SOUTH ASIAN VICTIMS

Main New York City Numbers:
NYC Emergency Information: 212-560-2730
NYPD Emergency Information: 212-741-4626 or 866-856-4167

Airlines
American Airlines: 1-800-245-0999
American Airlines Statement: http://www.aa.com
United Airlines: 1-800-932-8555
United Airlines Statement: http://www.ual.com
The United Airlines has also established its international toll-free
numbers for friends or family members who want more information. Those
numbers are:

The Netherlands: 020504051
Germany: 06966985407
Italy: 024829813
Belgium: 027133646
France: 0169199659

Victim Information
Red Cross WTC Victim Information: 212-604-7285
WTC: AON Employees: 203-863-6380
WTC: Morgan Stanley Employees: 888-883-4391
WTC: Carr Future: 800-755-7620
WTC: Cantor Fitzgerald: 866-326-3188
WTC: Pitney Bowes: 800-932-3631
Pentagon Employees: 1-877-663-6772
Fire Department and EMT Employees: 718-999-2541
Police Department Employees: 718-677-8238

New York City Hospitals
St Vincent's Hospital: 212-604-7285
Bellevue Hospital Center: 212-562-4141
Coler Memorial Hospital: 212-848-6300
Goldwater Memorial Hospital: 212-318-8000
Gouverneur Hospital D&TC: 212-238-7000
Other New York City Services
City Mortuary: 212-562-3051
Chief Medical Examiner: 212-447-2030

Consulate General of India, NY
Consul R K Singh: 212-774-0625
Consul A S Bajpei: 212-774-0604
NYC missing persons hotline: 212-560-2730
New York Family Relief Center hotline: 212-447-2998
Email: missing@rediff.co.in

1. Ms. Naya Desai - St. Vincents Hospital
2. Mr. Manu Dhingra - 25.8.1974
3. Mr. Badruddin Lakhani - 25.11.1948
4. Mr. John Malik - 30.6.1944
5. Mr. William Manas - 17.8.1958
6. Mr. Charles Mathew - 7.7.1973
7. Mr. Myloca Byas - 20.1.1971
8. Mr. Rajiv Nair - 27.7.1976
9. Mr. Mohd. Ismail
10. Ms. Jasmine Singh - 8.7.1966
11. Mr. Mahan Chandu - Cabrini Hospital
12. Mr. Fredric Grover - Chelsea Hospital
13. Mr. Mahavir Sandra - Hospital for Joint Diseases
14. Mr. Sofal Naik
15. Mr. Narayan Patel - NYP - Cornell Hospital
16. Ms. Monica Manghani - Beth Israel Hospital
17. Mr. Punti Venkateshan - NYU Hospital
18. Mr. Qazir Mohd - Cabrini Hospital
19. Mr. Mano Hydesia - Roosevlt Hospital
20. Mr. Daniel Suhir - BelleVue Hospital
21. Mr. Abbas Mohd - St. Luke Roosevelt
22. Mr. Grogen Thomas - St. Mary's New Jersy
23. Mr. Krishnamurthy
24. Mr. Antree Mathew
25. Mr. Fernandes Thomas
26. Mr. Karri Kalpaha
27. Mr. Sajik Panchal
28. Mr. Telikepali Kalpana
29. Mr. Pundi Venketeshan NYU-ER
30. Ms. Acinapura, Christine
31. Ms. Rajkumaree Singh
32. Ms. Jasmatia Rupharaia
33. Mr. Badheeridin Lakhani - St. Vincent, NY
34. Ms. Neerja Desai
35. Ms. Silvia Ramsunder
36. Mr. Manu Dhingra
37. Mr. Dipin Chellani - Beth Israel, NY
38. Mr. Manish Menghani - (Discharged & Safe)
39. Mr. Abbas Mohd - St. Luke/Roosevelt
40. Ms. Amita Ablakh - Parkway
41. Ms. Katherine Ahmd - Roosevelt
42. Mr. Karium Ali - NYP-Cornell
43. Mr. Amir Bahaduri - Roosevelt
44. Ms. Shana Bodhram - Beth-Israel
45. Mr. Khannum Sultana - NSUH-Syosset, Long Island
46. Mr. Sunil Malik - NYU
47. Mr. Moor Hukum - Chelsea
48. Mr. Nandan Papasor - St. Vincent
49. Mr. Marian Patel - NYP-Cornell
50. Mr. Abdullah Shamsuddin - Chelsea
51. Mr. Small Mohammed - St. Vincent 52. Mr. Kazz Ahmed - Possibly SVCMC- St. John's Queens, NY
53. Ms. Selina Akthar - Parkway Hospital, NY
55. Mr. OtAsakat Amjad - SVCMC- St. Vincent's Manhattan, NY
56. Mr. Anand Dutta - Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, NY
57. Ms. Tanya Araujo - Bellevue Hospital, NY
58. Mr. Amir Bahadari - St. Luke's- Roosevelt Hospital center, NY
59. Ms. Sheila Carter - Jamaica Hospital Medical center, NY
60. Ms. Anita Chisolm - Cabrini Medical Center, NY
61. Ms. Rookmini Chomanulall - Brookdale University, NY
62. Ms. Gurjit Choufat - Bellevue Hospital, NY
63. Mr. Mohammed Chowdhury - Elmhurst Hospital Center, NY
64. Mr. Mohammed Haleem - Possibly SVCMC- St. John's Queens, NY
65. Mr. Yousuf Hanaei - SVCMC- St. John's Queens, NY
66. Ms. Maureen Hasser - New York Methodist Hospital, NY
67. Ms. Sultana Khan - Possibly SVCMC- St. John's Queens, NY
68. Mr. Perver Khanzada - Franklin Hospital Center, NY
69. Ms. Sabrina Kushnir - New York Community Hospital, NY
70. Ms. Sandy Mahabir - NYU-Downtown, NY
71. Mr. Nageswar Putchala - Flushing Medical Center, NY
71. Ms. Rupa Shah - Elmhurst Hospital Center, NY
72. Mr. Abdullah Shamsidem - Chelsea Piers, NY
73. Mr. Rajah Shanmugadhasan - Liberty Health Care System, Inc. Jersey City Medical Center, NJ74. Mr. Vivek Tayal NYU-Downtown, NY
75. Mr. Udayan Gupta - St. Francis Hospital, NJ
76. Mr. Anurag Vadka - Liberty Healthcare System,Inc.Jersey City Medical Center, NJ
77. Ms. Sonia vaneta - Beth Israel Medical Center (Petrie Div.), NY

Other survivors

1. Abbas Mohammed
2. Katherine Ahmed
3. Rajesh Nambiar
4. Aman Malik
5. Anil Kumar
6. Satya Kumara
7. Ankush Ghosh
8. Nisha Bhushan
9. Sonal Desai
10. Prabhushan Rajgopal
11. Omar Singh
12. Vikram Singh
13. Rajan Vora
14. Kiran Upadhyay
15. Brian Roy
16. Ketan Patel
17. Anita Gore
18. Krishan Kirishan
19. Asif Rahman
20. Amritlal Singh
21. Balram Verma

I WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES

1. Aduri Vinod K
2. Agarwal Alok
3. Ajit Sathyanandhan Lalithambika
4. Alagammai P
5. Baalebail Manoj
6. Balaji Munirathinam
7. Bestrapalli Subramanya S
8. Chandrashekhar Pradeep Galimane
9. Dhanaraj Anantha Saravanan
10. Gunjala Pradeep Reddy
11. Gupta Anshu
12. Indranath Roy
13. JohnBritto Victor S
14. Kamath Sandesh R
15. Kamuni Krishnamurthy
16. Kiran Raghavan Minnasandram
17. Komaragiri Praveen Kumar
18. Koneru Ravindra B
19. Kottapalli Srinivas
20. Lal Mohit B
21. Lnu Madhukara
22. Majety Chandra Gupta R
23. Manohar Chandrasekhara
24. Mathew George
25. Murthy Giridharan
26. Narasimhan Sridhar
27. Narayanan Indira
28. Natarajan Srinivasan Subramani
29. Nemani Srinivasa Rao VJ
30. Oza Sanjay R
31. Panjugala Srikanthreddy T
32. Patil Rajshekhar L
33. Penumatsa Durga NR
34. Pulvender Gopal Rao
35. Puttu Gurunadham
36. Rajesh A V R S
37. Rao Mohan M
38. Ravindra Babu
39. Sadagopan, Rajagopalan
40. Salgame Raghunath P
41. Sanjeev Shrivastava
42. Shivarama Nagaraja Kyasanur
43. Venkatraman Dinesh G
44. Venkitasamy Jeganathan
45. Vijaya Kumar Byradenahalli Pilappa
46. Yadav Bharat Singh

II MARSH & McLEAHMAN

1. Amit Patel
2. Anoop Desai
3. Bhoomeshwar Gone
4. Krishna Koteru
5. Kalpana Shah
6. Neil Lulla
7. Prasana Tumbuleri
8. Sridhar Atreya
9. Sujoy Majra
10. Bijesh Jacob

III E-SPEED

1. Atul Bhatia
2. Ashish Chakaraborty
3. Ankush Rai
4. Raj Bhatti
5. Sataya Kumara
6. Samir Kaakadath
7. Sreeman Mogulothy
8. Venkatesh Pundir

IV. CANTOR-FITZGERALD

1. Bajatti, Raj
2. Beepath, Rosemary
3. Bhatia, Atul
4. Bhatti, Raj
5. Chakroborti, Asish
6. Davis, Marvita
7. Guijrathi, Ekta
8. Kakkadath, Samir
9. Kaushanskaya, Rita
10. Khalfan, Asif
11. Kumar, Satek
12. Kumara, Satya
13. Kumaresan, Arul
14. Rai, Ankush
15. Sircar, Apurba
16. Syed, Akhil

WIPRO EMPLOYEES

1. Shashi Kiran Kadaba
2. Shreyas Ranganath
3. Hemant Puttur
4. Deepika Sattaluri

CANTOR-FITZGERALD

1. Saranya Srinuan
2. Neil Shastri
3. Parakkatt Vinod
4. Chowdhury Abul
5. Jayesh Shah
6. Vinod Parakat
7. Yudh Vir Singh Jain
8. Manika Narula
9. Bella Bhukan

FIDUCIARY TRUST

1. Nezam Hafiz
2. Goumatie Thackurdeen
3. Hafiz Nizam
4. Mukul Agarwala
5. Swarna Chalasani
6. Krishna Moorthy

FRED ALGER MANAGEMENT

1. Avnish Patel

AMERICAN EXPRESS

1. Zeeshan Ahmed Ashraf

INSTINET

1. Anil Bharvaney

Marsh & McLennan

1. Deepa Pakkala
2. Kiran Kumar Reddy Gopu
3. Harshad Thatte
4. Nitin Ramesh Parandker
5. Rajesh Khandelwal
6. Mohammed Shajahan
7. Amenie Rasool
8. Michael Baksh

TSC SOFTWARE

1. Ehtesham Raja

WINDOWS ON THE WORLD

1. Kamladai Singh
2. Shabbir Ahmed

OTHERS MISSING

1. Swarna Chalsani
2. Seema
3. Valsa Raju
4. Joseph Mathai
5. Alok Agarwal
6. Amol Achman
7. Anil Umarkar
8. Nurul Haque
9. Rikin Mehta
10. Rochan Singh
11. Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury
12. Shakila Haque
13. Sankara Velamuri
14. Syed Abdul Fatha
15. Jupiter Yamben

Injured:

1. Mohammad Abbas
2. Ahmad Ahsan
3. Amjad
4. Amena Aziz
5. Mohammad Chaudary
6. Mohammad Haleem
7. Jumma Haque
8. Sultana Khanum
9. Sultan Khan
10. Pervaiz Khanzada
11. Ahmed Noor
12. Raza Mujtaba
13. Sufal Naik
14. Sofia Naik
15. Syed Haq
16. Suhail Naik
17. Kazi Ahmad
18. Humayra Rahim
19. Shamsuddin Khan
20. Mubarak Ahmed

Missing:

1. Tariq Aman Ullah
2. Yusuf Saad
3. Samad Afridi
4. Badruddin Lakhani
5. Tarranum Rahim
6. Taimour Khan
7. Mujeb Qazi
8. Naveed Rehman
9. Omar Malick
10. Omar Namoos
11. Jamil Swaati
12. Sanober Syed
13. Asad Samir
14. Arslan Khan Khakwani
15. Ehtesham U Raja
16. Salman (Sal) Hamdani
17. Khalid Shahid
18. Boyie Mohammad
19. Ms Farnaz Chowdhry
20. Ms Naseema Simjee
21. Amena Rasool
22. Sarah Khan
23. Yasmeen Jamal
24. Ayub Khan
25. Qasim Ali Khan
26. Talat Hussain
27. Shahzad Hussain Khan
28. Ataullah Khan
29. Mian Mohammad
30. Asim Khan
31. Ahmed Ali
32. Zahida Khan
33. Umer Ahmed
34. Jameel Hussain
35. Yasmin Khan
36. Azam Ahsan
37. Aisha Harris
38. W Wahid
39. Mujeeb Qazi
40. Fatha Syed A
41. Saleemullah Farooqi
42. Shabbir Ahmad

