congressmen Conyers, Nadler and Scott have introduced the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845) to help fix this law by:

·                     Ensuring the government only obtains financial, telephone, internet and credit reports of suspected terrorists or spies.

·                     Requiring the FBI to give notice of a search of one's home within seven days.

This is a good start.  But this bill is not perfect.  More must be done to fix the PATRIOT Act.

H.R. 3845 should be expanded to include a fix for:

·                     Protecting humanitarian assistance to those in need:  We're asking Congress to allow other humanitarian aid such as food, water, and medical services to be provided without fear of prosecution.

·                     Ensuring that the FBI only obtains records and information of suspected terrorists and spies, not law-abiding Americans.

Action Requested

Please call your Member of Congress TODAY to co-sponsor H.R. 3845 and to include these important additional fixes.  If you don't know who your congressional representative is, please click here.

Talking Points  - Muslim Advocates suggests you consider the following for your call:

·                     Hello, I'm calling to ask [YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S NAME] to co-sponsor Chairman Conyer's USA PATRIOT Amendments Act, HR 3845.  This bill makes very important changes to the PATRIOT Act and helps protect innocent Americans from the government’s overly intrusive powers.

·                     As a constituent of [YOUR REPRESENTATIVE], I am aware that he/she holds an influential vote in what an amended PATRIOT Act will look like, and I encourage [YOUR REPRESENTATIVE] to support all the provisions in HR 3845.

·                     Also, I would like to ask that he/she support an amendment to the PATRIOT Act that will protect humanitarian aid, so that well-intentioned Americans who donate things like food and water to people in war-torn areas are not prosecuted.

·                     I ask that he/she also support an amendment to section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.  An amendment is needed to ensure that the FBI's resources are focused on suspected terrorists and spies, not innocent Americans.

·                     Thank you for considering my views.  I will be keeping track of how [YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S NAME] voted on the PATRIOT Act this year.

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

LINKS

US News

Congressional News

Pakistan News

World News

Events & Activities

PAKPAC to work with USAID to gain more visibility for Pakistani NGO’s for USAID assistance

As a follow-up from PAKPAC event showcasing Pakistani NGO’s, PAKPAC Executive Director Irfan Malik met with USAID officials Mr. Charles North Special Advisor Pakistan and Mr. Joseph Truong, Pubic Information Officer in Washington DC. Amongst other items discussed was the establishment of community channels for USAID with PAKPAC assistance. PAKPAC would provide through its communication any job posting or project assistance advertized by USAID, this is highly useful information, given USAID desire to get more involved with Pakistan based NGO’s and to hire more Pakistani Americans to work on projects in Pakistan. PAKPAC also plans to work with USAID to conduct another seminar of Pakistan based NGO’s. PAKPAC is seeking from USAID a clearer definition of the requirements, process, and procedures for USAID assistance. Some of potential projects discussed were NGO development in Pakistan, and exchange of professionals, academics, entrepreneurs between US and Pakistan.

USAID has also embarked on Community outreach through their listserv. Click this link to subscribe to FrontLines Electronic Edition!

USAID is seeking Senior Professionals for the following position(s)

Position Title:  Intermittent Senior Program Management and Policy Advisor [multiple positions]

Solicitation Number: M/OAA-09-SPECOPS-0004

Issuance Date:  September 22, 2009

Interim Submission Dates: October 14, 2009 and November 4, 2009

Final Closing Date: December 2, 2009

Closing Time: 12:00 Noon (Washington, DC time)

See complete details of the position. Questions regarding this solicitation should be directed to Mr. Mir Ershadullah at mershadullah@usaid.gov with copy to rsika@usaid.gov

PAKPAC President Dr. Anwar hosts Senator Dodd

The Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee organized an event to support Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT).  At this meeting, over 70 community members had joined in and supported Senator Dodd.  Many members from the Democratic Party at the state, as well as, at the town level had joined in the meeting.  At the discussion, Dr. Saud Anwar, president of PAKPAC spoke about the role of Pakistan at this time in the war on terror, and the need for United States to work closely with the people of Pakistan, and also deal with the trust deficits.  Discussion was held about the need of the time for a strategy for President Obama for that region and to look at the entire region including India as a part of the region.

Discussion was held also about the trust deficits, which had led to some language challenges in the Kerry-Lugar bill, which have had negative impact on Pakistan-US relationship. It is critical that people think through language when dealing with the people in their sensitivities prior to the efforts that do take place.

