By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

April 23 , 2010

Looking Beyond

 

The other day at Lahore, a panel discussion was convened amongst top officialdom on the role and status of expatriate Pakistanis in the US. The very nature of the topic suggests the salience of the US community and the interest taken in Pakistan on its doings.

Much of the discussion dealt with 9/11 and its aftermath. Caught unprepared, the Pakistani community in the US was subjected to unfair and unreasonable targeting. It left in its wake an atmosphere of trepidation and a depletion of confidence on life in the United States. Some changed their names; others shifted permanently. Another huge event has been the promise of the Obama presidency – a man whose father was Muslim as was his Indonesian step-father and whose mother worked in Pakistan wearing shalwar kameez and speaking Urdu.

The discussion raised concerns and queries about the priorities of expatriates. Mention was made of the movie “Three Idiots”, which explored the sub-continental propensity to overly pursue business and technical subjects at the expense of humanities and social sciences. One consequence of this trend has been insufficient knowledge and understanding of the world beyond their technical fields. The Sufi saints of Punjab, for example, were renowned for their learning and piety which carried universal appeal.

Picking safe and lucrative professions has left ample space in the battle of ideas—space which has been occupied by disinformation supplied by foes with vested interests who have capitalized on apathy and inertia. During questions, it also emerged that Pakistanis are held hostage to the vagaries of the US Middle East policy, which sometimes see Muslims in America through the lens of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Another trend is the propensity of being elite-centric at the expense of grassroots interaction. A key obstacle has been a diffident mindset that has stymied the flowering of Muslim talent. There is also a problem of approach: one side is passivity and the other side is belligerence. Neither has worked.

A key issue facing Pakistani youth in America is lack of inspirational role models in the community. Sometimes also there is too much togetherness, reinforced by obscurantism and pre-set ideas. The group felt that, by receiving mixed signals from their elders, the younger generation has been confused, and some have oscillated between rigidity and appeasement.

More barriers are being built when the need is to build more bridges. The casualties of isolation have not been fully understood, nor is there sufficient appreciation of the positive dividends that can come from greater human connections, which can counter intolerance and ignorance.

Many among the discussants drew a contrast with the inroads made by the Indian community in the US, which did not cast a favorable light on the Pakistani community.

There may not be any single remedy. However, a reduction in occupation-driven tensions in the Middle East is essential, as is attaining proportionate Muslim representation in key US policy sectors. Expatiate Pakistanis in the US can ill- afford to lapse into defensive defeatism when the need is for much more visible outreach and participation in the conversation of America.

The significance given by the Obama administration to Pakistan has to be matched with more vigorous activism by the Pakistani community in the US. The building of ethno-national and sectarian barriers amongst expatriate Pakistanis blocks transcending partisan and personal agenda-driven interests.

Balkanization has not worked among Pakistanis in Pakistan or among the Pakistani community in the US. The issue is not just education; it is a mindset, which has to look beyond.

So far what has happened beyond the community has affected the world around the community. The community has to change both its approach and itself.

Thus far, Muslim weaknesses in America have made them a safe and easy target. If they learn to comprehend and engage the world beyond, that may no longer be the case tomorrow.

 

 


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Clash or Coexistence?

The Radical Behind Reconstruction

POWs & Victors’ Justice

Islam on Campus

Community of Civilizations

Rule of Law or Rule of Men?

Unpredictable Times

The Quiet One

Turkish Model & Principled Resignations

Live and Let Live

Leadership & de Gaulle

Dark Side of Power

2002: The Year of Escalation

Whither US?

Politics, God, Cricket & Sex

The Company of Friends

Missing in Action : The Kofi Case

Accountability & Anger

Casualties of War

A Simple Living

The Nexus & Muslim Nationhood

The Kith and Kin Culture

It Is Spreading

Road to Nowhere

Misrepresenting Muslims

The value of curiosity

Revenge & Riches

The Media on Iraq

The Perils of Sycophancy

Legends of Punjab

Mind & Muscle

Islam & the West: Conflict or Co-Existence?

The Challenge of Disinformation

Britain on the Backfoot

Paisa, Power and Privilege

The Path to Peace

On Intervention

Countering Pressures on Pakistan

A World at War?

Raising the Game

The Argument of Force

Affluence withtout Influence

The Shawdow of Vietnam

Heroes of '54

The Imperative of Human Decency

Hollywood and Hate

Living in Lahore

Fatal Decisions

Singer or the Song

Arrogance

The Power of Moral Legitimacy

The Trouble with Kerry

Green Curtain

A Nation Divided

Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

Condi & India

Xenophobia

Looking inward

Re-Thinking

A Tale of Two Presidents

Close to Home

Flashpoint Kashmir

The Spreading Rage

Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

Other Side of Extremism

Five Years after 9/11

The Educated Ignorant

The Decline of Humor

Icons

Six Years of Insanity

The War Not Being Fought

Munir Niazi

Compliance & Defiance

Counter-Message

Miscast

The Goddess of Wealth

The Meaning of Moderation

The Tora Bora of Fear

Clash of Civility

The Early Race

Challenge & Response

Will & Skill

Zealotry

Movie-Media and Pakistan

Hug with a Thug

Quest for Integrity

Unconquered

Vanity

Bringing Back the Past

Stuck in Iraq

Islam, Science and the West

Turmoil over Turkey

Leaders versus Leadership

Might Does Not Make Right

Kursi First

Vision & Will

Battle of the Billionaires

Assassination Alley

Extremism and Change

Rosy Expectations

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

Not Winning

Beyond Baghdad: Five Years after

The Hijab of Democracy

Hate, Fear & Hope

Weapon of Words

Hide N’ Seek

Yanking in the UN

Obama’s Breakthrough

Let Lahore Be Lahore

National Mood & Sports

Flirting with Fire

Trips Abroad

Georgia on the Mind

Duel for the White House

Zia to Zardari

Palestine: Avoiding the Unavoidable 

Not Working 

In the Ring 

Obama’s America

Smiles & Dreams

Quiet Deeds of Good

Crime and Indifference

Journey of Understanding

VIP-hunting

Terror via Counter-Terrorism

Umpires or Vampires?

The Long Road

Yesterday’s Reminder

Appeasement and the Real Threat

Israel’s Washington Agenda

New Challenges

Cairo and Beyond

Re-fighting Old Battles

America ’s Super Villains

Activism in America

Style without Substance

Overcoming Barriers

Ashes to Afghanistan

The Looming Change

Fear and Possibilities

What Is Not Debated 

Hired Guns

Rampage at Fort Hood

Manmohan in Washington

The Long Duel

Green Nukes

Vision and Division

Avoiding Why

Striving to Matter

Shame-proof

Anxiety and Opportunity

Putting Iraq in America

The Right Strategy


2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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