1. Mohammed Shahjahan
2. Ashfaq Ahmed
3. Navid Hossain
4. Nurul Haque Miah
5. Shakila Yasmin
6. Mohammad Salahuddin
7. Sabbir Ahmed
8. Osman Gani

SIKH AMERICAN GETS WRITTEN APOLOGY FROM US AIRLINE

Washington, November 06, 2003

After two years of litigation, a Sikh American has succeeded in getting a written apology from America's National Airlines for having barred him from boarding a flight because of his appearance shortly after 9/11. Entertainment producer Satnam Dhillon received a letter of apology from National Airlines last week that said the incident of October 16, 2001, is sincerely regretted. "National Airlines sincerely regrets the incident of October 16, 2001, when you were denied boarding on one of our flights to Las Vegas, Nevada, as the result of an apparent misunderstanding," the letter said. Producer for Rangeela TV, an Indian channel, Dhillon, who wears a long beard and turban, reacted to the letter, saying, "That's all I wanted from day one." he has now dropped the case against the airline. Dhillon was on his way to Las Vegas and had undergone all security checks but was asked to step aside by the boarding agent, with the reason supplied being that the pilot had seen him making an "obscene gesture", said the daily `Alameda times-star'. He was taken to the airline's ticket counter where he was questioned and searched for more than two hours before the authorities agreed to put him on another flight to Las Vegas. Dhillon, an American citizen since 1980, filed a lawsuit with the San Francisco federal court in March last year. "In the aftermath of the extraordinary events of September 11, 2001, National Airlines' only interest at that time was the safety and security of the flying public, including you," wrote Raymond T Nakano, senior Vice President of National Airlines. The `Alameda times-star' report quoted civil rights groups as saying Dhillon's victory -- albeit a moral one -- may be a first. "We've heard of a lot of cases like this," said Kavneet Singh, spokesperson for the Sikh media watch and resource task force, an activist group that received many calls about airline discrimination after the September 11 attacks. "This is the first suit I’ve heard (that has been settled)."  PTI

Washington, September 22, 2003

Hundreds of Sikh cab drivers in the U.S. took part in a memorial to a colleague they alleged was killed in a hate crime, and joined in an hour-long taxi caravan to express their fear of growing hate crimes. Amid a sea of vehicles, the drivers first congregated in San Carlos, California, parking lots where they rallied in support of slain 21-year-old Davinder Singh. Later, they followed each other single file to San Jose to attend a memorial for Singh, their cabs winding like a yellow ribbon, according to Mercury News.com. Singh was killed in his taxi September 13 - in what is believed to be yet another hate crime against Sikhs that began after the 9/11 tragic attacks on the U.S. "One (Osama) bin Laden does not mean everyone is bin Laden - we are Sikhs from India, and we're a very peaceful people," Gurdev Singh, the victim's uncle, was quoted as saying. "This is a really dangerous trend for our country and it's getting worse every day." Lousa Mataele, 31, was arrested soon after the shooting on suspicion of murder. He is being held without bail in San Mateo County Jail. Despite a police assertion that the crime was an attempted robbery, fellow Sikhs believe Singh's turban and beard played a role in his death, and that the same thing could easily happen to any of them. Simranjit Singh Mann, an Indian MP, travelled to San Jose over the weekend to be present at the memorial. Mann happened to be in New York representing India during the second anniversary of September 11 when he heard of the shooting and how Sikhs have been targeted mistaking them to be followers of bin Laden because of their beards and turbans. Mann, who was also in Washington DC last week, met State Department officials to express his concern. He said: "We are victims of mistaken identity. We want the American and Indian governments to advertise in the media to distinguish the Sikhs from Arabs and the Taliban." Several cab drivers who came to attend the memorial spoke about their fears and how they feel unsafe while driving cabs during the night. Manjeet Singh, 34, who has driven a Yellow Cab in Sunnyvale and Mountain View since he was laid off from IBM several years ago, switched his schedule to days to avoid driving in the night. Yet another driver Sadhu Singh, 45, stopped wearing his turban and shaved his beard, after he was threatened at gunpoint in his cab. Others like Gurman Singh, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, is passing out posters that picture four people, both Muslim and Sikh, with the words: "We are not the enemy - we are your community." Others have suggested more overt methods of ensuring taxi driver safety, such as installing bullet proof glass, creating police checkpoints for cabs, and putting cameras inside the vehicles. At St. Boniface Church in San Francisco, more than 200 cab drivers showed up three weeks ago for Friar Louis Vitale's annual blessing of drivers - something he started three years ago when he learned of the profession's high risks. Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART), a national Sikh civil rights organisation, is encouraging gurdwaras across the U.S. to sign a joint letter on behalf of the community to Congress in support of laws to halt hate crimes.   IANS

Newark, September 17, 2003

A Sikh businessman on Tuesday sued Delta Air Lines Inc and a flight crew accusing them of racial profiling, the first civil rights lawsuit by an Indian American against a carrier since the 9/11 attacks. The man, Hansdip Bindra, 34, who wears a turban and a beard in keeping with his Sikh religion, said he was singled out by a flight attendant as "trouble" on a November 26, 2002, flight to Ohio. The flight attendant angrily told Bindra that he and others from "the Middle East" should keep a "low profile," according to court papers filed in the US District in Newark. After the 9/11 attacks, Arab and Muslim men have been profiled for investigation and Sikhs have frequently been mistakenly perceived as being of Middle Eastern origin. Anthony Black, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Delta declined comment on the lawsuit. The suit names Delta Air Lines and Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc, which operates Delta Connection flights, a flight attendant and three other employees for violating Bindra's civil rights on a flight from Cincinnati to Dayton. Bindra, a partner in a software development company, lives in Long Valley, New Jersey. He had flown to Cincinnati from Newark airport in New Jersey. He was born in India and is a permanent US resident. "I went through a horrible experience," Bindra told a news briefing. "I was told agents were going to meet me at the door. For 45 minutes I was shaking on that flight." He said that several passengers aboard the flight were willing to testify on his behalf about how he was treated. Bindra said that passengers told him after the flight that the flight attendant asked them to respond to a signal from her to subdue him if necessary. "See the man up front with the turban on? He's the one who is going to cause trouble," court papers quoted her as telling passengers. Bindra's lawyer, Ravinder Bhalla, and two Sikh civil rights groups supporting his claim, said Delta had rebuffed offers to receive "cultural training" about the Sikh religion, the fifth largest religion in the world. About 500,000 Sikhs live in the US out of more than 20 million worldwide. One group, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, said it was asking Sikhs, Arabs and Muslims to "exercise caution" before using Delta, but was not calling for a boycott. Bindra is seeking unspecified damages and wants the airlines to give staff cultural training to avoid a repeat of the incident.   Reuters

Toronto, September 14, 2003

A Muslim of Indian origin was among two clerics denied entry into the United States last week. Ahmed Kutty, 59, who immigrated to Canada from India in 1972, and Sheik Abdul Hamid, 37, were detained after their flight from Canada landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They were questioned by immigration officials and the FBI, held overnight and then returned to Canada on a Friday afternoon flight. The clerics will lodge a formal complaint with Ottawa and seek legal advice on suing American officials for racial profiling, their US lawyer said on Saturday. "We want to know what happened so this doesn't happen again, or better yet, so there is training for officials," lawyer Khurrum Wahid said from New York. Kutty said FBI agents told him the name Abdul Hamid appeared on a list of undesirables and that a business card Kutty was carrying appeared suspicious. "This is racial profiling, pure and simple," Kutty told The Associated Press. "We happen to be Muslim scholars and we were singled out." Newindpress

Washington, September 10, 2003

The Sikh community in the US has called for an end to hate crimes, particularly attacks on the community whose members have been taken for supporters of Osama bin Laden. The Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE) made the appeal on the eve of the second anniversary of 9/11. "We are taking definitive action to put an end to the continued perception that Sikhs are related to terrorist activities and to share the growing relationships between all faiths in America," said SCORE National Director Rajwant Singh. Singh will conduct very soon a three-week media outreach to discuss the challenges to US citizens since September 11, 2001, and to dispel misgivings about Sikhs. Because of their turbans and long beards, Sikhs are erroneously associated with followers of bin Laden. Hence, half a million vibrant and visible Sikhs in the US have become a vulnerable minority, Rajwant Singh said in a statement. As a result, Sikhs had become victims of violent hate crimes, he added. Since 9/11 over 200 hate crimes against Sikhs have been reported in the US and other Western countries. One man, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was gunned down in Arizona shortly after terrorists smashed hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Rajwant Singh said the attacks, threats and discrimination were continuing. A Sikh family in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was currently enduring constant death threats. In New York, a Sikh family was attacked last month. In May, a Sikh man in Arizona was shot while on his way home from work. Rajwant Singh, on behalf of SCORE, has asked Sikh organisations throughout the US to reach out to their fellow Americans during commemorative events for the September 11 tragedy around the country. "We feel that it is particularly important that Sikhs are seen participating actively in these ceremonies. "It is also advised that all gurdwaras (Sikh shrines) hand deliver flowers or symbolic gifts to the local fire station and the police station on September 11," he added. If possible, gurdwaras can organise a September 11 memorial blood drive too with the help of local hospitals. IANS

Washington, July 16, 2003

Two Pakistani students were shot dead near Washington early Tuesday by unidentified gunmen. The local police are treating the shooting as robbery but friends say the two could have been targeted because of their race. Sair Saeed Butt, 26, and Hammad Chaudhry, 23, both from Lahore, were shot outside Butt's home in Prince George's Country, Maryland, at 3am. Mr Butt died in the ambulance and Chaudhry succumbed to his wounds in the hospital eight hours later. A friend, Mohammed Tayyab, told Dawn that Mr Chaudhry had purchased a new car on Monday and was "so excited that instead of waiting for the next day, he came over to Mr Butt at three in the morning to show him the car." While the two friends were looking at Mr Chaudhry's car, another car came around and four or five American teenagers came out. Pointing guns at them, they ordered them to raise their hands, searched their pockets "and then simply started shooting at them, without any provocation," said an eyewitness. The eyewitness, an American friend of the two Pakistanis who requested anonymity, said they first shot Mr Butt in the arm. The single bullet pierced through his chest and he fell on the ground, bleeding profusely. Then they fired three shots at Mr Chaudhry, all in the stomach. Another witness, who watched the shootings from a nearby flat, called the emergency police. After the shooting, the teenagers "simply drove away, they did not even bother to search Mr Chaudhry's brand new car. If robbery was the motive, they could have stolen the car, looked for money, taken away his car parked nearby. But they made no such attempts. They simply drove away after killing the two Pakistanis," said Mr Tayyab. Other friends of the two Pakistani students also said that because there were no attempts to rob anyone, they found it difficult to understand why the police were treating it as a robbery. "It seems as if they were killed because the killers did not like their looks or the colour of their skin. This is a hate crime," said a friend. Police, however, disagree. "Apparently, some local, young black males seized an opportunity to rob somebody ... and the worst happened," P.G. county's homicide detective Kerry Jernigan told Dawn. He said: "Some things were also taken" but he could not disclose what as it could jeopardize the investigation. "No arrests so far but we are following some substantial lead," detective Jernigan added. Three other men were also killed in that area early Tuesday who included a robber who was shot by a restaurant owner. Mr Butt is from the Defence Housing Scheme, Lahore, and Mr Chaudhry, also from Lahore, was the only son of his parents. Their Namaz-i-Janaza will be held at Darul Huda mosque, Virginia, after Maghrib. The bodies are expected to be sent to Pakistan on Thursday.  The Dawn

New York, June 26, 2003

In yet another incident of hate crime against expatriates, an Indian graduate student was robbed, beaten, burned with cigarettes, stuffed in a trunk, stabbed and dumped in the middle of road by four men after he made a food delivery to them in Boston. Saurabh Bhalerao, 24, a graduate student at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and working for Sarducci's Subs and Pizza, was listed in fair condition on Wednesday night after undergoing emergency surgery at Rhode Island Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said. "It's probably one of the most vicious robberies I have ever seen, but it's not unheard of," Fairhaven Police Chief Gary F. Souza was quoted as saying by a Boston daily. According to police, Bhalerao from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, delivered a pizza at a Weld Street apartment on Sunday night, where he was attacked by the four men. The men originally intended to rob Bhalerao, but intensified their assault thinking he was Muslim, continuing to beat him even as he tried to explain that he was Hindu, Souza said. "He pleaded with his attackers... They were telling him he should go back to Iraq," the police officer said. In addition to the beatings, the suspects burned Bhalerao's face and ears with a lit cigarette. At least three attackers then hog-tied the delivery man and stuffed clothes in his mouth to prevent him from calling for help. The attackers then beat and kicked Bhalerao so badly that they broke the bones in his face, he said. Police have arrested three of the attackers and framed one of them.  PTI