Discussion was also held about how Afghanistan had become a stadium of proxy wars between various Countries. Suspicions and concern was raised about presence of some anti-US and anti-Pakistan elements coming into that region where it is critical to focus on a better way or strategic way of not allowing any country to wage a proxy war for any of the country in that area.  Demilitarizing that region and creating into a neutral state would be the way forward as recommended by other experts.

The community thanked Senator Dodd on his relentless work on the tobacco bill, the credit card bill and also his positive role on the healthcare bill. Other people in the meeting included State Senator Gary Lebeau, State Representative Ryan Barry, and Council Representatives and candidates of the Town of South Windsor. Many Pakistani Americans from CT and neighboring areas joined in supported Senator Dodd at this meeting.

US-Pakistan Foreign Relations - The way forward - Harvard Conference

Cambridge, MA: The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) was amongst the sponsors of conference organized by The Harvard Extension International Relation Conference that was held in Boston on Saturday, October 17, 2009.  The conference consisted of two panel discussions with two sessions.  The second session was titled “US-Pakistan relations: Moving forward”. 

The keynote speaker for this part was Ambassador of Pakistan to United States Mr. Hussain Haqqani.  Ambassador Haqqani shared in his speech the concerns voiced by the people of Pakistan with respect to the historical and the current aspects of US policies in the region and with the US policies implications towards Pakistan.  He narrated that the people in Pakistan felt that Pakistan has been the most allied ally in Asia of United states, but also has been the most sanctioned ally of United States .  He subsequently also spoke about the concerns the legislators in United States have had about Pakistan and their views about some of the policies and situations in Pakistan, which have led them to add certain pieces of language into the Kerry-Lugar Bill.  Ambassador Haqqani underscored the importance of continuation of democracy in Pakistan and also welcomed various voices that are in play in Pakistan with respect to the current legislation and now the law in Pakistan . 

In the security panel discussion, after Ambassador’s Haqqani speech, the panelist included Mr. Ahsan Iqbal of PML (N) and Hamid Mir of Geo News, who also is a moderator for television show the Capital Talk.  This panel was moderated by Dr. Saud Anwar, current president of Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC).

Ahsan Iqbal spoke about the importance of US-Pakistan relations and clarified his party’s perspective on US-Pakistan relations.  He stated that the PML (N) is very much interested to have a strong, vibrant, multilateral and multipronged relation with United States with a clear understanding that this relationship would have to be for mutual benefits and as equal partners with respect for each other’s internal challenges, as well as, protection of each other’s sovereignty and security.

In the question and answer session, when asked about the specifics of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, which had made his party reject the bill in its current form, he specifically talked about a few parts of the bill, which he carried in his hand.  The section that he raised concerns about included section C2A, where it mentions that,  “the government of Pakistan during the proceeding fiscal year has demonstrated sustained commitment to and is making significant efforts towards combating terrorist groups and has made progress on matters ceasing sport including by any elements within the Pakistani military or its intelligence agency to extremists and terrorist groups particularly to any group that has conducted attacks against United States or coalition forces in Afghanistan or against the territory of people of neighboring countries.” The issue that he raised on this was that by agreeing to this section of the bill, basically Pakistan was accepting that they had been involved as a state in wrongful actions.  He stated that that was not true and agreeing to that statement goes against the perspective policies, views and truth about Pakistan as a country. 

He also found some of the parts of the bill embarrassing towards the people of Pakistan and not perspective of the people.  The other aspects that were of concern included language where regional security strategy would be identified by the US government with focus on the relevant governments and organizations in the region and elsewhere as appropriate to best implement effective counterinsurgency and counterterrorism efforts in the border areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan including FATA and NWFP parts of Balochistan and parts and of Punjab. 

His narrative was that this information, as well as, the monitoring reports component of section 302 were legitimization of United States direct involvement in Pakistan ’s strategic conventional and nuclear defense capacity.  He felt that such matters are of critical importance to the people of Pakistan and people on the street and any bill which would require such activity either to be shared directly by the government of Pakistan with US government or by indirect mechanisms for the US government to identify would go against any government views towards itself and its relationship with another government.

Later when Hamid Mir spoke, he spoke about the views where US is one of the most controversial country in Pakistan and Pakistan is the most misunderstood country in the United States.  He spoke about the mistrust on both sides and the fact that both the countries were facing common threats.  He also mentioned about how the perception amongst the people of Pakistan about the Kerry-Lugar Bill had caused the loss of the goodwill that United States had work so hard to be able to achieve just because of lack of follow through and knowledge.

