Pakistanis - Victims Of US Cultural Terrorism?

Surprising as it may seem, for the last two weeks every Sunday morning, I have been rushing in to read the magazine edition of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. It turns out that Anjum Niaz, a South Asian journalist of some repute has been giving out her heart-felt opinions about card-carrying Indians -- for those of you not in the know, this refers to Indians in the US with green cards.

In the first edition, she not-so-subtly insinuated that Indian software companies were using their trade to squirrel away data, to use later to harm America. Only a small aspersion on a $10B+ industry, don't you think? The next week she claimed that Indians were using South Asian Studies departments to spread propaganda. A question comes to mind -- most of you must have heard of departments of Egyptian studies, but have any of you ever heard of departments of Cameroon Studies? Probably not. Now think about Pakistani studies separate from Indian studies. Pakistan, Cameroon -- separate departments to study their culture? Don't think so.

Being co-opted within departments that basically study India is tantamount to cultural terrorism against Pakistanis. So much as I like to wake up on Sundays without the need for coffee, I thought it is only fair that I fill in the cultural gap for card-carrying Pakistanis.

Every week, for the last 3 months, we've heard the same old whining. “It's too dangerous to stay; I'm too frightened by the mood in the US,” said Tariq Mohammed, 27, a Pakistani who said he had overstayed a student visa by seven years to take a succession of jobs -- the last as assistant manager of a warehouse in Rhode Island. He arrived in Montreal yesterday and hopes Canada will grant him permanent asylum [Boston Globe, Jan 2003].

This goes on and on -- every week, there's some more. There's of course Ejaz Haider, the news editor and a columnist of The Friday Times, who was arrested by US officials for failing to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Whines he, “This is not the United States I used to come to.” [Dawn, Jan 31, 2003].

Things like: “Why are questions being raised regarding Pakistan-US partnership, especially Pakistan's cooperation against terrorism?” Or “Why are the Pakistanis punished and included in this list despite the fact that none of the hijackers was a Pakistani?” or “Pakistan is a front line state that has been and still continues to extend cooperation in the global fight against terrorism.” Or “Where is our reward for the fight against terrorism?” are repeated on and on and on.

You get my point -- it seems that Uncle Sam is discriminating against the Pakistanis.

To my Pakistani friends, I say -- please, please can we play the game of one-degree of separation -- you know, the old game we some times play here in the US, where you try to link any old movie star to Kevin Bacon in 6 degrees/steps of movies. The twist this time is that we get to connect to the state of Pakistan in one step only -- but our starting point can be any major international terrorist in the last few years.

Let's start with the big one -- 9/11. The money seems to have come from Pakistan [Washington Post, Feb 2002], the money man quickly fled to Pakistan after wiring the money and, of course, the main perpetrators are caught with surprising regularity in, you guessed it, Pakistan. The Tunisia bombing of the synagogue -- well, the order came from Pakistan. Remember the Kenya and Tanzania bombings? The principal suspects flew home to Pakistan after these events. Rassam, the Algerian who tried to blow up LAX in the millennium plot, traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan for training. The co-ordination point for his attack was an Algerian cell in Pakistan. The IC-814 hijacking was found to be planned by the ISI and detailed plans were found in a house in Kabul. The first WTC bombing, Aimal Kasi's killing of CIA employees, yada, yada, yada.

But, but, but, say the deniers… Pakistan turned over a new leaf since 911 -- they stopped terrorism against the US and now they only do it against sundry Indians, Russians and Afghans. Not quite true.

Daniel Pearl was conveniently bumped off in Karachi, while he was hot on the trail of ISI links to terror in Bhawalpur and Karachi. Bhawalpur, you see, is where banned Jaish-e-Mohammed's leader, Masood Azhar has been requested to stay mostly within his house (in Pakistan, this is sometimes called 'house arrest') and is being paid the generous sum Rs. 10,000 per month for this kindness of his. Richard “shoe bomber” Reid traveled and trained in Pakistan -- where else! Jose Padilla, the dirty bomb maker, traveled to Pakistan for training. The Bali bombing suspect, Hambali spent a lot of time in Pakistan. Of course, now we find out that the Al Ansar in Northern Iraq is infested with Pakistanis. I could go on and on, but Narayanan Komerath has done a fine job of cataloguing and analyzing all this, better than I ever can [http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE5-2/narayanan.html].

The point being: think of any international terrorist act, you can safely bet your money that Pakistan or Pakistanis had a hand in it. When they get tired of simply training or providing shelter to people, Pakistanis occasionally do go out and kill American soldiers in Afghanistan or pay Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to do so. But, they do not do this too often -- only, once every few weeks, when the thirst for jihad gets the better of them, they sate it by liberating an US soldier or two. Nothing serious here.