Phoenix, 21 May, 2003

In a hate crime case, an Indian Sikh immigrant was shot and injured seriously by a group of white men, police have said. Avtar Chiera (52), a truck driver, was apparently targeted by the white men because of his Sikh religious faith, Phoenix police detective Tony Morales said on Tuesday. Chiera had parked his 18-wheeler late on Monday when the white men pulled up in a small red pickup truck and started yelling "Get out of our country" or something to that effect. The men opened fire, hitting Chiera and seriously wounding him. He was not robbed and nothing was taken from the truck, Morale said. The shooting was being investigated as a hate crime, he said. Authorities were still looking for suspects on Tuesday. Chiera, a Phoenix resident, is Sikh and wears a turban and untrimmed beard as part of his faith. In Mesa, Arizona, a Sikh man was shot and killed a few days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by a man allegedly angry over the attacks and who mistook Balbir Singh Sodhi for a Muslim. The suspect faces first-degree murder and other charges. Guru Roop Kaur Khalsa, a spokeswoman for the Sikh community in Arizona, said that many Arizonans had stood up for the Sikh community since that killing but Sikhs would need to continue to educate people. "We feel sincerely that all faiths are good and everyone should have the right to practice their faith and should not be coerced or victimized because of their faith," she said. AP

Geogia, March 23, 2003

In a glaring example of what can be called as racial prejudice or hate crime, unidentified assailants attacked a student of Asian origin in Georgia. According to reports, on February 28, two White males attacked a Georgia Tech (GT) International Student from India in the campus. To this date the GT administration has not sent out an alert to the student body under a technicality that the crime was not a felony. The crime appears to be racially motivated, as the student's wallet and backpack were not taken while he was only physically assaulted. The attack was sudden and no money was asked for. The victim is a South Asian Muslim who is nursing his bruises with stitches on his face and has lost a part of his tooth. According to reports, the student was kicked repeatedly on his face, which caused severe injuries. Although there is no other hypothesis other than racial prejudice that's plausible, it's hard or even impossible to prove intention, and the assailants have not been found or questioned. The official response, according to reports, is that this particular ethnic identity is "invisible" and therefore not plausibly linked to the cause of the attack. The student is completely traumatized and this bureaucratic exercise would make him feel as if the violence against him is being taken lightly, said a student who did not want to be named. Many students of Asian origin feel that it is imperative that the university discuss with its international student body the ramifications of this attack in the current climate of war and how best they can ensure their safety. Indiainfo

Washington, March 21, 2003

The deadline for registration of Pakistani nationals with the US immigration department expired on Friday; almost 22,000 reported for registration. The immigration officials, who had arrested scores of people from other countries during the campaign, were unusually lenient in dealing with Pakistanis, community leaders and Pakistan Embassy officials say. Some Pakistanis who had been detained, were later released on bail and will now appear before immigration judges for further proceedings. "More than a dozen may still be in custody," said an official at the Pakistan Embassy. "The Pakistani community was very helpful and cooperative. Some of them went out of their way to help those in trouble," said Mohammed Sadiq, the deputy chief of mission in Washington. AL QAEDA: The FBI has issued a nationwide alert for the arrest of Mohammed Sher Mohammed Khan, a Pakistani national. Khan is a pilot and was last seen in Miami, the FBI said. "He is armed and dangerous and may be connected to Al Qaeda," said an FBI directive. But intelligence sources said that Khan may be the same as Adnan el-Shukrijumah, a 27-year-old Saudi national FBI is also looking for. Shukrijumah is wanted for questioning in regard to a possible domestic terrorist plot. Shukrijumah is thought to have a Guyanese passport and to have been trained as a pilot. The possibility that he is in the United States and could pose a threat was developed from questioning key Al Qaeda official Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in Pakistan earlier this month. Shukrijumah, who uses the alias Ja'far al-Tayar and similar names, is between 5'3" tall and weighs at least 130 pounds. FBI's description for Khan fits that of el-Shukrijumah's, although the FBI alert says Khan is 36-years-old and was born in Pakistan. Federal agents recently raided a home in Miami where Khan was believed to be living, but failed to apprehend him. The original FBI warning about Khan acknowledged that the law enforcement agency was unsure of his name, age and place of birth. However, Khan is known to use the same aliases as Shukrijumah. The Dawn

New York, March 21, 2003

An Indian-American organization has appealed to its members, particularly Sikhs, to guard against the possibility of hate crimes as the US-led coalition forces mounted war against Iraq. The Sikh Coalition, which has been active in recent months particularly after September 11, 2001, said: "Unfortunately, past war in West Asia and terrorism directed against US interests had led to misguided bias attacks against Sikh Americans." In the aftermath of 9/11, and during the US war against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan later that year, some Sikhs in America became targets of hate crimes. The coalition has documented about 200 hate crimes against Sikhs in the United States. Most of the incidents took place as Sikhs were unfortunately mistaken for members of Taliban and al-Qaida. It issued certain guidelines to be followed by Sikh American to avoid such incidents. "We hope that this bias does not rear its ugly head again," the coalition said in a statement on Thursday. UNI

Washington, March 04, 2003

In yet another incident of racial-profiling targeted against Asians, an Indian-Canadian was treated roughly at Chicago's O'Hare airport and forced to fly to India after the cancellation of her passport by US immigration authorities. Trivandrum-born Indo-Canadian Berna Cruz was stopped by American immigration officers whose suspicions were aroused because her last name was not "Singh" but Cruz. All the protests of Cruz that there are "non-Singhs" of Indian origin and that there are Christians like her who have Portuguese names were of no avail. "I was trying to explain to them, but they did not want to listen to anything, they did not want to see anything," Cruz was quoted as saying by Canadian daily Toronto Star. Cruz said one officer asked her why her surname was not "Singh" and commented that it was clever of her to use a Spanish name. "It was total abuse," she said adding "I want to see them (INS officers responsible) punished". Cruz said she felt harassed because of the colour of her skin. She said that the INS officers humiliated her, and Canada, by refusing to allow her to contact Canadian authorities. Co-chairman of the India Caucus, Democratic Congressman Joseph Crowley, has forcibly drawn the attention of fellow members of the Caucus, Republican and Democratic, and Tom Ridge, Secretary for Homeland Security, to this "outrage." Crowley has invited other members of the Congress to co-sign the letter to Ridge. "We understand the need for heightened security at US by order points of entry," says Congressman Crowley, "but the type of behaviour displayed by INS officers at O'Hare airport is simply unacceptable. Before Cruz was released, the INS officers cut out the front page of her passport and filled each page with "expedited removal" stamps, rendering her passport useless, he wrote. It took four days and help from Canadian officials in Dubai and a Kuwaiti airlines pilot to get her back home. Cruz sent a letter, along with an affidavit, about the INS' removal of documents to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham. Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron confirmed that staff in Dubai issued Cruz an emergency passport and assisted in getting her home in Canada via London. "We are going to bring her case to the attention of the State Department in Washington, request an explanation on the INS refusal to grant at least one phone call to Ms Cruz, and we will see what the American response is going to be," Doiron said. A spokeswoman for the INS in Chicago, Gail Montenegro, said she needed time to look into the Cruz story but added that officers have the authority to use expedited removals when passengers have no documents or are carrying documents that are suspected to be fraudulent or tampered with. Montenegro said Cruz is welcome to file a complaint and that the INS takes complaints about officers' conduct seriously. Cruz said she wants the Canadian Prime Minister to speak out publicly about the incident in the hope that other Canadian citizens do not receive similar treatment. "It is horrible, it was humiliating," said Cruz. "What I felt was that it was total discrimination, racism." "I can't sleep at nights," she said . "I can't really do anything. It has been a week since I really cooked for the kids," Cruz told the daily. PTI

Washington, March 03, 2003

Seventeen months ago, a day after 9/11, Indian American Sher Singh was dragged out of a train, labelled suspicious because of his appearance, handcuffed and interrogated. Today the New Delhi-born Sikh has been entrusted with one of the most sensitive jobs in the United States -- to work with top-secret defence projects. A computer professional, Singh, 28, who is a Virginia resident, works for the U.S. military now. Singh's work takes him inside some of the nation's most secure military installations, where he advises naval personnel on new computer warfare technology. He has watched Navy Seals train in San Diego, California, roamed the battleship docks in Charleston, South Carolina, and stood pier side in Atlanta, Georgia, as stealth submarines slipped into dry dock. The government trusts him with sensitive defence secrets. Singh has left far behind the idea of starting his own a telecommunications company offering technical advice to home computer owners. In fact the reason he had taken the trip to Providence, Rhode Island, on that fateful day was to consult his friends on starting his own business. He was scheduled to return to Virginia by train on September 11. Then the Twin Towers exploded in flame and smoke. When Singh was arrested as one of the first detainees in a national roundup, the police confiscated the kirpan that Sikhs carry as part of their religious tenets. He was charged with carrying a concealed knife with a blade longer than three inches. Soon followed the backlash against Sikhs who were mistaken by their beard and turban to be followers of Osama bin Laden. He spent five hours in the Providence police station answering questions from immigration and investigators before being released. Authorities then were quick to announce that Singh had no connection to the terrorist attacks. Call it poetic justice or irony or fate, Sher Singh has discovered a new role and that is to work for religion. He now divides his time between working for the U.S. military and for Sikhism. "If you think you have been chosen, for whatever reason, to do god's work then that's the way god wanted it," he says. "If I had my doubts about the importance of community service before, god instilled in me that importance. That is how I look at it today," he says, according to media reports here. His arrest "was a wake-up call" to North America's 500,000 Sikhs "that we hadn't been doing enough to portray to the world what our contributions have been. We had not done enough outside of our own community to make others feel comfortable with us." Singh speaks in gurdwaras and with police chiefs about the importance of religious tolerance. At the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Washington, he discussed cultural sensitivity, training with the bureau's chief of the civil rights division. Singh says, "Of late, I've been thinking about what can I do to give back to Providence because it did give me something. The chance to be a better Sikh. What you get counted for in this life is what you do for those you don't know." Singh is the youngest of two children of an Indian Air Force pilot and a teacher of English literature. IANS

Washington, December 21, 2002

Fear grips Pakistanis living in the United States as Washington screens hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants, looking for possible terrorists. Diplomatic sources in the US capital say that as many as 200,000 Pakistanis may be affected by the new requirement to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Such registration is required under the laws made after the last year's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were added this week to a list of 18 mainly Muslim countries whose nationals are required to register. All non-permanent Pakistani residents in the United States must register with the INS between Jan 13 and Feb 21. The INS has already detained hundreds of Iranian and Arab Muslims when they came for registration. While talking to Dawn, INS spokesman Jorge Martinez acknowledged "about 400 arrests," mainly in southern California, which is home to more than 600,000 Iranians. Muslim advocacy groups, however, say the number is much higher. The arrests caused panic among the Pakistanis who will also be appearing before INS officials soon. "We are receiving 200-300 calls a day from those who fear arrest," says Imran Ali, a consular officer at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington. The embassy stays open till late at night to deal with the new situation. The embassy is also trying to convince the US administration to reconsider its decision to include Pakistan in the list of "high terrorist risk states." They argue that since Pakistan is a close US ally in the war against terrorism, it does not belong to this list. Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and his senior staff have already held several meetings with senior US officials, including Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca, an adviser to the National Security Council, Steve Hadley, and a legal adviser to the US Justice Department, Harry Marshall. US officials are believed to have told the embassy that the decision to include Pakistan in the list was taken by Attorney-General John Ashcroft and the White House fully supports this decision. They said that Pakistan could not be taken off because the Bush administration wanted to further expand the list. They said that more countries might soon be added to the list. They, however, urged the embassy to suggest how to lessen the difficulties Pakistani nationals might face during the registration process. Although most of the non-resident Pakistanis in America are living in fear, New York is the worst affected. "Afraid of being arrested, many Pakistani workers are staying at home. Pakistani restaurants and grocery stores are empty and some people have even gone to Canada," said an official at Pakistan Mission at the United Nations. The Dawn

Washington, December 21, 2002

Three Indian students at the University of Massachusetts were assaulted in what police said was a hate crime apparently sparked by anti-Middle East feelings. The incident took place a few days ago in Lowell, where the university is located. The three students were walking to campus when a van pulled up and two men and a woman began shouting slurs about Osama bin Laden. At one point, the assailants got out of the van, forced the students to kneel and kicked and beat them. The three, all of whom have been in the US only a few weeks, were not seriously injured, but the attack left them shaken. To show support for the victims, who were not identified, around 300 students and community leaders met at the university's Cumnock Hall in Lowell. Many of those gathered spoke against hate crimes and stereotyping of people from diverse nations. They felt that the university should hold lessons in diversity to familiarise others about students coming from different parts of the world. "The incident that brings us together is appalling and unfortunate, but not surprising," said Ravi Sakhuja, of the Indian American Forum for Political Education, which sponsored the event. "I have lived here for 35 years and not until September 11 did I ever feel my personal safety was at stake." Sakhuja quoted FBI statistics to show how hate crimes have risen 1,600 percent since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a news report. "Policy-makers in this country need to find a way to keep minorities safe," he added. The three students' complaint led police to arrest John P Cullinan, 17, and he has been charged with felony assault charges, and felony hate crime charges are being pursued, according to Lowell Police Superintendent Edward Davis III. Because it is a hate crime, Davis said, Attorney General Thomas Reilly's office is involved in the investigation and the case will be going to a grand jury. He also said that a female suspect has been identified and is facing similar charges, and police have tentatively identified a second male suspect. "The suspects all have criminal records and are well-known by the Lowell police to be violent people," Davis told the gathering. "They will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I assure you, this will be pursued aggressively." The speakers at the meeting agreed that education and understanding are the only means to fight the kind of ignorance that led to the assault. "No one is born prejudiced, it is learned and it can be unlearned," said attorney Neil Sherring, an Indian American Forum member and former assistant Massachusetts attorney general. Krishna Vedula, the university's dean of engineering, suggested that a taskforce be formed to educate the community about hate crimes. He said such a multicultural taskforce could serve as a model for the rest of the country. One of the barriers to unity at the university is the lack of communication between different ethnic and racial groups, said Bobby Tugbiyele, president of the Association of Students of African Origin at University of Massachusetts. State Senator Steve Panagiotakos reminded the audience that all US citizens are in effect immigrants and applauded the Indian community's contributions to this country. "Three hundred years ago this was a wilderness. Two hundred years ago it was just a band of rebels, but today this country sets the agenda for the world," said the Lowell Democrat. "We all are immigrants who came here for a better life and we must stand up and not let ignorance and hatred ruin the community." US Representative Marty Meehan said he is pushing for a vote in Congress on a hate-crime bill that would give local law enforcement technical, forensic and prosecutorial assistance from the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. IANS