Mr. Mir also suggested that the way forward included a strategy for United States and Pakistan to have a joint mechanism to defeat terrorism and the only way forward was to work together in all aspects of the war. On specific note, he mentioned about the need for having a mechanism of controlling the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The 2500 km long border had multiple areas where according to some estimate some 45000 or so people were moving back and forth and it was not properly secured.  Efforts and investments to secure that border would result in stability and control of insurgency on both sides of the border.  He also mentioned that US must have a roadmap of withdrawal from Afghanistan to come to a peace keeping capacity and have a transition of having UN peace keeping forces from countries like Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt etc. to replace the troops from the US troops and NATO.

Mr. Mir also mentioned that Afghanistan should be converted into a neutral country.  He asserted that unfortunately Afghanistan had become a stadium of proxy wars of all the neighboring countries around the region including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan.  He felt that the need for a contact group of all the stakeholder countries needs to occur where decision about neutralizing and making the country into a neutral country would be the way forward as a long-term strategy.  With respect to the common issues in Pakistan, he welcomed the US interest in helping Pakistan move towards the democratic society, but he questioned the mixed signals United States does send to the people of Pakistan while the statements are that Pakistan should be democratic society, but when the democratic society request that justice be performed on the past leadership of Pakistan including Pervez Musharraf and National Reconciliation Ordinance, the US government tries to interfere and stops that from happening despite the will of the people, as well as, the land and the justice of society.

He stated that Washington needs to understand and respect the will of the common man in Pakistan and the people in Pakistan want to be friends of United States, not slaves of United States.

Multiple frank discussions and questions were asked about the level of perceived and real corruption in all levels of government at the present time.

Dr. Saud Anwar in one of the parts of discussion mentioned about the mechanism how Kerry-Lugar Bill initially was set up by then Senator Biden, who is the current Vice President.  In his vision, Vice President Biden along with Senator Lugar had envisioned a support to the people of Pakistan without conditions, as the conditions would make the relationship transactional rather than that of the strategic partner.  Unfortunately, congressman Berman with one of his staffers and the effects of certain lobbies, primarily the Indian lobby, had placed a new version of the bill, which was ill-conceived, not well thought out and issues were not heard and taken the appropriate input from the Pakistani Community.  As a result, that bill was not in sync with the ground realities in Pakistan. The discussions and the conference meeting was not able to remove all aspects of the bill from the house side.  However, most of them were removed and the ones that were not removed are the only parts that the people of Pakistan do not appreciate and have had major concerns with.

Dr. Anwar also mentioned that this was a weakness where the lack of collaboration efforts and the lack of resources comparatively with the Pakistani-American Community may have contributed to this happening.  He also felt that it was unfortunate that the a very small group of Indian-American in their narrow vision ended up harming Indian interests and the legislators from the house side who supported this version of the bill harmed US interest because of their unconditional support to a very narrow small group of people who were focused on their agenda rather than the US agenda and the long-term interest of US-Pakistan relations.

It was felt by most people that there is a need for the Pakistani-Americans and the Indian-Americans to work together so that the fringe groups of lobbies, who have not well thought out their plans, would not become relevant in future.

The entire conference room remained full till the end of the conference because of these very interesting and passionate components of the security part of the session.  Later, the participant had an opportunity to ask questions from the participants in the panel where further discussion on the future of the policies and need for better understanding between the various groups including the US media, the Pakistani media, the US legislators and the Pakistani legislators needs were occurred.

The participants felt that because of the conference, they would identify mechanisms of increasing those communications.  Mr. Mir has suggested that he would try and see if US thought and policy leaders, as well as, media personnel would have an opportunity to physically come to Pakistan and look at some of the border areas and work with the larger policy makers in the US to help US focus on protecting those borders and Mr. Ahsan Iqbal felt that he would like to pursue mechanisms of increasing communication between the legislators in Pakistan with legislators in the US as well and also identify mechanisms where the common man in Pakistan and civil society have an opportunity to meet with the legislators in the US and more over the legislators in Pakistan have opportunity to meet with the common people in United States who have a better understanding and identify ways of solidifying a long-term understanding based on mutual respect of each other.