In all seriousness though, some of the blame for the plight of the Pakistanis has to go to Darwin's theory. Consider the sordid case of Haroon Rashid of Denver, Colorado. The gentleman went to Pakistan and upon returning to Denver, immediately and openly “bragged about killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, authorities testified” [Casper Star Tribune]. Promptly, Uncle Sam had him tied up and threw him in jail, much to his chagrin. Imran, another gent from Pakistan confessed to planning to blow up bridges and the Jewish synagogue in Florida. Yet another Pakistani immigrant recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb power stations, a National Guard armory and Jewish-owned businesses. Walk into any American University's Islamic meet, you'll hear a lot of speeches against the US and Americans in general. Invariably, the most vituperative anti-American speeches on “flying a green flag on the white house” or “spitting on the US” are made by Pakistani students. Want to find some accomplished Pakistanis -- look no further -- look them up at http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terrorismsi.htm.

If you think that Pakistanis were some backward seventh century populace with electricity, trying to spread mayhem and terror in the name of Islam -- no siree, you have the wrong picture. Just last week, Aafia Siddiqui was picked up in Pakistan, after an international terrorist hunt. First, she is a woman and not an ordinary one -- she has a PhD from MIT. This, it seems, provided her perfect training for money laundering for Al Qaeeda in Boston. Any level of society and you see the connections… consider Hasnat Khan, a doyen amongst the Pakistani elite and also, by the way, Princess Diana's ex-paramour. Well, it seems Hasnat's good cousin, Dr. Ahmed Qadoos was playing host to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, when the FBI recently disturbed their cozy slumber party. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for those with short memories, was the operational chief of the September 11 attacks. Any perceived Pakistani connections to the 911 attacks are, of course, purely coincidental.

Of course, all this does not begin to address the issue of Pakistanis that get caught every week in places as different as London, Paris, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Italy and Spain for terrorist or suspected terrorist activities. Pakistan, used to such outrages against their honor and dignity, pull out a routine but well practiced statement from their desk drawer to first deny and then deny some more, much like their 400% denial of supplying nuclear technology to North Korea. These insults to their honor and dignity has come to a point where a friendly nation like China recently imposed visa restrictions on Pakistani entrants to Hong Kong; Taiwan openly declared that it is nervous about Pakistani terrorists entering their country; and Egyptian customs tend to harass Pakistani travelers to Cairo, much much more than they ever would trouble any rascal from India. “Discrimination against Muslims,” harangue the Pakistanis, with no apparent explanation for the fact that it is only the Pakistanis who are common to all these raids, not the Turks, the Malayasians, the Indonesians or the Bosnians (all Muslims, mind you) -- only Pakistanis.

In fact, sometimes the desire to be heard on the discrimination issue gets so strong amongst Pakistanis, they set alight their own motels and yell “discrimination” -- Mazhat Tabesh, a Pakistani from Heber City, Utah tried this approach, causing $100,000 damage to his motel; unfeeling Uncle Sam, however, did not understand this cry for help and decided to prosecute him instead. But, Pakistanis are well advised to keep trying such innovative means to expose the discrimination against them -- if not through motel burning, then at least through frequent credit-card fraud indictments; something is bound to work sooner or later.

After all this, would you really blame the Americans for their reaction to Pakistanis? The US recognizes that 82% of Pakistani adults consider Osama to be a hero and many regularly use the American flag as a doormat. Yes, rightfully the Americans are nervous about the Islamic bomb, but they have been more than generous with Pakistan. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserve has gone up from $400M to about $10B in 18 months, primarily due to the largesse of Uncle Sam. The US is in the process of writing off loans worth $1B and additionally putting another $1B in the begging bowl. Uncle has also convinced the rest of the world and other institutions to be charitable with their handouts. Pakistan's act of “look we're so dangerous and irrational, you better gives us some more money” has worked -- it has received well over $12B in loan write-offs and grants, for, first, simply not funding terrorism against the US too often, and second, not giving nuclear weapons to the Al-Qaeda. At last word, they are having problems with the latter. It seems that Pakistani nuclear scientists like to have all kinds of discussions with the Al Qaeda [David Albright writing for the Bulletin on Atomic Scientists] and some have just disappeared with no forwarding address [South Asia Tribune].

Nevertheless, you can't blame the Pakistanis for feeling these intense pangs of discrimination. Remember, discrimination is something that Pakistanis are not familiar with in their homeland. All the people who are different or could be discriminated against have simply disappeared, er… I mean liberated. The Pakistani population has gone from a minority non-muslim population of 20% to less than 3% in just about 4 decades. How does this happen? Well, it takes a lot of work -- you have to first indoctrinate through text books, threaten enough people, kill/rape some, loud announcements from mosque loudspeakers, and vernacular press editorials follow, and finally the mass-scale killings. But, Pakistanis have worked out the kinks in the system so well that they exported this unique technology to Indian Kashmir and now even Bangladesh, as well.

For those who're concerned about the remaining 3% minorities in Pakistan -- don't worry, they are feverishly working on taking care of the remaining 3% through church bombings and slitting throats -- it is just taking a little longer than they thought, but it is part of the upcoming 5-year plan.