Karachi, 13 November, 2002

In the wake of September 11 attacks in the US, Pakistani seamen have been facing a lot of difficulties and hardships, which include unnecessary security checking in different ports of the world , denial of visas and imposition of penalties on the vessels visiting the US ports with Pakistani crew on board. "Pakistani ships have been quarantined on various ports the world over in the name of security," Capt Naseem Ahmed Tariq, Manager Fleet Management Department, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), said at a seminar entitled: "Problems faced by Pakistani Seafarers", at the KPT Staff Collage. Other speakers said Pakistani seamen were being questioned to the point of interrogations, owners of vessels have been asked to pay penalties for having Pakistani crew on board when their ships visited the US ports. As it runs into huge amounts, visas are being constantly denied to Pakistani seamen. Singapore and the US have especially become notorious for taking such measures, but many Muslim countries are also adopting similar steps against Pakistani seamen, the speakers said. "This trend is continuously increasing and the owners employing Pakistani crew are rapidly shifting to other countries, such as India and Philippines, because they find it more and more impractical and expensive to make crew changes due to travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Pakistani nationals," they observed. It is pertinent to note that many other Muslims and non- Muslim countries are also facing similar problems. The speakers apprehended that no owner would like to hire Pakistani crew on board if he has to pay US$ 30,000 to $ 40,000 for seven to ten days port stay in the US. They pointed out that Pakistan, having lost its merchant marine fleet almost entirely, has been left with 14 obsolete vessels and the country with a population of 140 million has been reduced to only a labour-supplying nation in the maritime sector. Pakistani seamen, having no work at home, have no other choice but to seek employment abroad at whatever terms available in order to feed their families. The seamen, being well-trained and experienced, were readily acceptable to most of the ship-owners in the world and they used to earn foreign exchange for the country. After the incidents of Sept 11, different types of restrictions have been imposed on travel and transit visas by many countries. The worst case is that of the United State of America as can be seen from various new regulations being formed in the country in its fight against terrorism and under which the seafarers are now being targeted as terrorists and on many occasions they have been made indiscriminate scapegoats. This security overkill, they observed, was turning Pakistani crew into virtual prisoners at some ports. The speakers said some solutions must be recommended to save the ship-owners, who hire Pakistani crew on board, from being penalised when their vessels visit the US ports. Unless a solution is found to the aforesaid problems, the Pakistani seamen will face disappearance from the international shipping world. PPI

New York, 13 November, 2002

Indian IT major Wipro's Chairman, Azim Premji, has complained of profiling every time he went to an airport in the US to catch a flight, but said he does not find himself discriminated against due to his religion in India. When asked, during an informal luncheon meeting with journalists and academics whether he feels being Muslim is a disadvantage in India, Premji said he considers himself an Indian first and religion does not enter his mind. He said he would not be holding the position of chairman of a software company if he had been discriminated against in India. "But since I have come to the United States, I have gone to airports four times to catch flights and each time I have been profiled because my name shows I am a Muslim," he said. And then he added jokingly, "I think I should change my name to A Premji." Asked whether Indians feel discriminated against in Germany as reports had suggested that foreigners are being targeted, Premji said those he spoke to were happy and did not feel disadvantaged. IANS

New York, 11 November, 2002

Nineteen Indian American students were arrested from a mixed group, including whites, while walking in a school field because of "racial and ethnic bias", a civil liberties organisation has said. They were arrested October 25 and charged with criminal trespass and misdemeanour. In their defence at the Mineola New York Supreme Court pressroom, the New York Civil Liberties Union Nassau County Chapter (NYCLU Nassau) said: "The 19 Indian (South Asian) high school students (were) singled out for arrest for trespass in a mixed group... while no white students were arrested." NYCLU Nassau executive director Barbara Bernstein told reporters: "On the face of it, these charges were motivated by racial and ethnic bias. We call for withdrawal of the charges against the boys, a public apology by the Nassau County Police Department, appropriate discipline of the offending officers, and more focused training of all officers. "Particularly since 9/11, Mid-eastern and Asian individuals have been increasingly harassed and threatened, we need to end the days of racial roundups once and for all." Addressing the press, the parents alleged their wards "were merely walking on the grounds of the Centre Street School when they were arrested by the police". Bavindar S. Sareen, father of one of the boys, said: "There were six-eight Caucasian boys in the group who were let go, while the 19 boys, all of Indian descent, were arrested for criminal trespass." Nine boys of the boys are in the 16-17 age group while six of them are in the 15-16 age group. Their names have been withheld on the parents' request. "The children are in a state of shock. Some are undergoing counselling. They keep asking: why were we picked up? Why were the white boys let off?" said Sareen. The parents, including Sareen and his wife Ravinder, Viren and Neera Mehra, Hayat and Zarina Maher, Matthew Thomas and Sosamm, P.S. Butala, Bharat and Vijya Parekh, Thomas and Achamma Mathew, Jacob Samuel, Yohannan Daniel, Herminder Kaur, Jaya Baby, demanded "an immediate and thorough investigation of this act of apparent racial discrimination and police brutality inflicted on our innocent children and ourselves". They said a group of teenagers -- Indian and Caucasian American -- were walking on the grounds of the school at approximately 4 p.m. on October 25. "Most of the youngsters are U.S. citizens and are now secondary school students and had been students at the school during their elementary school years. "They had no alcohol or drugs in their possession, but only textbooks and notebooks. Suddenly, several police cars swooped down upon them, handcuffed them and arrested them without telling them their offence and reading their rights. Only the Indian American teenagers were arrested. The Caucasian boys were let go," a parent said. The boys were fingerprinted and held for four to six hours, during which time they claimed the police verbally abused them and physically threatened them. "One boy was asked to spell the word trespass. All their Indian names were mocked at repeatedly. Officer Thorpe (Badge 3032) told one boy 'if you talk, we will break your balls.' Another was told 'be quiet, or I will send you to the hospital'," said another parent.
The parents said they were made to wait during that time before being allowed access to their children. "They were charged with criminal trespass in the third degree. The boys had basically congregated on the grounds where they had gone to school and played basketball for years without incident. Even now, they go regularly during the week to play basketball, as they did that day," said Sareen. The 19 students were scheduled to appear in Nassau County District Court for arraignment on November 12. The parents claimed John Bierwirth, Superintendent of Schools, Herricks School District, who they said had called the police, when confronted by them, told them because of the incident he was late for a dinner by an hour-and-a-half. "Later when the police claimed two Caucasian students were also arrested, I demanded to know their names. They gave one of the name as Matthew Thomas' son, who is very much an Indian American," said Sareen. Detective Sergeant Anthony Repalone, commanding officer at the Nassau County Police Commissioner's Office, told IANS: "We responded on October 25 to a call for a fight involving a large group of youths at Herricks High School. When the police arrived, the group was dispersed quietly. "A second call came a little later, saying the group had assembled at Centre Street Elementary School. When the officers arrived, 19 youths were on the ground. They were informed by the school to leave but did not. The school authorities told us they wanted to press criminal charges against the youths. "All 19 were transported to the 3rd Precinct and their parents notified. Thirteen were released on desk Appearance Tickets and the remaining six on Family Court Ticket as they were juveniles and will appear in the Juvenile Court while the others will appear in the criminal court."  IANS

Washington, 04 November, 2002

Racial profiling at US airports of anyone with "Middle Eastern looks," not to mention a passport from a Muslim or a West Asian country has reached "unbearably unpleasant" proportions, according to travellers who have been harassed and interrogated at not only points of entry but within the US as well. The Pakistan government has failed to speak up in defence of its citizens and Americans with a Pakistani origin. Although Gen. Pervez Musharraf told newsmen on his last visit here that he had taken up the question of the treatment of Pakistanis after 9/11 when he met President George Bush, it appears to have had little effect. In fact, things may have got worse. The Pakistan embassy here is not known to have made other than occasional cosmetic efforts to obtain more civilised treatment for its citizens or Pakistani-Americans. Off and on it has carried out pleadings at levels no higher than a second or first secretary’s. All Pakistanis on arrival are now to be fingerprinted and photographed. All Pakistanis departing any Pakistani airport are also now photographed with American-supplied, possibly FBI-monitored cameras. "Musharraf has sold Pakistani self-respect down the river," said one disgusted traveller who had been "put through the grinder" both on departure from Karachi and on arrival in New York. A senior Pakistani journalist who arrived here last week to take up a six-month fellowship at one of Washington’s most respected think tanks was grilled at the airport on arrival for three hours. Not only were all his papers in order but there was evidence in his passport that he had visited the United States several times in the past before 9/11. He told this correspondent that he was made to feel like a criminal. Interrogated by more than one person, he was asked scores of questions that he found insolent, annoying and unnecessary. He was asked what his father did. When he told the woman putting the question that his father had passed away, she asked, "But what did he do when he was alive?" "He was an officer of the Pakistan army," the journalist replied. He recalls that the moment he said it, his interrogator gave him a look that seemed to suggest that because of this "military connection," he the son was actually in the States to impart military training to al Qaeda terrorists so that they could poison water tanks, blow up bridges and hijack aeroplanes. He said he felt so disgusted with the manner in which he was being questioned that he wanted to return to Pakistan there and then. "I think it is disgraceful that one should be subjected to such humiliation by US officials," he said. His wife and children are due to join him later this month and he is terrified of the reception that awaits them.  Daily Times

New York, 14 September, 2002

Two Sikh men of Indian origin were arrested on the September 11 anniversary after a complaint by an airline crew of their "odd and suspicious behaviour", CNN reported. They were detained after their flight from Memphis, Tennessee to Las Vegas, Nevada, was diverted to Fort Smith, Arkanas. Harinder Singh, 41, and Gurdeep Singh Wander, 48, raised the suspicions of the flight attendant when they made several trips to the washroom with their shaving kits. They "took an unusually long time" in there and then repeatedly refused to leave, according to the complaint filed against them. After Gurdeep Singh finally came out, Harinder Singh insisted on using the same washroom used by Wander, the complaint said. That was enough to raise the suspicions of flight attendant Deborah Summers, who called the FBI. The two men were then produced before a federal judge, 31 hours after boarding the flight, according to CNN. The Hindunet

Washington, 06 August, 2002

The brother of the first South Asian killed in hate crimes following the September 11 attacks, has been shot dead, police said. The 52-year-old Sukhpal Singh, brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed on August 4 in San Francisco while he was driving his cab by someone outside the vehicle, they said. Balbir, a gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was killed on September 15 by a gunman driving through the station. Sukhpal, a resident of Daly City, California, was on his way home from his shift as a United cab driver just before 04:00 hours local time when someone outside his vehicle shot him in San Francisco's mission district, according to police and Singh's manager. Police said there is no evidence that Sukhpal's killing was a hate crime. He may have been the victim of a bullet intended for somebody else, they said. "We don't exactly know what we have, but from all indications, it looked like the cab driver was in the wrong place at the wrong time through no fault of his own," inspector Joseph Toomey told the local media. The murder has sent shock-waves through the entire Indian community in the country. However, the Sikh Media Watch and Resource Task Force (SMART) has urged the police to investigate the murder as a hate crime. According to media reports, as gunshots rang, Sukhpal's taxi careened down 24th street towards Mission Street and struck a parked car which burst into flames when it hit another car.  PTI

New York, 24 July, 2002

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and immigration authorities have stepped up their operation against Pakistanis, living in the United States. In this regard, on Tuesday, officials of FBI raided the residences of various Pakistani families at Brooklyn, New York and picked up six Pakistanis for investigations. The move has prompted strong reaction in the Pakistanis, who have expressed concern over the latest operation of US authorities against them. The FBI officials raided the Pakistani houses without any search warrant. "Although, US State Department says its massive search operations after September 11 event is not aimed at targeting Pakistanis, however, situation on the ground contradicts American claims," deplored a Pakistani national. He told Online that Pakistani families were feeling insecure in the US after continued operation by the FBI. Meanwhile, Convenor Islah Party of Pakistan Azmat Chaudhry and Vice-President Pakistan Muslim League (USA) Rana Saeed slammed the US operation against the Pakistani community. The News International

