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Subscribe to PAKPAC E-Letter December 2008 |
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 PAKPAC Press Releases
PAKPAC Condemns Mumbai Terrorists Attacks Maryland, USA: Nov 27th: The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee strongly condemns the terrorist actions and the coordinated murderous attacks toward the innocent people in the city of Mumbai, India. These outrageous and cowardly actions should reaffirm the beliefs of all the peace loving people to join hands and work together to make violent extremists irrelevant in any and all societies. We join in with our fellow Indian Americans and all Americans in prayers and thoughts for the victims, their families and friends. We ask that in these challenging and highly emotional times communal harmony should prevail, and the Indian authorities do due diligence before pointing towards any one. We urge both Pakistan and Indian authorities to ensure that the peace talks and peace process continues to move forward even more swiftly. Not doing so would be playing into the hands of the terrorists, and both Indian and Pakistan people who are one of the biggest victims of terrorism should join hands and not let the terrorists win.  PAKPAC
CommunicationsPAKPAC Recommendations for President-Elect Barack Obama for South Asia Policy PAKPAC has released a policy position paper for President elect Obama's transition team regarding US policy in South Asia. US media and think tanks have been talking about Pakistan/Afghanistan to be major foreign policy challenges for President elect Obama. PAKPAC feels its opportune to work with upcoming Administration and Think tanks in developing a viable South Asia policy. There is a need to recognize that nurturing and strengthening the Pakistan-US relationship and escalation of economic aid must be a priority and a critical agenda of the President-Elect Obama. Please share your comments on PAKPAC policy.
Pls consider sharing your Qurbani meat with local homeless shelters. Contact your local government about location of homeless shelters in your area. PAKPAC Director Dr. Hina Chaudhry profiled in Esq Dr. Hina Chaudhry pioneering work on heart muscle tissue was profiled in the December issue of Esq magazine. The success of this heart repair technique could save millions of lives lost due to heart attacks. CMSA helping with Jobs on Capitol Hill Congressional Muslim Staffers Association (CMSA) is pleased to announce our call for resumes to be included in a CMSA Resume Book. It is an objective of the CMSA to increase diversity on Capitol Hill through the recruitment, retention and promotion of Muslims and people of color in staff positions throughout Congressional Offices and Committees. Eligibility for Resume Submission: Resumes are requested from individuals who: · Are U.S. Citizens · Display strong educational, professional, and social experiences relevant to a career in a fast paced, policy-focused, constituency-responsive work environment · Able to easily attend in-person job interviews in Washington DC, and to start work immediately upon hiring Resumes must be submitted to cmsa.resume@gmail.com. Resumes should be no longer than two pages in length and display your full name and contact information on both pages. Please attach your resume to an email as a word document. Congressional Positions: in the Subject heading of the email please include your full name followed by the position you are seeking. Example: Subject: Fatimah Hassan, Legislative Director Please use the following titles to classify the position you are seeking: · Chief of Staff · Committee - Professional Staff · Committee - Counsel · Legislative Director · Legislative Assistant · Press · Scheduling · Legislative Correspondent · Staff Assistant Resumes can also be submitted electronically for Senate positions.
PAKPAC Endorses Delegate Saqib Ali, the first Pakistani & Muslim to become a State Delegate in Maryland. Saqib Ali has worked actively with the Pakistani and Muslim Community in Maryland to address their concerns. For more details on Saqib Ali visit his website. Contribute to Saqib's campaign.
PAKPAC has more openings for active community members to join in and become Board of Directors. Email Nomination@pakpac.net Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee Board of Directors
LINKS PAKPAC Information |
MUMBAI BOMBING Read complete PAKPAC activities about Mumbai Bombing PAKPAC denounces the horrific Mumbai carnage. PAKPAC deplores the loss of innocent lives, including members of clergy. Mumbai Terrorists spared no faith including Muslims, according to one account 40 Muslims died in the Mumbai tragedy. PAKPAC is of the opinion that there is a strong imbalance in the media reporting of the details of the tragedy, including a haste to judgment. PAKPAC has initiated a strong campaign against this media bias, and have made representations to State Department and Department of Homeland Security. PAKPAC has also written numerous letters to members of community, presenting Pakistan's perspective. PAKPAC participates in State Dept & Homeland security Conf Call PAKPAC participated in a Conference Call with State Department and Dept. of Homeland Security as part of Incident Community Coordination Team. The purpose of this call with various community organizations was to proactively plan for any fall out from Mumbai tragedy into Indian American, Pakistani American, or Muslim American communities. Need for balanced reporting in media was stressed. It was also proposed to hold a meeting of various community leader under the auspices of State Department.
PAKPAC facilitates meeting of six Pakistani Organizations Officers of PAKPAC; Pakistani American Congress; Pakistani-American Leadership Center; Pakistani-American Association of Connecticut; Pakistani Association of Texas; Regional Presidents of Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America in a conference call unequivocally and unconditionally condemned the Mumbai attacks. They requested the media to provide balance reporting and not to pass judgment while all facts are still not available. It is to be noted that Pakistani's have suffered substantially from terrorists acts in loss of life and economic activity. Pakistan unfortunately is also suffering internally from a Talibanization like features. A sub-committee of the group is going to develop a position paper and op-ed to be submitted to American media. Outreach via the various Pakistani American organizations to pass this message and actions to all their members. It was decided to reach out to Indian American & Jewish American to maintain harmony amongst communities. A day on the hill is planned for February next year. PAKPAC Directors appear on National Radio talk shows providing Pakistan's perspective PAKPAC President appeared on VOA talk show along with US Indian Political Action Committee Sanjay Puri to discuss Mumbai Bombings. Listen to complete show audio.