This genocide of non-muslims practiced throughout Pakistan is exactly what almost all good Pakistani children are brought up on. Their Urdu textbooks, as early as in the second grade (for seven year olds), recommend that: “Infidels are cowards by nature.” “When a holy warrior attacks them, they (infidels) scream with terror and fear” and mujahideen are “glorified as the alpha male on a mission from God. They are the superheroes that kill Hindus, fashion all sorts of gadgets from found material, and make the infidel world cower in fear.”

The Pakistani education system seems to train its students effectively for the requirements of having active careers in the country. Jaffri comments on this career-enhancing aspect of Pakistani education in Dawn as: “All education is to prepare the alumni for life… at a certain stage, it has to be career-related… Recent experience strongly suggests that thousands of the students of these hundreds of Madaris provide battle-ready street demonstrators for agitating religious sects.” Noticing the effectiveness of the Pakistani form of education, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Muhammad recently quipped:

“Malaysians who went to Pakistan for religious education in madrassas actually learned bomb-making, bank-looting and other terrorist activities.” [The Friday Times]

All this insidious discrimination against Pakistanis ignores the true impact of the genius of Pakistani business acumen. After all, Pakistani trade in nuclear expertise has helped North Korea, a poverty-stricken nation of 25 million almost starving people, convert itself into the most talked about nation in the world. Stepping up advertisements for their missile systems, Hamid Gul, a Pakistani general with deep expertise in perpetrating all kinds of genocide -- both religious and non-religious -- tells Arnaud Borchgrave (of UPI), “Pakistani missiles could now reach not only Madras, but also Tel Aviv.” Comforting thought that -- for prospective buyers like Al -Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbellah.

True, some people may rightfully claim that Pakistani industry can barely build a heavy machine lathe, a basic measure of manufacturing capability. But such statements miss the point: how many companies in the whole wide world have had the foresight to establish their exports as far and wide as France, UK, Algeria and Uganda? Thanks to the business insights and dollars provided by such reputable organizations such as the Al-Rashid (recently investigated by the US) trust and Fauji Foundation, the counterfeiting, terrorism and drug trades of Pakistan have established centers of excellence far and wide. Americans' double standards in globalization policies have hurt a little -- for some strange reason, known only to Uncle Sam, the US encourages globalization of manufacturing and services, especially to countries like China and India, but when it comes to key Pakistani industries like the drug trade and terrorism, globalization is severely discouraged. In spite of these difficult conditions, Pakistanis have made tremendous progress -- progress enough that even their Chinese friends are having second thoughts about letting Pakistanis enter Hong Kong.

In the end, it is hard to hide such unique business acumen and ability -- to learn more about these aspects from Pakistan, the UN Chemical Weapons Inspectors even paid a visit to some innovative enterprises specializing in fertilizer/fuel-oil technology; financed by the Fauji Foundation, which in turn is run, of course, by Gen. Musharraf and his Corps commanders.

But, in the end you have to feel sorry for the Pakistanis -- they have been asked not to kill their hosts in the US, made to stand in lines, asked not to blow up bridges, temples, power plants and, in general, required to follow the law. These things are difficult to do. When Pakistanis go to other countries, they are used to beheading women for not wearing a burqa, or half burning people they disagree with (with the slow pain of death to follow), throwing acid on women for showing their faces, or simply cutting off the noses of people who do not listen to them. Don't believe me, ask the Kashmiris and Afghans -- they have lived through this for years. In fact, some kind Pakistanis, on their way to behead some random Indian women in Kashmir left the following calling card:

“Beloved brothers of Hasiyot: We have left our country to fight for your freedom. But still you people feel no sense of gratitude. We urge you to stop helping the Kafirs [unbelievers]. After this, no one who does so will be spared. He who helps a Kafir is also a Kafir. If you still do not pay heed, Allah has given his soldiers enough strength to finish you as well as the Kafirs.” -- Posted by the al-Badr Mujahideen, Hasiyot Mosque, Rajouri, Dec 17, 2002. Why should the Pakistanis be expected to change their culture and behavior on foreign trips, simply because they are going to the US instead of India or Afghanistan? This is clearly a case of the US pushing their own culture and laws on the Pakistanis, while at the same time denigrating the uniqueness of the jihadi, sorry, Pakistani culture.

Loved it. Nicely done, too. Timely in view of current newsreports about the "plight" of Pakistanis in the USA. Well, hiring PR firms does pay off when you get WP and NYT stories about the conditions of your countrymen in the US.

Anjum Niaz

THis lady has written some doozies...some just dripping with venom and hate against the Indians, of whatever religion and even working in swipes against the unohoo.

Let's not forget that this sterling educational experience is made possible through the generous contributions of our buddies, the Saudi Wahhabis.

Walk into any American University's Islamic meet, you'll hear a lot of speeches against the US and Americans in general. Invariably, the most vituperative anti-American speeches on “flying a green flag on the white house” or “spitting on the US” are made by Pakistani students.

Things we need to know.

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