New York, 18 July, 2002

Leading Malayalam actress Samyuktha Verma and five members of her troupe, who were briefly detained on a domestic flight in US, said after their release today that they did not harbour any "ill feelings." "Perhaps the woman whose suspicions were aroused had suffered trauma during the terrorist attacks on September 11 in New York and Washington," said Verma, who was detained and questioned after a passenger in the plane they were travelling to New York suspected the troupe of being terrorists. The suspicion was aroused as the troupe was rehearsing and looking for landmarks including the Statue of Liberty. In the process, they gestured. But, sources said, it was after Comedian Jayaraj Warrior started miming that the passenger reported her fears to the flight attendant who in turn informed the pilot. She thought they were trying to communicate with each other in a language which others did not undersand, sources added. The pilot notified the aviation officials and two F-16 warplanes were sent to escort the plane which landed safely and without any incident at LaGuardia airport around 2300 hrs Wednesday (0830 IST Thursday). The troupe was escorted to Port Authority police headquarters at the Kennedy International Airport, a few kms away, and questioned by a team airport police, New York police and Federal Bureau Investigation for five hours before they were allowed to leave early this morning. PTI

Washington, 27 June, 2002

The American post-September 11 FBI-raj finally came knocking at Indian-American doors earlier this month, just as some community activists had warned could happen. The recipient of the unwelcome call from FBI spooks -– who have so far been accused of targeting young Muslim men from Arab and Islamic countries -– was Sunil Aghi, a prominent Indian-American political activist in California. The agents questioned Aghi at his Orange County office on June 12, wanting to know his everything from his origins to his work in the United States. In particular, the agents quizzed him about an unnamed consular officer at the Indian consulate in San Francisco, whom they suspected of being an intelligence official. They asked Aghi if the consulate had ever asked him to do anything for them, or if he gave the consulate any information, or if there was any financial transactions involved between him and the consulate. Aghi says he told them he had met that particular consular officer (who has since left San Francisco) in course of his community activities such as helping American citizens with whatever help they needed while visiting India. Whatever he did was open and transparent, and he had no idea that this consular officer may have been an intelligence officer nor did he have any way of knowing this even if it was true. It might have been the end of the matter, except Aghi is also a prominent Democrat from California and has hosted and toasted fund-raisers for a host of American law-makers. On Monday, he dashed off a blistering letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, a Republican who many Democrats and liberals believe has over-reacted to the September 11 events to usher in his own fundamentalist agenda and the US version of a police raj. "Mr Ashcroft, what bothers me the most is that under your administration, Americans citizens are now being subjected to interrogations, just because they may be activists or belong to a particular community," Aghi wrote in the letter that is now being widely distributed by community activists. "America is the greatest country in the world because of its civil liberties and the rights of individual freedom, and you are working hard to erode those values." The episode also took on a political hue after Aghi attacked Ashcroft's Republican origins saying he (Aghi)belonged to the Democratic Part because it represents all Americans, "and not just the rich, white and Christian, like the party you represent." The letter was copied to several US lawmakers, most of whom have attended Aghi's fund-raisers. Fears that Indian-Americans and other minorities may also become victims of post-September 11 law enforcement zeal has coursed through the community for several months now. Community activists say the FBI has come knocking on other Indian-American doors but no one has yet come forward publicly to make an issue of it.  The Times of India

Rawalpindi, 27 June, 2002

One hundred and thirty-one Pakistanis, including a woman, detained in various US jails, following the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, arrived here on Thursday evening after being deported. More would be arriving in a few days, it has been learnt. The deportees narrated horrifying tales of harassment and torture during their detention and 20-hour flight. A chartered Portuguese airliner brought them to Islamabad. Everyone of them was shackled in the plane and were not allowed to move, not even to use the toilet. On arrival, they were given Rs500 each for conveyance, and led out of the airport building though an uncommon exit. Their relatives had been kept unaware of their deportation. A man, originally from Gujrat, said during detention they were subjected to third-degree methods of interrogation. Pakistanis in general, he said, are treated contemptuously in the US. Anyone caught speeding is suspected of being a terrorist and is detained for deportation. Arshad Malik, who spent 15 years in the US doing construction business, was detained by the FBI for nine month, and was never produced before a court. He was kept in isolation during the entire period and was humiliated all the time by the jail staff and other prisoners, he said. Nazar Ali, who had lived in the US for five years and was detained on charges of overstaying, said, the Pakistani consulate staff was no help to him. Arshad Jawad, whose family is still in the US, had similar complaint about the consulate staff. Zahid said the US jails were full of Pakistanis, and that they were not told about their deportation until after being seated in the chartered plane. Mofeed said that he possessed genuine documents, but was arrested and deported. Shafiq Ahmad said that in the jails they were made to eat pork and were not allowed to say prayers. He also claimed being a resident of the US.  The Dawn

New York, 07 June, 2002

An Indian who was arrested with boxcutters on an Amtrak train in Texas a day after the Sept 11 attacks on America pleaded guilty on Thursday to credit card fraud. Mohammed Azmath was originally detained as a material witness in the investigation of the attacks in which men armed with boxcutters hijacked four planes and crashed them into the WTC, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. But he was not charged with any crime relating to the attacks. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Azmath could get eight to 14 months. He is scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Shira Scheindlin who ruled in late April that the government’s jailing of material witnesses for a grand jury investigation into the Sept 11 terrorist attacks is unconstitutional.  Reuters

Dallas, 06 june, 2002

Police in Dallas has charged an incarcerated felon with the killing of Waqar Hasan, the former Milltown man and Pakistani national slain in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks at the American Trade Center and Pentagon. The charge against Mark Anthony Stroman, 32, of Stephenville, Texas, followed an interview Stroman had requested that aired on a Dallas television station in which he confessed to Hasan's murder, reports The Tribune Saturday. Stroman claimed he killed Hasan and another man and shot a third out of revenge for the terrorist attacks. The victims of all three of those crimes, two of which Stroman was already charged with, were of South Asian descent. The Pakistani national Hasan was slain in his cash-checking business and convenience store, Mom's Grocery, on the night of September 15. The gunman walked into the store in southeast Dallas around 10 p.m., apparently ordered two hamburgers, and shot the 46-year-old man in the cheek with a .380-caliber handgun. Nothing was taken from the store. Aside from the recovered slug, police obtained no other forensic evidence. There were no surveillance cameras in the store. And no witnesses came forward. After extensive reporting in Dallas, the Home News Tribune on Dec. 9 published a story focusing on Stroman as a suspect. Dallas police investigators at the time acknowledged the similarities between the Mom's Grocery killing and the two other crimes. But they said they were leaning away from charging Stroman. Yesterday, Lt. David Elliston of the Dallas police said investigators were working on other recent leads pointing to Stroman before his on-air confession. Elliston declined to elaborate. In that interview with KDFW-TV in Dallas, Stroman said watching the events of Sept. 11 made him lose control. "When I saw those people jumping off the World Trade Center, my heart was going out to them people when they were leaping off the building. That's why I did what I did. It was like the end of the world to me," Stroman said, according to a transcript of that interview. "I did it to retaliate on local Arab Americans or whatever you want to call them. I did what every American wanted to do but didn't. They didn't have the nerve. "Hasan's wife, Durreshahwar, who still lives in Milltown with the couple's four daughters and Hasan's mother, said she has yet to see the tape of the interview. But relatives in Dallas called Monday night after it aired. "Everyone was very upset. Everyone was crying," she said. The confession, she said, did not give her any relief. "I'm not satisfied that they caught him," she said. "My husband is gone, he is not coming back. "The charge against Stroman came on a day when he attended court for the beginning of jury selection in a capital murder case. Stroman is facing the death penalty for the murder he was charged with in October.
In that murder, police said Stroman strode into a convenience store at a gas station in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite shortly before 7 a.m. on Oct. 4. He pulled out a handgun and shot a 49-year-old Indian-born man in the shoulder. After a futile attempt to open the cash register, and after issuing a threat to the dying clerk, Stroman left without any money, police said. When police found Stroman two days later, he took the .44-caliber pistol used in the killing out of his waistband, laid it at his feet and surrendered, authorities said. Stroman confessed to investigators, first saying that robbery led to the killing, according to police and court records. Days after his arrest, Stroman changed his story. He claimed to authorities that he committed the killing out of revenge for the death of his half-sister, who he said was working on the 98th floor of one of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11.The other shooting occurred at a gas station about two miles from Mom's Grocery on Sept. 21, at around 12:30 p.m. Stroman strode in brandishing a double-barreled .45-caliber Derringer that held .410-gauge shotgun shells, said Dallas police detective Steve David.When the clerk, a Bangladeshi-born Dallas man, saw the gunman, he automatically opened the cash register. But Stroman pulled the trigger anyway, David said, blinding the clerk in one eye.Despite the cash lying in the open cash drawer, Stroman left empty-handed, David said. The gas station attendant is recovering, authorities said. Stroman's attorney did not return calls yesterday. The criminal in a span of three weeks of time shot three middle-eastern appearances persons. Killed two and one was badly injured. "The man have depth of hatred, angry and is proud for what he is doing" said Greg the Dallas court prosecutor. He first confessed to kill Waqar in a Fox TV interview on Tuesday, later on inquiry by police it was revealed through one of his jail inmate that he threw the gun he used to kill Pakistani Citizen in a lake in Dallas. Greg told that Dallas police have cordoned off the area and police divers will search for the gun by Monday.  Paknews

Mumbai, 30 april, 2002

Noted Indian actor Kamal Hassan was prevented from boarding a flight at the Toronto airport in Canada because his name sounded like a Muslim one. "You can't have a name like Kamal Hassan, which sounds very Islamic, and hope to be left in peace in the American subcontinent," Hassan said after his return to India. He was in Toronto to shoot for his latest Tamil comedy, Panchathanthiram, and recalls the incident when he was taking a flight from Toronto to Los Angeles as a harrowing and humiliating episode. "It started quite comically actually. The Customs authorities asked me what I was doing in that part of the world. I told them I am shooting for a film. They then asked me who my producer was. I told them my producer's name. "Then they asked me why I was flying to Los Angeles. I told them I was going for prosthetic makeup. They evidently didn't know what that was. I explained I needed to assume a particular look for the character I'll be playing in my next film. "They then wanted to know who was paying my air travel bills. I pleaded ignorance about the nitty-gritty of my travel expenses. They said I must have all these important details handy for Customs purposes. "I assured them my papers were in order. But one of the officers led me inside almost as though I was one of bad guys in Rambo," said a sarcastic Hassan. Reliving the incredible hours in the alien airport, Kamal smilingly says, "I requested them to let me make a call to my producer who incidentally was supposed to fly out from Toronto the same night back to India. "The Customs authorities refused point blank saying cell phones weren't allowed. They made me wait for half an hour and then interrogated me again. This time I was grilled like a terrorist." "'Are you going for shooting to LA?' they asked me. I said I was going to finalise my makeup. 'Then why did you tell us you were going for shooting?' they shot back. I told them I never said that, and what I said was I had finished shooting in Toronto and was now going to LA (California) for makeup. "'You mean to say you do makeup in LA and shoot in India?' they shot back. I explained that the special makeup was being designed for a film. 'So you work in the US. Do you have a work permit?' they asked me. "They then wanted to know why I was in Las Vegas before Toronto. I patiently explained that I was there for a convention of National Association of Broadcasters." "Then they suddenly said I could leave. When I looked at my ticket it said 'refused.' I asked them if this meant I couldn't board my flight to LA, and they said, 'No, you can't.'" Stranded in Toronto on a Sunday, a non-working day, Hassan woke up all his friends in the American embassy. "When the customs guys were asked about the way they treated me they said I wasn't polite. That's a pure lie. I didn't once throw my weight around or try to impress upon them who I am. I didn't even roll my eyes or express my exasperation in any way. "I didn't lose my dignity. I'm a great fan of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. If the immigration authorities expected me to grovel, I would rather not travel. No, I wasn't impolite. They were impolite. "September 11 was impolite. So the customs authorities in Toronto were impolite to me. I didn't know what hit me. I was upset because people were waiting for me in Los Angeles. My Tamil fans and friends in Toronto are very upset. But it wasn't as humiliating as Gandhiji being thrown out of a train in South Africa." Hassan isn't the first Indian showbiz icon to be harassed in this way. Earlier this month Aamir Khan was interrogated for an hour and even strip-searched at the airport in Chicago. "His name is Aamir Khan and mine is Kamal Hassan. We can't get away with Islamic names like these after what Osama Bin Laden did. As a matter of fact when I landed in Los Angeles earlier this month, I was given a completely cold treatment. "In spite of all the security they've been properly had by Bin Laden. What better way to take revenge than to harass the entire brown-skinned population of the world? If you have an Islamic sounding name then it's even easier for them. And if there's a beard to go with the name like mine, nothing like it. " IANS