PAKPAC organizes a Conference at Yale University

New Haven, CT: The Conference titled, South Asian Muslim Identity: Reviving the Consciousness was organized by the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee, who joined in with the Yale Muslim Students Association, Yalies for Pakistan, Office of International Students and Scholars at Yale.  The conference included a number of students and international students from Pakistan where a detailed discussion was held between the speakers including Dr. Saud Anwar, President of PAKPAC along with Faizan Haq, Professor at Cora Maloney College at Suny Buffalo, New York and Mr. Azhar Hussain, Vice President of Preventive Diplomacy at the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, Washington DC.

The intent of the meeting was to discuss with the group of South Asian American Muslims, primarily of the Pakistani heritage about the historical identity, their common heritage, and the inherent pluralism and respect for all.  This traditionally has been the norm in that area where people had hearts and minds of the people of South Asia opened to others.  The conference explored the various factors and influences beyond the social fabric challenge in the home countries and the United States, which have led to some loss of this identity. This loss may have led to a lower capacity of tolerance in some sections.  This conference also served as a way of discussing the challenges of South Asian American Muslim students, who when they come to campuses nowadays and in college’s day, have to maintain the balance in the academia while being offered a different new identity by religious groups in these most formative years.

At these discussions, Mr. Faizan Haq talked about the identity of the people of South Asia, and how the tolerance and their ability to stand up for the truth has been the part of the internal fabric of these communities.

Mr. Azhar Hussain for the ICRD talked about his work and trying to reinvigorate this value back into the people when he goes and works in remote areas of Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan to educate them about Islam, and the true teaching of Islam and also work towards rehabilitation of Madrassa’s with focus on improvement of the curriculum.

This conference had long list of questions and discussion was generated between the various participants and students, as well as, the speakers.

The question answer session was lasted for about an hour and a half and the students found this very engaging event and had requested that such more events should be organized by the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee in academic institutions so that there is opportunity for them to remain engaged on intellectual component and also identify ways to combat extremism in any shape or form in not only in the home countries, but also primarily in United States institutions.

Spotlight

Shaghil Ahmed Chief, Emerging Market Economies, Federal Reserve System

Dr. Shaghil Ahmed is currently Chief of the Emerging Market Economies section in the International Finance Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal System in Washington D.C.  He oversees the Federal Reserve Board’s coverage and forecasting of developing and emerging market economies of the world, including China, South Korea, India, and Pakistan in emerging Asia and Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina in Latin America.  Shaghil has nearly 25 years of experience in research, teaching, and policy-oriented work in the fields of macroeconomics, econometrics, international development and finance, and monetary economics. Among other topics, he has worked on the Federal Reserve’s global economic model, early warning systems of currency crises, role of China in Asia and the global economy, international business cycles, exchange rate regimes, the relationship between government budget deficits and trade deficits, and the relationship between trade liberalization, growth and poverty.

Shaghil received his B.Sc. in Economics in 1980 from the London School of Economics (1980) and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics in 1983 and 1985, respectively, from the University of Rochester, NY.  In the past, Shaghil has held teaching appointments at Brown University, Pennsylvania State University, and UCLA. He has several publications in reputable economics journals, including American Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking.  He has served as a presenter and discussant at several international meetings and conferences, including American Economic Association, Econometric Society, National Bureau of Economic Research, Western Economic Association, Carnegie-Rochester Conference on Public Policy, and Federal Reserve System Conferences.

From mid-2004 to mid-2006, Shaghil was on leave from the Federal Reserve and visiting Pakistan.  While in Pakistan, he was Managing Director of the Karachi-based Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), a prominent economic research think tank in the country.  Under his tenure, the SPDC published a comprehensive annual report on Social Development in Pakistan, analyzing the relationship between trade liberalization, growth, and poverty in Pakistan (www.spdc-pak.com/pubs/pubdisp.asp?id=anr7) and also published two reports on the state of Pakistan’s economy pointing to the overheating of the economy (www.spdc-pak.com/pubs/pubdisp.asp?id=rr62) and growing macroeconomic imbalances (www.spdc-pak.com/pubs/pubdisp.asp?id=rr64)  In 2005-2006, Shaghil also served on the Government of Pakistan’s Task Force on Economic Policy. 

www.federalreserve.gov/research/staff/ahmedshaghilx.htm

Future Activities

Meeting with Assistant Attorney General

Nov 12th; PAKPAC to meet Tom Perez,  Assistant Attorney General  at Department of Justice Washington