Over a year after the "War on Terror" began, Mukul Devichand attended a neighbourhood meeting in New York, where South Asians were uniting to protest government policy and fight against hate crimes Shah Wazir is worried about his future, and he is not alone. He is of many concerned South Asians from across New York who have attended a special series of meetings in Midwood, Brooklyn and Jackson Heights, Queens, held late in 2002. Both areas have big South Asian communities with sizable Muslim populations. The clue to the subject matter of the meetings is given away by their title: "One Year Later: How Do We get Our Rights Back?" Although much press attention has focussed on the plight of Arab-Americans after 11 September, South Asian-Americans (from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) have also felt the social effects of the "War on Terror". South Asians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, often have the beards, veils and Eastern clothing that make up American stereotypes of "Taliban" and "Islam". Over the past year, several Sikhs have been attacked and some killed, because their long beards resemble that of Osama Bin Laden. The meetings were held to address such feelings of victimisation. Wazir, for example, has been personally affected. Just before 1am on 3 September this year, the 46-year old Pakistani immigrant was driving his taxi home to Midwood after another long shift. As he slowed for traffic lights on Manhattan's 2nd Avenue, at the junction with 54th Street, he caught a quick glimpse of two men and a woman coming towards the car. He said that before he fully realised what was going on, they had pulled the door open and started to physically attack him. "I have no doubt it was because I'm a Muslim," Wazir said in Urdu, Pakistan's lingua franca, almost a week later. He is a thin man with a large beard, who usually wears a long salwar kameez (tunic and pants) leaving no doubt as to his ethnicity. He was struck several times. A large bruise still showed under his right eye, despite an overnight hospital stay. "As they hit me, they shouted 'Do you like Bin Laden?'," he said. The three suspects -- a white American and two Chinese-Americans -- were arrested and now face trial. But Wazir feels his attack was part of a worrying trend. "First the FBI detained so many in the community, and now this," he said. "It makes me feel I have to do something." At the Midwood meeting on 8 September, many people expressed similar concerns. The gathering was held at the offices of the Council of Pakistan Organization, or COPO, a local Midwood group that emerged after a spate of government detentions of Muslims after 11 September Volunteers from COPO and others from the Manhattan-based Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) wanted a forum to meet locals and re-appraise the feelings of others in the South Asian community. Much of the concern centered on government detentions. "They just come and take us away," lamented Mohamed Tariq, 44, a Pakistani limo driver from Brooklyn. "If you argue, they are more likely to take you. It's just because we're Muslim." "Why us?" added Zaid Khan, 31, a Pashtun from Pakistan who works as a stockbroker. "We have done nothing wrong. So the real problem is to find out who is reporting us to the FBI." Since the 11 September attacks, the government has detained over 1,200 people nationwide, according to State Department figures. Most have been held on immigration violations or as "material witnesses". Since it is the executive branch that oversees immigration, the government can avoid the courts and detain suspects in secret locations, not releasing their names, and without trial. Several liberal judges are rebelling against the policy in federal courts, most recently in a Federal District Court in Washington DC, in August. A Supreme Court judgment is pending. But in the meantime, the effects of the policy have been severe in many South Asian communities. According to Ahmad Razvi of COPO, many Pakistanis from Midwood practically "disappeared" overnight, often after "tip-offs" to the FBI from neighbours who interpret Muslim looks and religious conversation as terrorist. The State Department claims all but 81 of the immigration violators have now been released or deported, but COPO and AALDEF say the detentions are ongoing. At the meeting, people felt the real enemy was not the US government, but ignorance. "The police don't really know who we are," said Tariq. "They need to understand that we're just ordinary people." Nor was there any support for terrorists. "Of course they should take wrongdoers," Khan asserted at the meeting. "That's OK. But they shouldn't be taking anyone else." "This isn't about protecting criminals or fraudsters," added Siddiq Malik, 44, a store owner who had made the journey from the Bronx, at the other side of New York. "It's about protecting innocents." Another purpose of the meeting was for AALDEF and COPO to spread the word about free legal advice they give to South Asians and others at monthly legal clinics in Brooklyn and Queens. Those sessions have been well attended, according to Saurav Sarkar, a volunteer at AALDEF. Ammad Razvi, a 28-year old Pakistani from Midwood, helped found COPO. He said that people who felt victimised now had a place to come. "You can come here, to trained lawyers who can help," he said at the meeting. A vivid example of the type of work advocacy groups like COPO and AALDEF do occurred in August after Mizanor Rahman, a 37-year-old father of one from Bangladesh was attacked and murdered by two men in East New York on 11 August. On 28 August, the local 75th Police precinct's Inspector James Secreto told Bangladeshi community leaders that he did not feel the attack was racially motivated. Local Bangladeshis disagreed, and together with AALDEF held vigils and forums with the local Dominican community, the other big immigrant community in the area. In Midwood, COPO also envision a community-building agenda as well as advocacy work. Razvi runs regular basketball sessions where young people from Midwood's large Jewish and Muslim communities are encouraged to play together. Inter-community dialogue, and a united voice against government detentions and hate crimes, is still a new phenomenon with New York's South Asians. Still, the meeting showed that the "War on Terror" has certainly provoked a reaction among a community that has traditionally been divided by national origin and religion. "We should be united among ourselves," declared Malik. "We all look the same to them, so let's unite as one."