New York, 19 april, 2002

At least 34 Indians were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 last, a report on Friday said. The people from India suffered second largest number of casualties among foreign countries after Britain which lost 53 persons. Pakistan lost seven persons, Japan 20 and China 18, according to an analysis of the death certificates on the basis of place of birth of the 90 per cent of an estimated 2825 victims. (...). PTI

Dallas, 05 april, 2002

A suburban Dallas man who went out to shoot immigrants in revenge for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States was convicted of capital murder on Tuesday for killing an Indian gas station owner. A Dallas jury took less than an hour to convict Mark Stroman, 32, who had told police and a Dallas TV station he shot naturalized U.S. citizen Vasudev Patel last October because he thought the Indian man looked Middle Eastern and he wanted vengeance for the hijack attacks on New York and the Pentagon. "He (Stroman) is so full of hate," Patel's brother-in-law Mukesh Patel said outside the courtroom. "He said he has skin allergies against people like us. I'm happy he was found guilty so quickly by the jury." Stroman faces either the death penalty or life in prison. His lawyers did not dispute the shooting but said their client should be convicted of a lesser murder count. Patel was gunned down in the gas station he owned in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, where Stroman lived. Stroman is also charged with killing a Dallas-area convenience store clerk, Waquar Hassan, on Sept. 15 and is suspected in a third shooting that injured another store clerk, Rais Uddin. Arguments in the punishment phase began on Tuesday before the case goes to the jury one more time for sentencing.  Reuters

New York, 03 april 2002

Seven months after September's terror attacks in the U.S., the remains of an Indian American were identified at the site of the World Trade Centre (WTC). IANS

New York, 27 march 2002

The remains of a Pakistani youth, who was missing since September 11, have been recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center. Suleman Hamdani, 22, rushed to the spot on September 11, last, when he listened on the radio that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. He was residing with his father, Saleem Hamdani, and two younger brothers in the Bayside area of Queens, New York. He joined the New York Police Department (NYPD) as cadet in 1998 and on completion of his training, he became part of the Emergency Medical Unit as Medical Technician. Though he was not a full-time employee of the NYPD and would serve only when called. He was missing since the incident. His relatives were sure he had died at the WTC but there was no evidence to it. Now, six months after the incident, five pieces of his body were found to confirm his death. Hamdani will be buried in the Muslim graveyard in the suburban Long Island on April 5. An official memorial service will be held on April 3, which will be attended by the New York city and other government officials, sources told The News. The News International

Greensboro, North Carolina, 26 march 2002

A Pakistani man, detained after federal investigators launched a massive dragnet following the September 11 terrorist attacks, was sentenced on Tuesday to six months in jail for lying on a loan application. Abdul M Farid, 51, was convicted in December for saying on the application that he worked as a drill operator when he was unemployed. He was not charged in connection with the attacks. About 30 protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse before the hearing, claiming Farid was arrested on secret evidence and targeted because of his nationality. "We need to show solidarity because people are being mistreated," said one demonstrator, Jesse Barber. "If we allow that to happen, none of us has any freedom." Prosecutor Doug Cannon denied any impropriety. "We had an open trial here. This is absurd. It was a public trial," he said. Farid could have got up to 30 years behind bars and a $1 million fine. US District Judge Carlton Tilley said Farid had already served his sentence and ordered him released to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, to be held for deportation. Neither Cannon nor Farid's lawyer, John Dusenbury, had any comment on the sentence. The News International

Washington, 18 March 2002

In the 6 month period since the Sept 11 attacks, there was an increase in bias-motivated incidents against South-Asian Americans, particularly Pakistanis and Indians, according to a report released this week to mark the six-month anniversary of the attacks. The report was presented by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPAIC) and is titled "Backlash: When America Turned on its Own". The report also warns against many draconian US government measures that send a message of intolerance and discrimination in employment, immigration and other policies. NRIOL

New York, 11 february 2002

Arguments and mud-slinging marred a meeting of Pakistanis gathered at the Pakistan Consulate in New York on Sunday to devise a strategy to help expatriates detained by the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies since Sept 11 attacks, to deport illegal residents from the country. Hundreds of Pakistanis charged with violating their visa limits have been languishing in the US jails since the Sept 11 attacks on the US landmarks by terrorists, awaiting a decision by the Immigration Department to deport them. Some have been detained for the last five months. According to a witness the meeting of Federation of Associations of Pakistanis (Fapa) witnessed a pandemonium when the General Secretary of the Association refused to help Ms Uzma Nahid whose husband had been arrested four months ago by the FBI and she was left alone to feed her four children without any monetary help from anyone. Ms Nahid wants the US Immigration authorities to expedite the deportation proceedings against her husband and procure her travelling documents from the authorities and permission to travel to Pakistan. However, following arguments Pakistanis gathered on the occasion managed to raise over $2000 to help Ms Nahid for the upkeep of her children. The Consul-General, Hafiz, who come under harsh criticism for not helping the Pakistanis detained by the FBI. Mr Hafiz also objected to any fund-raising, saying "my permission should have been sought to raise any donation to help anybody." Unlike the Indian Consul-General who had moved swiftly to help the Indian nationals detained by the US authorities, Pakistan Consul-General did not move until he was ordered by Pakistan Ambassador to Washington to meet US authorities to help Pakistanis. But he has failed to do anything till now. Pakistanis here want President Pervez Musharraf, who is scheduled to begin his official visit on Feb 12, to take up the issue of detained Pakistanis with President Bush. "He should tell the US President to ask the US law-enforcement agencies to expedite the deportation proceedings and send them home," said a Pakistani at the meeting.  Dawn

New York, 17 january 2002

A Sikh here has decided to take legal action after airport security officials barred him from boarding a plane on two occasions because he refused to remove his turban. News reports said Tejinder Singh Kahlon, a family court judge and resident of East Meadow, New York, filed a notice of claim against the township of Islip, New Jersey, in December. Kahlon is anticipating filing a lawsuit against the township this month, alleging religious discrimination and violation of civil rights, his lawyer Thomas Liotti said. The Islip Township owns the Macarthur Airport where Kahlon attempted to board flights headed for Arizona. The airline was Southwest Airlines. Liotti said Kahlon was also considering a class action lawsuit on behalf of those who faced discrimination after September's attacks. On October 25, Kahlon was checked with metal detectors by security officials and then taken to another room for further scrutiny. Though they did not find anything, officials asked him to remove his turban. Kahlon refused to do so, saying it was against his religious beliefs to take off his turban in public. He told airport security they were free to run the metal detector over his turban. They refused to let him board the flight and Kahlon returned home with his wife and daughter. Later that evening Pravin Mahavir, the station manager of the airlines, went to Kahlon's house, apologised for the incident and offered to book him on a flight the next morning. Kahlon told Mahavir he was willing to board the flight as long as he did not have to take off his turban. The next day, however, officials again insisted he take off his turban and Kahlon was taken to meet Marty Raber, executive assistant to the commissioner for transportation and aviation for the township of Islip. Raber claimed to be the final authority and said Kahlon would not be allowed to board the flight unless he took off his turban. "Kahlon has been in the country for over 30 years, he is a member of the court, he's a distinguished citizen and not someone who would obstruct justice," said Liotti. He claimed Kahlon had provided "reasonable accommodation" by allowing airport security officials to run the metal detector over his turban. Newindpress

Washington, 12 december 2001

Anger against Asians in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks continues in the US, the latest victim being 47-year old Surinder Singh Sidhu, a liquor store owner who was beaten by thugs accusing him of being Osama bin Laden. Los Angeles police list the attack on Sidhu as a hate crime, one of more than 100 cases since September 11. Surinder Singh Sidhu had been wearing a star-spangled turban to show his patriotism and to protect himself. For a Sikh fearful of being mistaken for a Muslim, it worked until this week when, he said, thugs entered his North Hills store, accused him of being Osama bin Laden and beat him with metal poles, media reports said. "I've been here 25 years and this has never happened," Sidhu said on December 7 at a news conference called to seek help in finding his attackers. "I love this country. It's the land of freedom." The 'Los Angeles Daily News' quoted the police describing the incident as a hate crime. "It's absolutely unacceptable to have anybody attack anybody, because of how they choose to worship," it quoted Joe Curreri, captain of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division in Northridge. "It was obvious that they were attacking him not because they wanted anything from him but because of what he looked like," Curreri said. "They obviously had hate in their minds when they walked into the store because they had metal pipes with them." Sidhu said he was preparing to close his Liquor Mart store in the 16100 block of Nordhoff Street about 11 pm on December 3 when two men armed with 4-foot metal poles walked in and asked, "Are you bin Laden?" Sidhu said, adding, he replied, "No, I'm a Sikh from Punjab, India," and that in America, only Sikhs wear turbans. They said, "We'll kill bin Laden today," then hit him about two dozen times with the poles, said Sidhu, 47, who lives in Valencia. Sidhu managed to escape after pushing over a shelf of candy onto his attackers, both described as being white men, about 23 years old. Sidhu was treated for head injuries at a local hospital. "The crime was regrettable but not surprising," Kirtan-Singh Khalsa, spokesman for the Khalsa Council, an international council for Sikh affairs, said. More than 200 have been reported nationwide, he said. "We're deeply concerned by this event. But we are not shocked," Khalsa said, adding "Sikhs are accustomed to ridicule because of wearing turbans."  PTI

Washington, 11 december 2001

The innocuous act of spelling one's name verbally can lead to an arrest in a nation where post-September 11 paranoia has not died, as an Indian in the US learnt the hard way. Sudeep Das, an Indian living in New Jersey, was arrested because a shuttle bus company's phone operator thought he was threatening her when he spelled out his last name, Time magazine has reported. Corporate executive Das said local police officers came to his house late one night and arrested him. They asked how Das had spelled his name for the reservation clerk when booking a ticket. Das said he spelled it: "D as in David, A as in America, S as in Sam." According to an employee of the company, Airporter, that was not what Das said. An Airporter clerk said a man with a Middle Eastern accent had spelled his name "D as in destruction, A as in America, S as in Sam." "She couldn't believe somebody was using those words over the phone," said police lieutenant Michael Cane. Das was charged with one count each of disorderly conduct and harassment. Bond was set at $25,000. After Das spent five hours in jail, attorneys for his company arranged to post bail. Das' accent sounds vaguely British, with the lilting tones characteristic of his native India. He insists there is no way he could have mangled his pronunciation of David so profoundly that it could have been heard as destruction. Police have refused to name the reservation clerk or provide a copy of their report on Das, claiming it is their policy to withhold such information. Alan Glickman, CEO of Airporter, said the clerk was a "valued employee in good standing." Das goes before a judge on December 18, facing the possibility of six months' jail time for each charge.
In another incident Hasnain Javed, a Pakistani student in New York, was arrested for having an expired visa, and then molested in prison. Both Javed and Das refused to be interviewed by the Indian media here. Javed was travelling by bus from Houston to New York. When border patrol agents discovered his expired visa he was arrested and sent to the Stone County Correctional Facility in Wiggins, Mississippi. Overstaying a visa is a civil violation, but Javed was placed with the criminal population. "There were other inmates in there," said Javed, 20, "they started giving me strange kinds of looks and talking to one another." Javed said a hulking man pulled him aside and offered some advice: "You can't stay in here. You better get your ass out of here." The words were punctuated with punches to his face. Soon other prisoners joined in. Some called him names, including "(Osama) bin Laden." One attacker promised: "This is the first round, and there are going to be 10 rounds for you today." Javed, who weighs 67 kg, started crying. Javed said his attackers told him to ring the bell that contacts the jailers. A woman answered the intercom, and he begged: "Please get me out of here, they are beating me up." No one came. Javed was thrown to the floor and told to strip. He refused, but one attacker removed his clothes and ordered him to run naked around the cell. Javed did. The man had pinned him to the floor when four guards, including a woman, entered. The female officer picked up Javed's clothes, and he got dressed. He was taken to the prison nurse and treated with, he said, "one Motrin." For the rest of his three-day detention he was placed in a solitary cell. Stone County sheriff Mike Ballard said prisoners told him Javed incited the beatings by saying "F___ the US. I'm glad they hit the World Trade Center." The Pakistani youth admitted he wasn't sure how long the beatings lasted, though it felt like half an hour. But he insists he'd have to be "a psycho" to say something like that in a prison. Javed awaits a December 17 hearing on his immigration status. The US Justice Department is investigating his complaint. IANS

