The days after ....

After 9/11, a lot of my Pakistani friends were concerned about my wellbeing. Me being a Pakistani Muslim living in the New York area, they were worried that I may become the victim of the reported persecution of Pakistanis in USA. I need to set the record straight.

The days and weeks after 9/11 were surreal. Americans had never experienced anything like this before and they didn’t know how to react to this strange situation. On the day of 9/11, everyone I met was just shocked, dazed and confused. That state lasted for weeks during which a lot of things happened that were very un-American in character but the American spirit survived eventually and what I saw in those weeks had an extremely humbling effect on me. Following is the account of some of the things I witnessed.

The Bush administration surely went into the state of paranoia. FBI was given a free hand to round up any number of people they see fit and they did go on a man-hunt that was unprecedented in the history of the United States. But then, their hands were tied because they were operating at the fringes of law and any encroachment outside could have negative consequences. So, a lot of Pakistanis did get into trouble but those were the ones who were illegally residing in USA. (And by the way, people who reported them were mostly other Pakistanis trying to settle personal scores). Due to their illegal status, it was easy for FBI to round them up to show that they were doing something without getting into legal trouble. But even that didn’t get unprotested. There were reports of several Pakistani families migrating to Canada asking for political asylum. I was driving to the office listening to a radio station the day that report was published in the New York Times. I was listening to a talk show whose host was the renowned lawyer and human rights activist Ron Kuby. I will never forget his remarks that he made out of sheer frustration on the news report: “The last Pakistani family leaving New York, please take the statue of liberty with you because, apparently, we don’t give a crap about liberty anymore.”

Bad things did happen. I was at my office having lunch with my colleagues the week after 9/11 when we heard that someone had fired some shots at the mosque next town. I was subdued hearing that. One of my colleagues, Tara, noticed that and asked me if I was OK. I told her what exactly I was feeling; that this is not the USA I came to. Tara, a born and raised New Yorker, put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Rafi, you are a good person and I am very happy that you decided to come to USA. This is not how we are. This will pass and I want you to give us some time before you make any decision.”

One day, I was smoking outside a restaurant in Brooklyn. It was a calm Friday afternoon. There was a group of young Americans hanging out at the corner of the block chatting and laughing. Another group of boys emerged from the mosque across the street and as they were passing the corner where the first group of teenagers I mentioned, they became silent and hanged their heads low avoiding any eye contact. One of the American boys saw that and shouted, “hey, pick your heads up. You didn’t do it.” That almost brought tears to my eyes.

Taking pictures of buildings and installations became an issue in the ensuing paranoia. Pakistanis were telling each other to be careful with their cameras. I read a report one day that a Pakistani student was taking pictures of Tappan Zee bridge and someone saw him doing that and called the police. Police arrested him but then taking pictures is not a crime so they had to come up with a charge to book him under. It turned out that he was delivering pizza for a local pizzeria. Working while on Student Visa was a violation and the police handed him over to FBI which started his deportation procedure.  The town he was arrested at is a small town on the borders of New Jersey and New York consisting mainly of retirees, people in their 70’s and 80’s. The news report mentioned that the citizens of that town, upon hearing the news of the arrest and deportation procedures, had formed a committee to provide legal support to the Pakistani student. I decided to meet this group of people.

I went to the local library where they regularly met. Their meeting was about to begin. I was greeted by John, an 83-year old retiree who used to be an attorney. John told me all they were doing to get the Pakistani student released so he could resume his studies. Everyone in town was pitching in money to fight the case. At the end of our meeting, I asked John what was motivating them to fight the cause. John said, “This is not the America I was born in and this sure isn’t the America I want to die in.”

And then one day, I came back from work to see a crowd gathered outside my Pakistani neighbor’s apartments. I came to know that about half an hour before my arrival, my neighbor’s kids were playing in the adjacent park and someone threw stones at them from behind a bush. Some people saw that and called the police. Within an hour, people of the town were out with candles in their hands and there was an impromptu candle light vigil outside my neighbor’s house. The vigil continued till the city’s mayor came there and assured people that he would make sure that a police patrol is available whenever kids were playing in that park. For weeks, I saw a police car guarding the park all day long.

One of the ways Pakistanis who come here illegally and then get a legal status is by marrying an American citizen. There are many legal requirements to be met and they are so complicated that it’s almost impossible to meet them all. Before 9/11, no one cared. But after 9/11, the government had to show that they are doing something so they decided to go after the people who were going through the process which is usually called “getting the papers”. One such Pakistani was picked up at his apartment in Queens and it was clear that he hadn’t filed his papers strictly in accordance with the law. The deportation process, that usually takes a couple of weeks, began while that person’s wife contacted a human rights group which promptly obtained the services of an immigration lawyer. But the time was of the essence. Immigration authorities expedited the deportation case while the defendant’s attorney was preparing to file the case. One morning, the defendant’s attorney came to know that the deportation proceedings had been completed and the person was being taken to the airport to be sent to Pakistan. The attorney rushed to the court and asked to see the judge immediately. The judge listened to her for 15 minutes while she explained how this deportation was unfair (note, not illegal, but unfair) since she hadn’t had enough time to file the case. The judge immediately issued a stay-order and called the airport authorities not to let the person to be boarded on the flight against his own will. He was brought back to the court and released after a week.

So, yes, bullets were fired at mosques, stones were thrown at children but the reaction from the civil society is what the real story is. People in America, in the weeks following 9/11, showed why and how they are special. As for me, who was unsure about staying in USA after shots were fired at a mosque, I was overwhelmed with the acts of kindness and humanity of the people of United States.