PAKPAC Director Irfan Malik appeared on National Public Radio along with Asstt Secy (R) Karl Inderfuth, USINPAC Sanjay Puri. It was stressed by Inderfuth and Malik the importance of Pakistan being a strong ally in the war on terror. Listen to complete show audio.
Vigils for Mumbai Victims Houston: PAKPAC Director Zafar Tahir attended a prayer vigil in Houston TX, organized by the INDO-AMERICAN Community of Greater Houston.
Connecticut: PAKPAC President Saud Anwar attended a prayer vigil in Connecticut organized by Indians, Pakistani's and Jews.
Maryland: PAKPAC Director
Irfan Malik attended a prayer vigil in Rockville, MD organized by
the Indian American Community of Washington, DC &
Washington DC PAKPAC Director Irfan Malik visited Indian Embassy in Washington Dc to sign the condolence book for Mumbai tragedy. PAKPAC Letter to Pakistani Community PAKPAC Letter to American Community PAKPAC Letter to Indian American Community PAKPAC Letter to Indian Ambassador to US
Community Action Needed Reporting of Civil Liberty Violations In light of recent Mumbai tragedy. PAKPAC is working towards promoting peace and harmony amongst immigrant communities in USA. Please be vigilant of any loss of our civil liberties. Please report such incidents to PAKPAC. Report Pakistan visa issues PAKPAC has started a program with State Department to ease grievances of Pakistanis seeking US visas in Pakistan. According to State Department officials all applicants for US Temporary Visa are required to have an interview opportunity with the Embassy staff, and a probable reason for denial of visa must be provided to all rejected applicants. . Additionally State Department takes up measures to ensure the timely processing of visa applications for Doctors and students coming to USA for residency or studies purposes. Please report any departure from these policies to PAKPAC. Airport Screening TSA routinely conducts screening of passengers, if you feel you were subjected to a higher level of screening, or are routinely searched, or were refused to board an aircraft, then please report such incidents to PAKPAC. Airline security is important to all of us, but we want to make sure that our community is no unfairly burdened with such search. Fraudulent Immigration Lawyers The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has started a campaign to combat the increasing problem of notario fraud . Notarios or "immigration consultants" operate throughout the United States and use false advertising and fraudulent contracts for services which cannot be provided. They exploit the trust of immigrants who are new to this country, unfamiliar with our language and legal system, and who assume that a "notario" is a lawyer with a duty to protect their interests. Often, immigrants' permanently lose opportunities to pursue immigration relief because a notario has damaged their case. Many victims of such fraud are afraid to come forward and file claims in civil court, or their local State Attorney Generals office, for the fear of being deported. In some cases, individuals were deported while their case was pending. Please report such incidents to PAKPAC. Month's News & Activities PAKPAC Directors meet CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry
PAKPAC Directors Dr. Parvez Shah, Dr. Raza Bukhari, and Irfan Malik met Chief Justice(?) Chaudhry in Washington DC. CJ Chaudhry lauded the efforts of Pakistanis against despotism, dictatorship, brutality, tyranny and injustice. He recognized the efforts Pakistanis who stand for the principle that no one is above the law and all those Pakistanis. PAKPAC Directors reiterated the need of independence of Judiciary, PAKPAC asks for honest and credible Judiciary and justice system.
Sen. Clinton meets PAKPAC Director PAKPAC Director Noor Khan met with Secretary of State designee Hillary Clinton and discussed US-Pak relationship in the context of VP Joe Biden's proposal of Non Military Aid for Pakistan. Sen. Clinton assured Dr. Khan that she is supportive of Biden-Lugar bill. Civil Liberties Hate Crimes & Discrimination report ADC has released a hate crime report against Muslims and Arabs. Report found that while the rate of violent hate crimes against the community has continued to decline from the immediate post 9/11 surge, but remains elevated from the years prior to 9/11. However, Arab & Muslim Americans continue to face higher rates of employment discrimination in both the public and private sectors. Discrimination at airports based on stereotyping, over-zealousness or prejudice by airline personnel or even other passengers is now one of the main sources of discrimination. students continue to face significant problems with discrimination and harassment in schools. A campaign of relentless vilification by media against Muslims and Islam has been the single biggest contributor to the collapse in American public opinion of Islam. Operation front Line targeted Muslims ADC has asked Department of Homeland Security to provide details of a secretive government program dubbed “Operation Front Line,” ostensibly designed to prevent “terrorist” activity around the 2004 Presidential election, instead primarily targeted men from Muslim-majority countries without links to any national security-related activity, according to newly-released information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The program ran from October 2004 through the Presidential Inauguration in January 2005. The information was produced in partial settlement of a Freedom of Information Act suit by Yale Law School’s National Litigation Project. Pursuant to the settlement, ICE released data from a statistically significant random sample of the cases investigated under Operation Front Line. Key findings include:
Future Activities PAKPAC Directors to meet with Senator Bob Casey (D- PA) in New York on Dec 13th
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The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) is a nationwide, membership based, non-profit lobbying organization registered with the United States Federal Government. PAKPAC’s mission includes advancement and strengthening of U.S.-Pakistan relations. It is organized to be a unified voice on issues and concerns common to the Pakistani American community. PAKPAC’s focus includes an active environment to foster greater political and civic engagement amongst the Pakistani Americans. PAKPAC is also focused on collaborating with other regional and national Pakistani American organizations to ensue increased efficacy and reduced duplication of the stated goals. PAKPAC along with our affiliates is working to serve as a watch dog for inaccuracies and bias in media coverage about Pakistan and Pakistani Americans. We are also involved in educating media groups, journalists, politicians, academicians and members of think tanks about views of concern and importance to the Pakistani American community Info@pakpac.net www.pakpac.net |
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PAKPAC wishes its readers Eid Mubarik
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