New York, 10 december 2001

All Pakistani banks operating in the United States have been asked to stop day to day financial transactions in accordance with new laws enacted by the United States following Sept 11 attacks which endeavour to stop flow of money to the terrorist organizations. Besides Pakistan many banks of other Muslim countries have been asked to suspend their daily cash transactions. The orders came into effect as of Dec 1. The banks are now allowed to issue certified cheques, money orders or personal cheques only. All cash money transactions are banned. Also include prohibiting transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credits to foreign banks and importing and exporting currency or securities. Pakistan's major banks - National Bank, Habib Bank, United Bank, Habib Bank AG Zurich have received orders from the US Federal Reserve Bank to stop cash transactions. National Bank of Pakistan's major branch at one UN Plaza has stopped functioning and has been merged with its Regional head office situated at Wall Street New York. According to the new law the US Secretary of the Treasury Paul Neil now has sweeping powers to close the door to the United States to foreign financial institutions and nations that serve as conduits or depositories of terrorist funds or do not cut off the money flow to terrorist groups. In consultation with the State Department and Justice Department, the Treasury Department is authorized "to employ all powers granted to the President" under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The powers include prohibiting transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credits to foreign banks and importing and exporting currency or securities. The New Law stipulates that US Treasury department has existing power to require cash, suspicious activity reports from aviation schools, crop dusters, many other high-risk businesses. Money Laundering Alert provides specific actions that Congress and all US agencies need to take to build permanent reforms to stop the financial nourishment of terrorists. One of the primary actions needed is an overhaul of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The MLA provides key analysis of the US money laundering law as it relates to terrorists. The law lists 176 "specified unlawful activities." Three of them deal with terrorism, including one that deals with "providing material support to terrorists" (Title 18, USC Sec. 2339A). All Pakistani banks operating in New York had signs posted outside the branches telling customers it could no longer provide them any services. Pakistani bank managers say that it is not clear how long they would be able to function in the United States if they are not allowed to open doors to general public. They have sought intervention from the Pakistan government. Indolink

Washington, 29 november 2001

The Indian embassy in Washington appears to have been caught off-guard by the latest revelations by the U.S. Justice Department that 20 of the more than 600 people apprehended in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks are of Indian origin. The detention of the 20, out of a total of 641 people charged or held, was revealed by Attorney General John Ashcroft at a briefing November 27. An embassy official said: "This information has come out this morning (Wednesday). It is obviously a decision Mr. Ashcroft has taken only now. We don't have any official reaction yet." The official, who did not wish to be named, said: "We had put in a formal request with the U.S. State Department asking how many Indians were in custody. We have not yet received a response." Ashcroft gave details of 93 of the detainees and said of the remaining 548, a majority was from Middle Eastern countries. The list also includes, besides the 20 Indians, 208 Pakistanis, six Bangladeshis and one Nepali. On two earlier cases involving two men from Andhra Pradesh, the Indian consulate in New York and the embassy here had been cooperating with U.S. authorities. Officials at the Indian consulate in New York had put in requests with the eight Immigration and Naturalisation (INS) offices within their jurisdiction at least three weeks ago, one official said. "Even before these press reports, we had written to all INS offices in our jurisdiction to respond about anybody of Indian origin. Only one had responded in our jurisdiction saying they had nobody of Indian origin." An Indian embassy official said each case would be treated individually depending on the situation. "Depends on what are the charges or the crime. In the case of the two people (from Andhra Pradesh) the information was being shared. In the other cases I can't hazard a guess. Usually they do work with our consulates. It is basically consulate territory," the official said.
The new measures under which foreigners can be detained has come under rising criticism from civil rights organisations as well as members of Congress. About 1,100 foreigners have been detained since September 11. President George W. Bush's earlier order allowing secret military tribunals to try non-citizens has been criticised both by Democrats and Republicans, the Justice Department's new ability to eavesdrop on conversations between defence lawyers and clients has also been under fire from both the left and the right. But the Bush administration has defended itself on grounds that "extraordinary times require extraordinary measures." Senate majority leader Democrat Tom Dashcle called for a need to balance rights with the need for apprehending suspected terrorists. "We are all very concerned about the spread of terrorism," he told TV channel Fox News. "But we have to ask ourselves what the balance is, how do you do that and ensure that we don't trample on the constitutional rights that we have fought to protect for over 200 years." The American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, and think tanks have sounded alarm over the expanded powers of the administration and law enforcement forces. Recently, the Justice Department ordered law enforcement agencies to interrogate a racially profiled segment of non-citizens - about 5,000 males of Arab and other ethnic origin between the ages 18-33 who had come into the country after January 1, 2001, even though they were not under suspicion. This came under scathing attack both from minorities and others. Oregon state, a maverick on other issues as well, refused to oblige the Justice Department on this new order maintaining it was contrary to the state's charter of rights. Ashcroft's about-face in revealing the profile of those detained comes after mounting criticism about the expanded federal and law enforcement powers. Otherwise, barring information on an illegal immigrant from Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Butt, who died of heart attack while in custody at the Hudson County jail in New Jersey, and two persons of Indian origin, Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammad Javeed Asmat, no information had been forthcoming from the Justice Department. IANS

Washington, 29 november 2001

US Attorney General John Ashcroft has confessed that Pakistanis are the largest group arrested in the US on immigration charges. Of the 548, the greatest number, 208 are Pakistanis with Egypt a distant second at 74. Ashcroft asserted that the law allowed him to withhold the names of those charged under the immigration code. They were identified in a separate list only by their places of birth, the immigration violations they are charged with and the dates they were arrested. Ashcroft finally provided for the first time the names of 93 people charged with crimes arising from the government's investigation. The Pakistani community has consistently protested against their selected racial profiling. While other communities are not touched, Pakistanis are the most targeted not just among Muslims but all groups. Ashcroft did not explain why Pakistanis were being particularly targeted, especially when it's supposed to be a frontline state. But that list included only the nationalities and the charges, not the names. Ashcroft spoke a day before the Senate Judiciary Committee is to begin hearings into the government's law-enforcement efforts, including the detention of hundreds of people on immigration charges and the continuing interviews of 5,000 Muslims. Of the 93 people named as criminal defendants, about 60 are in custody, a Justice Department list indicates. Most of the charges are relatively minor, like credit card fraud or making false statements when applying for passports. One man, Souhail Sarwer, is a fugitive wanted on charges of credit card fraud. While providing the new numbers and details, Ashcroft continued to withhold the identities of 548 people arrested for immigration violations. The News International, by correspondent

Washington, 05 november 2001

Hundreds of Pakistanis remain detained all over the US in a ruthless manhunt not seen in the US since World War II. Of the 1,100 detained by the US authorities since September 11, at least one third are Pakistanis, say Pakistani community workers. Pakistani Americans plan to take out a protest demonstration at the arrival of President Musharraf against the "non-cooperation and callous indifference" of the Pakistani Consulate. The biggest group of detained people is from New York where nearly 200 Pakistanis are unaccounted for, says Huma Ali, a colleague who has been following their trail. In most cases, nobody knows where these people are being kept or if their detention is lawful. "It's like Nazi camps," said Huma. He said the US agencies "raid the residences of Pakistanis without any notice, search their houses and take them away. For days, you can't tell where these people are," said Huma, who plans to lead the protest demonstration. There have been incidents when the New York Police raided the central Mosque in Coney Island, where most Pakistanis live. What irks the community leaders is that Pakistanis are being racially profiled. Most of these people have been arrested on the charges of illegal stay. "But why just Pakistanis," asks Huma Ali, a former Lahore Press Club president, who has taken up the issue with local authorities as well as community leaders. He claims that 30 per cent people in New York are living illegally. The city administration has always turned a blind eye to these illegal residents as it suited the local economy. "But why ain't people from Latin America or Eastern Europe being arrested." Huma believes that Pakistanis are the third largest group after Saudis and Egyptians who are being profiled. Virtually all are men in their twenties and thirties. Most people complain about the non-cooperation of the Pakistani consulate, saying that they are keeping their hands off. The situation is so grave that former interior minister Chaudhary Shujaat called from Pakistan to register the grievances of many people from his constituency in Gujrat. In a telephonic conversation, he said he received at least five calls a day about the people from Gujrat being arrested without any charges. He said he was writing a letter to President Musharraf to talk to President Bush about the issue during his visit in New York. The detentions are so unjust that even the local mainstream media has been forced to take notice. The Washington Post had its lead story on what it called the biggest manhunt in decades. It mentioned an incident where a Pakistani was arrested just because he was in the same queue where one of the hijackers Mohammad Atta got his licence from. Mohammad Mubeen's mistake was that he got his license 23 minutes before Mohamed Atta acquired a Florida driver's license. The 28-year-old Pakistani gas station attendant got his license renewed at the same motor vehicles' branch. For that reason, he stays behind bars. He confessed that he was illegal but knew nothing about Atta. Still, reports the Post, the government attorney in the Miami courtroom easily persuaded the judge to hold Mubeen without bond. The lawyer presented a striking legal document that offers insight into both the strategy behind the detentions and a novel way to keep people in custody on the most slender suspicion. None of the detainees has been charged in the plot or with other acts of terrorism. Many believe the campaign is a massive act of racial profiling similar to the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans at the start of World War II. The greatest concentrations were arrested in several states with large Islamic populations in Texas, New Jersey, California, New York, Michigan and Florida. The government's determination to employ every legal tool at its disposal - to hold detainees as long as possible - can be seen in cases across the country.
Recently, A Pakistan Rafiq Butt died in government custody in New York. Butt wanted to return to Pakistan but was kept without notification to his relative nor to the Pakistan embassy. In another case, Osama Elfar was arrested at the end of a night shift at his job as an aviation mechanic for Trans States Airlines. The reason for his arrest was that, one, he worked at the airport but mostly because he had a memorable first name. In an even more ephemeral connection, an Egyptian antiques dealer Hady Omar remains detained because he made a plane reservation from the same computer at a Kinko's store in South Florida as one of the hijackers. Others in the second layer have been linked to men at the investigation's hot center, rather than to hijackers. One of those is Mohammad Aslam Pervez, a Pakistani who shared an apartment with the two men arrested with box-cutter knives on the train to Texas. The report says the FBI was using a seven-page document, which has not been previously disclosed, to haul people who may not be even remotely connected to the incidents. The newspapers conducted a detailed survey saying that the US government has adopted a deliberate strategy of disruption - locking up large numbers of Muslims using whatever legal tools they can. The result has been confusion over exactly who is being counted in the government's official tally of 1,147 detainees and who is still being held. Of the 1,147, justice officials have specifically singled out only 185 detainees who are being held on immigration charges, says the report. The Post survey reveals that three-fifths of the detainees are, like Mubeen, being held on immigration charges. Only a small number are being held on "material witness" warrants and another 10 are believed to be directly connected to the terrorist investigation. The News International, by Amir Mateen.

New York, 27 october 2001

More than a month after the WTC terror attacks, the American backlash continues. And once again, their mistaken target are the turbaned Sikhs. As US airlines resume flights, more than a dozen turbaned Sikhs have been stopped from boarding planes. The ultimatum: either remove your turban or stay off. Harassed, Sikh leaders met transportation secretary Norman Mineta on Friday and are also planning to meet the newly appointed internal security secretary Tom Rich and House minority leader Richard Gephardt next week, according to New York-based hotelier Sant Chatwal. Even as Sikh leaders were meeting Mineta, another incident came to light in New York when Judge Tejinder Singh Kahlon was disallowed from boarding a South-West Airlines flight to South Carolina. Speaking to the Sunday Times of India from New York, Kahlon, who has been a family court judge on Long Island for 16 years, said, ``After checking in my luggage, I went for a security check. Two National Security Guards asked me to come out of the queue. They took me to a separate room and asked me to remove my turban. I told them, scan it. If you find something, I will remove it. Otherwise not. The turban is part of my religion.'' Kahlon was asked to meet the airport supervisor who told him bluntly: ``If you don't remove the turban, you cannot take the flight.'' When Kahlon asked him to show the rules under which he was being asked to remove his turban, the supervisor cited Federal Aviation Authority regulations. When he persisted, they said he could contact the FAA. Exasperated, Kahlon left to retrieve his baggage at the check-in counter. Whe he was about leave the airport, the airlines station manager came out running. ``He said he was sorry and could book me for a later flight. But it was 8.30 p.m. So I said no. Then he said he is booking me for tomorrow morning and promised to put me on the plane.'' On Friday morning, when Kahlon reached the airport, he was again asked to remove his turban. ``The same station manager said that his airline has no problem. Airport authorities are to blame. He took me to the chairman of the airport authority. That man said bluntly: No journey till you remove your turban. I am the final authority.'' The South-West Airlines chairperson has personally apologised to Kahlon. Kahlon now says he will take up his case with the US attorney general this week. NRILINKS

New York, 23 october 2001

The US. is at war -- so when some with a South Asian accent asked for two tickets in a theatre in New York, the woman doing the bookings thought he wanted to blow it up. So when Uday Menon, a senior executive with J P Morgan, came to the play with his very pregnant wife to give her a treat on their second anniversary, the police were waiting. Menon and his seven-months pregnant wife went up to the theatre window to pick up their tickets. "They asked me my name, and then they asked me to go to another window to one side," Menon told IANS. "Thinking nothing of it, I did so. What happened next shattered my notions of safety and much more." The teller had sold him the tickets and voiced her fears to the manager, who in turn called the police. Here is Menon's account of what happened: "It must have all happened too quickly for me to take in the details because all I can recall when I replay those minutes over and over in my head is a sense of over-powering fear. "Four big cops -- one in uniform, the others in street clothes -- descended upon me, grabbing my arms, my waist and my legs. The sense of urgency displayed by my apprehenders as they whisked me away from the theatre entrance and the crowd of people that were making their way inside was not lost on me: the look in the eyes of one of them was that of imminent disaster. "Out of a heightened sense of self-preservation or perhaps just the complete lack of mobility that can grip one when faced with clear and present danger, I did nothing to arouse or alert my captors into thinking I was going to put up any resistance. After the initial scuffle, I found myself handcuffed and repeating 'what the hell is going on?' or words to that effect. "One of them had my wallet and as he rifled through it, asked me where I worked. 'J P Morgan' I said and could sense a shred of credibility materialise as he pulled my ID out and verified my claim. By this time they had frisked me thoroughly and realized there was no cause for alarm." The police explained the theatre staff had alerted them. But what Menon told them was one thing, what they thought he said -- or wanted to think he said - was another. Menon had asked for tickets for The Producers and finally settled for Kiss Me Kate. He had asked the booking agent if this was a popular show. She said it was -- and imagined Menon would therefore want to kill everyone in there. While the police explained all this to Menon, he remained in handcuffs. They were unlocked only after the police had called the woman again and asked her for her version of the story. One police officer, Menon said, kept repeating: "We are at war." The theatre management made up by giving Menon and his wife front seats for "The Producers" and apologising. But what Menon says what he will remember is the taste of this new kind of war. IANS

Seatac, 21 october 2001

Two Sikhs were attacked in the suburbs around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, apparently in the mistaken belief that they are Muslims, authorities said. Sikh men who grow beards and wear turbans are sometimes mistaken for Muslims. The Sikh religion is from India and has no link to those suspected to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Since the terrorist attacks, a number of Sikhs have been assaulted, and a Sikh gasoline station owner in Arizona was killed. Karnail Kail Singh, who does not wear a beard or turban, said he was on the telephone about 8 a.m. Sunday when an assailant entered the lobby, shouted ``You still here? Go to Allah!'' and knocked him unconscious with two blows from a wood and metal cane. He required nine stitches in his head. ``I'm scared. There's no security,'' said Kail Singh, 47, a U.S. citizen from India who owns the SeaTac Crest Motor Inn. A man was arrested nearby and jailed for investigation of second-degree assault and may be charged with malicious harassment, a felony carrying tougher penalties, sheriff's deputies said. The other victim, 23-year-old Rubinder Singh, was crossing the street about 8 p.m. Saturday when he was hit in the face from behind and knocked to the ground. He refused medical attention. ``It's just because of my skin color that they hit me,'' he said. Police said a witness reported hearing a boy of about 14 say, ``I'm going to bomb on him,'' shortly before the attack and were looking for him. Rizvi, a Pakistani journalist, was knocked unconscious by three white young men on Saturday night after they asked him his ethnicity and he told them that he was from Pakistan. He was sent to hospital where he required extensive treatment.  NRILINKS

San Diego, 11 october 2001

San Diego police are currently searching for two men who stabbed Swaran Kaur Bhullar on Sunday afternoon while sitting in her car waiting for the stop light to change at the intersection of Miramar Road and Cabot Drive. The men, who were riding on a motorcycle, pulled up beside her, yanked open her door, and were said to have shouted, "This is what you get for what you've done to us," before slashing at her with a knife. Bringing her arms up and hunching over to protect herself, Bhullar was stabbed twice in the head. When they heard a car approaching, the two men immediately sped off. She was later treated at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa for two cuts in her scalp and released. The attack on Bhullar, a 51-year-old resident of coastal North County, is possibly the first incident of a suspected hate crime involving violence reported in the San Diego area since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "and we're treating it as a hate crime at this point," San Diego police media relations officer Dave Cohen told India-West. According to Cohen, San Diego police are already investigating 36 suspected hate crimes, which include threatening phone calls, nasty notes left on windshields, graffiti and vandalism. At the time of the incident, Bhullar was on her way to the family's Bombay Videos store. "If that car hadn't driven up, I might have died," Bhullar told the San Diego Union Tribune. "They could have cut me and left me there, and there's nothing I could have done." Bhullar, a naturalized citizen from Kenya, came to San Diego 15 years ago because she believed this country was safer than Africa. "I just want to be in my own home, safe," she said. "and I want to remind Sikhs and anyone who is brown to keep their car doors locked." NRILINKS

Washington, 03 October 2001

Harassment of Indians, since September 11 terror attacks in the US because they look like Arab hijackers, have come in prominence in many spheres of American life, particularly in Silicon Valley, home of the Information Technology revolution. In a front-page dispatch, the 'Wall Street Journal' on October 3 reported that some Indians and Pakistani IT workers tell of bias ranging from cancelled business to a rejected handshake. It quoted Wipro executives as saying that there is a change of attitude among some clients. Instead of showing some sympathy with Wipro because some of its employees did not make out of the World Trade Centre, some of the clients have grown aloof occasionally dressing down on-site consultants and giving them strange looks. Around the country, the paper noted that there have been dozens of reports of random harassment and even assault on the community in the wake of the terrorist strikes. Despite having nothing to do with hijackers, ethnic Indians and Pakistanis "are struggling with the consequences of their physical appearance," it said. Wipro executives, said the 'Journal', also are quick to note that an employee's perceptions can colour a situation, and say they don't rule out that some employees read too much into a situation. "We don't want people to put two and two together and make it five," says Raja Veluswamy, Wipro's Human Resources Manager. Still the appearance of ethnic tensions comes as a shock to many executives in Silicon Valley that attracts fortune seekers from all over the world, it said.  PTI

New York, 30 September 2001

In the days since Black Tuesday, Sin Yen Ling, a civil rights lawyer, has received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls about continued violence and harassment against South Asians in the US. Ling, a legal fellow at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a non-profit legal rights group fighting racial inequality, said: "People are calling for help from all over the country." Like many other rights groups, the AALDEF started monitoring and documenting cases of harassment, threats and intimidation against South Asians Americans soon after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Ling said her organization has so far compiled more than 100 cases of anti-immigrant violence, noting that most of the victims happened to be of South Asian origin. Nearly 20 such incidents took place in New York alone. The rights group said recently its own South Asian volunteers were pelted with rocks while driving through Hempstead, Long Island. Ling said the incidents of harassment by police and highway troopers have been on the rise since the Bush administration's decided to seek changes in the laws on detention which would allow police to detain immigrants suspected of crimes for an indefinite period. According to AALDEF, places where South Asians have been the targets of racist attacks included New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Arizona, California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. IANS

Boston, 29 September 2001

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Rahul Gandhi, the son of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for about an hour early this week at Boston Airport for questioning, the Deccan Herald has reported. Mr Gandhi, who was flying from Boston to Washington, was taken aside by a posse of FBI agents as soon as he reached the airport and had his travel documents checked in detail in spite of his repeatedly identifying himself as the son of India's former prime minister, sources said here. While the Congress was mum on the issue, officials in New Delhi denied any knowledge of the incident when asked for comments. Ms Sonia Gandhi is currently touring her constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the state Assembly elections. Mr Gandhi might have been returning from Colombia when the incident happened, though there was no confirmation about this. After checking his passport and other travel documents, the FBI agents went through his baggage also, even as Mr Gandhi went on strongly protesting the behaviour of the security personnel, who were ostensibly carrying out the task as part of their routine, heightened checking in the aftermath of the attacks. As soon as the news of his "detention" reached New Delhi, Ms Sonia Gandhi got in touch with India's Ambassador to Washington Lalit Man Singh. Mr Rahul Gandhi was allowed to proceed on his onward journey only after Mr Man Singh brought the matter to the notice of the US administration, the sources said. Though there was no official confirmation of the incident, Congress circles are seriously concerned over the incident as the movement of Mr Gandhi, being under the protection of the Special Protection Group (SPG), should have been known to the American security agencies. Under security norms, the movement abroad of any person under SPG protection is intimated by the Indian security agency to its counterpart in the respective countries. NRIOL

Miami, 24 september 2001

At least 49 Indian pilots undergoing training in Florida and Texas have been detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the terror attacks, said a pilot who has returned from the US "I returned two days ago after being picked up at the airport for questioning by FBI officials," Rahul Rawal, a pilot with the Bangalore-based Deccan Aviation, told IANS. Several Indians pilots are training in the flying schools located around Florida and Texas. The FBI's investigations focused on these schools after it found the terrorists who hijacked four planes and slammed them into the World Trade Centre had trained in Florida and Texas. Rawal said the Indian trainees were slapped with non-bailable warrants under a clause of the Immigration Naturalisation Service (INS) that basically meant their documents were not in order. "Two of my friends, who were released and whom I contacted after returning to Bangalore, said there were at least 49 other Indian trainees," he said. "We contacted the Indian embassy. At first, we were told they would look into it. Later, they said that they could not do anything as it was part of the security efforts of the FBI and the US authorities," said Rawal. Rawal, who began flying seven years ago after passing out from the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy near Rae Bareli, worked as an instructor at one of the flying schools in the US until he landed a job with the Deccan Aviation that is planning to launch private air service from Bangalore. He was sent again to the US along with another pilot to train on the Pilatus P12 plane that is now being used by Deccan Aviation. IANS

Modesto (California,USA), September 18 2001

In front of a Hindu temple, vandalism was witness at a Hindu temple when a couple of the temple members found Lord Shiva vandalize. The cost to replace the statues varies between 5,000 to 8,000 dollars. Babu Prasad, the chairman of the Shri Ram Mandar was sadden by this act of violence. In comparison to the fundamental terrorist attacks Prasad stated 'We are Hindus, descendants of India. Our religion, culture, tradition and philosophy are 10 miles apart,' and 'We hail from the background that produced the great man Mahatma Gandhi.'
Prasad believes there is a huge misunderstanding and people are looking for someone close to home to blame for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Although its hard to swallow but he keeps a cool head and said 'We don't blame anyone. It was a reaction.' The Lord Shiva statue can only be purchase in India and it will take at least a couple of months to be replaced. Someone has also thrown mud on the other statues surrounding the temple. Modesto County law enforcement issued a statement they will not tolerate 'senseless acts of hate towards ethnic and religious minorities.' INDOLINK

Toronto, september 16 2001

Nobody can explain why people should attack Hindus or Jains or their holy places. But it is happening in Canada and the United States. An Arya Samaj temple in Hamilton, west of Toronto, was gutted by a fire on Friday. The local police are investigating if the fire was a possible retaliation to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. "We are not convinced it was naturally caused, yet we are not prepared to say it was arson either," said Hamilton-Wentworth police Staff Sergeant Jack Loft. Hindu leaders in Hamilton are at a loss to explain why anyone might want to lash out at the community. The Ontario fire marshal's office too has not ruled out arson. No casualties were reported in the incident. Shanti Shah, Toronto-based president of the International Mahavir Jain Mission, said a truck hit the entrance of the Mission's 108 acre Jain temple in Blairstown, New Jersey, USA, and knocked down the big sign. He was baffled why anyone would target the temple. "We need to educate people about our faith," he told rediff.com "It is not the time to show any kind of anger." An hour before Friday's fire, Hindus had gathered at the Hamilton temple for a special service to pray for the victims of Tuesday's attacks. "This is a Hindu temple. We are a peaceful community. It is sad to see this happen," temple member Mahendra Joshi said. "I have no idea how it happened. I won't speculate on the causes," temple president Narendar Pasi added. Only the hand carved entrance to the temple remains; the rest of the building was destroyed in the fire. As in the United States, so also in Canada, anti-Muslim threats, vandalism and isolated acts of bigotry have been reported. Many mosques in Toronto and other cities remain closed while Muslim leaders urged calm and restraint. REDIFF

New York, september 16 2001

A Pakistani grocery store owner in Dallas (Texas) became the first victims of hate crimes in the United States following attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday. Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani who moved to Dallas a month ago, owned a grocery store - Mom's Grocery - in the Dallas area was found dead on Saturday night by two women. Zahid Ghani, a correspondent for NNI in New York, and the brother-in-law of deceased, told Dawn that Dallas Police called him on Sunday morning to inform him about the incident. He said that Dallas Police officer Larry Lewis told him that they had not ruled out hate crime as the reason of his murder. Lewis told Ghani that the police found Mr Hasan lying on the floor of the store. He received one bullet in his skull. No money or any other items were stolen or missing from the store, which prompted the authorities to suspect it could be a hate crime. DAWN

New York, september 16 2001

A 52-year-old Indian of Sikh denomination was shot dead in Arizona and Texas in continuing attacks on ethnic immigrants, following last week's terrorist strikes in the U.S. Four gunmen drove up in two pick-up trucks to the gas filling station owned by Balbir Singh Sodhi at Mesa in Arizona and shot him dead last night, possibly mistaking him for an Arab. The Ministry of External Affairs has expressed concern over the killing of Sodhi and the authorities have sought the help of the U.S. to prevent further attacks on Sikhs. PTI

Washington, september 13 2001

There have been isolated incidents against the Sikh community possibly mistaking them to be Arabs in New York by miscreants in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes. Official sources on September 13 said while it was difficult to hazard to guess on what prompted this, it could possibly be Sikhs being mistaken for Arabs. India's Consulate General (CG) in New York S Tripathi is in touch with the city police, which has promised to provide extra patrol in areas having Indian establishments, an external affairs ministry spokesperson told reporters. She said the CG has advised Indian nationals to take adequate security precautions for the next few days. PTI

© AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill