News

PAKPAC remembers the sacrifices of 9/11 victims

PAKPAC joins fellow Americans and millions of people worldwide in marking the eighth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack in US history. We solemnly remember and honor those who lost their lives or loved ones that day. Muslim and Pakistani Americans were deeply affected by 9/11 tragedy and continue to face issues like hate crimes, profiling, arbitrary detentions and interrogations.

PAKPAC pledges to continue to be actively involved in protecting and strengthening our country and all the values for which it stands for including justice and equality for all.

PAKPAC wishes its readers EID MUBARIK.

With the conclusion of the blessed month of Ramadan, let us not overlook the continued sufferings of billions of under privileged fellow human beings.  PAKPAC reminds its readers that at the joyous festival of Eid-ul-Fitr to send help to Swat IDP's, who are still struggling to get their lives back together. 

PAKPAC applauds setting up of National Literacy Council in Pakistan

In a message on International Literacy Day, President Asif Ali Zardari announced setting up a high-level National Literacy Council “to ensure the launching of a well-coordinated and effective literacy drive throughout the country”

The Council aimed at promoting education would include Chief Ministers and federal and provincial ministers of education, finance and planning as its members. President Zardari urged the educational planners to adopt a multi-pronged strategy for eradication of illiteracy and provision of basic education to all including children, youth and adults. In the same message, the President also talked about recognizing free primary education as a fundamental human right in the Constitution of Pakistan.

Exhibition of Contemporary Pakistani Art at Asia Society New York

Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan brings to New York some of Pakistan’s most significant, provocative, and influential artists in the first U.S. museum survey exhibition of contemporary Pakistani art. The art is displayed at Asia Society  in New York City from September 10^th till Jan 3^rd 2010 is the first major survey of contemporary art from Pakistan to be presented by an American museum. Pakistan’s reputation in the contemporary art world has often suffered from a simplistic conception that it is a society inhospitable to free expression. The exhibition features the work of 15 artists, almost all of whom live and work in Pakistan. Most have passed at one time or another through the National College of Arts in Lahore, an influential force in the country’s artistic life

Although Pakistan frequently makes the headlines for very different reasons, its rich cultural heritage and vibrant contemporary art scene often go unnoticed. Pakistani civil society has a history of dissent and activism, which has often informed its art movements, its poetry, and its music. Art schools and art institutions in Pakistan are producing artists, educators, curators, and collectors, who are having an increasing impact in the art world and the media. Art practices vary widely, a reflection of the numerous visual legacies to which Pakistan is heir, including archeological finds from the Paleolithic era to the ancient Indus Valley civilization and Persian, Arab, Central Asian, and British colonial influences.

PAKPAC welcomes celebration of Iftar at Government Offices

From White House to Governor Mansions, Capital Hill to State Houses, Federal offices to County offices, iftar is becoming a  mainstream celebration for American Muslims and their fellow Americans.  At the White House Iftar, President Obama hosted notable Muslims and Secretary of Defense  Gates, Attorney General Eric Holder.  and  Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. President Obama reminded the audience that Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection.  It's a time of service and support for those in need. He recollected that the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country.  American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine.  Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens. President Obama committed  to   building a better and more hopeful world.

At the Capital Hill last week Congressional Muslim Staffers Association held an iftar. Over a dozen Congresspersons and Civil leaders greeted the participants. The iftar was attended by over 1000 people, with food donated by various Muslim embassies including Pakistan.

PAKPAC Press Releases

PAKPAC calls for Immediate Capacity Building of Pakistan Police force

Washington DC Sep 2nd 2009: PAKPAC condemns recent escalation in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Terrorists and anti Pakistan forces who have been on the run after the effective military operation in Swat Valley and Waziristan, are now regrouping  in discrete bands to create panic and insecurity amongst  law abiding citizens of Pakistan. Their objective this time is to spread fear amongst local police force. It maybe recalled few years ago similar tactics were used by terrorists in Iraq by bombarding police stations and police training camps. In the past few days alone the following terrorist initiated casualties have taken place

Sep 2^nd: Attack on Pakistan Religious Minister, killing his driver

Aug 31^st: 16 Police officers were killed in suicide bombing in Mingora, Swat at a Police station

August 28^th : 21 Local Tribal Police officers killed in suicide attack at Pakistan-Afghanistan border checkpoint.

This escalating situation of instability is unacceptable. In order to check further rise in terrorist attacks targeting innocent civilians and government entities, PAKPAC recommends following actions  to Pakistan  Government, US Administration,  and US legislators.

• Pakistan Government should strengthen local police force to combat escalating insurgency, especially with the upcoming Eid festivities

• Pakistan Government to apprehend and put to trial suspects of terrorist acts

• Pakistan Judiciary to take up and provide speedy judicial process in punishing terrorists for their acts

• US legislators to quickly pass legislation authorizing US assistance to Pakistan

• US administration to immediately implement  US economic assistance to Pakistan 

• US administration to allocate and direct a substantial portion of US military assistance to Pakistan towards meeting the needs and capacity building of local police force in Pakistan

Archived Press Releases

Spotlight

Tariq Farid - Founder of Edible Arrangements

Tariq Farid is founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Edible Arrangements International, Inc. (“EAI”), the industry leader in providing high quality, artistically designed fresh fruit arrangements.  Tariq is responsible for setting the company’s strategic direction and for the licensing of new franchises across the United States and internationally.

Tariq launched the first Edible Arrangements® store in 1999 in East Haven, Connecticut.  He was inspired by the convergence of three trends: Americans' growing consumption of fresh fruit, the robust growth in the specialty food market and the increasing amount of money Americans were spending on gifts. Edible Arrangements® was named one of America’s fastest-growing privately held businesses in America by Inc. magazine and one of the top franchise systems in Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500. Tariq has four pending U.S. patents for proprietary fruit-cutting equipment that he designed.

In February of 2009, Tariq was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the International Franchise Association, whose members include more than 1,300 franchise systems, 11,000 franchisees and 500 suppliers.  This award is presented to an individual who is building a successful business venture, demonstrates innovative management skills and is active in the community.

In June 2009 Tariq was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2009 Award in the Retail and Consumer Products category in Metro New York.  This award recognizes entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses and who demonstrate exceptional innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. 

As a teenager, Tariq worked in a local McDonald's for several years and it was here that he learned the power of business systemization. His entrepreneurial experience began in the late 1980s, when, at age 17, he used a $5,000 loan from his parents to purchase a local flower shop. Within two years, Tariq was operating four highly successful stores.

The first Edible Arrangements® franchise opened in 2001 in Waltham, Massachusetts. In ten short years, Edible Arrangements ® has grown to over 900 stores located throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Italy, Hong Kong, and other international markets.  Tariq’s involvement with franchisees has been a hallmark of the Edible Arrangements® franchise success story. He still spends time in the corporate store in North Haven, CT to stay in regular contact with customers, and to understand the day-to-day realities of running a retail store in an ever-changing marketplace and travels the county visiting stores and conducting “Owner’s Meetings.”

In 2006, Tariq launched Frutation by Edible Arrangements®. Frutation® is an all natural fruit station for consumers who are on the go. The menu includes a variety of delicious fruit treats that are made fresh right in front of the customer, such as Fruithy® (fresh fruit smoothies), fresh juices, fruit salads, Frusala® (spiced fruit salads), fruit sundaes and chocolate dipped fruit. Products are made from a combination of fresh fruit and other all natural ingredients. This concept is currently growing throughout the United States and internationally in high traffic shopping malls and other major metropolitan areas.

A self-taught computer whiz, Tariq designed all the computer systems that franchisees use in their day-to-day operation, including order processing, training manuals, production and profitability tracking, and supply chain management. In 2001, he founded Netsolace, Inc., located in Hamden, Connecticut.  Netsolace is a computer software distributor for the franchise industry.

Tariq Farid was born in Pakistan in 1969 and immigrated to the United States at age 11. He grew up in West Haven, Connecticut and became a U.S. citizen in 1986. He developed the Salma K Farid Academy, a non-profit learning and community center, to honor the wishes of his late mother whom he credits as the inspiration for his success, and the Salma K Farid Foundation to provide for those in need.

Future Activities

PAKPAC meeting with USCIS - Sep 18th  Washington DC

PAKPAC Event Oct 19 & 20, Washington DC - United States and Pakistan Enhanced Partnership Role of the Pakistani American Community

Events & Activities

Congressman Cummings holds second Pakistan Focus meeting

Congressman Cummings (D-MD) opened the second Pakistan focus meeting with guest speakers Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, President of Middle East Institute, and Mr. James Beaver Director USAID for Pakistan  on Sep 9th at Capital Hill, Washington DC. The meeting was organized by Nayab Siddiqui, Congressman Cummings and Ambassador Holbrooke staff. About twenty five Pakistani Americans attended the meeting, including PAKPAC BODs, Ray Mahmood , Parvez Shah, Faiz Rehman, and Irfan Malik.

Ambassador Chamberlin presented an overview of Pakistan’s current status with respect to democracy, governance, economic health, Army/Politician rivalry, and US-Pakistan relations, especially trust deficit.

Mr. Beaver in his presentation showed a keen interest for USAID to work with Pakistani American NGO’s and Pakistani contractors. He admitted that USAID currently does not have the needed human capital to take on the USAID program in Pakistan, which is the second largest assistance program in world after Afghanistan). USAID is committed to projects in education, health, create jobs in private sector, women development, agriculture (cold storage) etc, developing governance or rule of law, and increase trade with neighbors. Mr. Beaver committed to future meetings with Pakistani Americans and is looking for means to improve communication between USAID and Pakistani Americans.

PAKPAC President and BOD meet with Ambassador Robin Raphel

PAKPAC President Dr. Saud Anwar and BOD’s Ray Mahmood and Irfan Malik met with Ambassador Robin Raphel Special Representative to Pakistan at State Department. Also present at the meeting were Nayab Siddiqui and Shamila Chaudhry. The meeting was arranged by Ray Mahmood to apprise Ambassador Raphel about the viewpoints of Pakistani American Community. Ambassador Raphel mentioned that Kerry Lugar Bill which is in the final stages of deliberations in Congress (she commented that this bill was initiated in 2005) shows long term interest of US in Pakistan. Initial money will be allocated to energy projects aimed at improving current power generation and distribution systems.  Most of Kerry Lugar money will flow through Government of Pakistan; a small amount will go to NGO’s.  Some money will be allocated for improving governance in Pakistan. Ambassador Raphel asked PAKPAC to work towards image improvement of US in Pakistan and vice versa, for the former it was suggested that we setup a visitor program where Pakistanis when they visit home they can do some seminars and town halls about their living experience in US. Additionally, the possibility of setting up short time teaching opportunities for Pakistani Americans in Universities in Pakistan was also discussed. There is not much interest at this time in “signature” US projects in Pakistan.

Ambassador Raphel asked PAKPAC to help USAID in finding qualified Pakistani Americans to provide oversight and manage USAID projects in Pakistan, they need individuals with Project Management skills. There is also a need and interest for developing a LinkedIn type database for Pakistan Americans.

PAKPAC meets with Alejandro Mayorkas Director of USCIS

PAKPAC BOD Shehzad Akhter met with Alejandro Mayorkas Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington DC. PAKPAC inquired about the long waiting times and false positives on watch lists for US citizenship applications for Pakistani Americans. Director Mayorkas, himself a naturalized citizen, discussed the need for USCIS to be transparent and consistent in the application of their policies.  Moreover, he discussed the real world application of immigration policies and how it affects the average immigrant.   The substantive topics discussed included the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), E-verify, bureaucratic delays in the applications process and false positive matches on watch lists.

PAKPAC has been asked to  comment and provide input for draft Immigration forms. PAKPAC would be participating in various town hall meetings planned by USCIS across the country in NY, CA, and WA.

Concert at United Nations Hall to benefit Swat IDP's

The United Nation Headquarters and the United Nations General Assembly in New York changed in the minds of many people, when people of various backgrounds flocked in to a concert arranged by Salman Ahmed of Junoon. The usual  image of United Nation is that of world leaders discussing and identifying solutions to the various political challenges in the world. The images on Saturday evening was that of group of people of all various backgrounds coming together with United Purpose of highlighting the plight of the people of Swat in Pakistan.  These various individuals joined in at the request and because of their respect and friend ship with a visionary Pakistan Guitar player Salman Ahmed of Junoon. Many well-known international singers performed in the three-hour event in the General Assembly building filled to capacity. Most songs dealt with themes of peace, nonviolence and humanity.

The guests and speakers included Denmark's award-winning hip-hop group "Outlandish”, Singer Sting, Deepak Chopra, Jeff Skoll (the first president of Ebay, philanthropist and owner of independent socially responsible movie Production Company) , Bobby Sager (entrepreneur turned fulltime philanthropist ), UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, who was one of the main force behind the event. The beautiful evening ended with a few songs by Salman Ahmed which brought the crowd to their feet. Seeing all the audience doing Bhangra at the UN General Assembly was something that one cannot usually imagine until they actually see it. The event was attended by many PAKPAC board members including Dr. Saud Anwar, President of PAKPAC, Dr. Salman Malik, Ray Mahmood, Faiz Rehman and others. PAKPAC called this a historic evening where people joined in from all over to unite to help the people of Pakistan. They encouraged all fellow Pakistani Americans and All other Americans to join forces and strengthen people doing some good work for Pakistan. PAKPAC members encouraged community members to visit Salman and Samina philanthropy work website www.ssgwi.org

Maryland Governor Martin O' Malley holds iftar at Governor's Mansion

Maryland Governor Martin O' Malley opened his home to about 150 Muslims of Maryland for an iftar on Sep 8th.  This is the third iftar at Governor's mansion arranged by Maryland Muslim Council. Anwer Hassan President of the Council thanked the Governor for nominating more than 32 Muslims to Board and Commissions positions. PAKPAC BOD Irfan Malik attended the event and highlighted  the contribution of Maryland Muslims and in particular Pakistani Americans in the fields of medicine, entrepreneurship, small business, and IT.  Iftar was attended by Governor's wife  Katie O' Malley , Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, and first Muslim Maryland State Delegate Saqib Ali.

Immigration

Federal Contractors Required to Use E-Verify 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reminding federal contractors and subcontractors that effective Sept. 8, 2009, they will be required to use the E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States.

E-Verify, which compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal government databases to verify workers’ employment eligibility, is a free web-based system operated by DHS in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). The system facilitates compliance with federal immigration laws and helps to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps employers avoid employing unauthorized aliens.

The E-Verify federal contractor rule extends use of the E-Verify system to covered federal contractors and subcontractors, including those who receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.  Applicable federal contracts awarded and solicitations issued after Sept. 8 will include a clause committing government contractors to use E-Verify. 

Companies awarded a contract with the E-Verify clause after Sept. 8 will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date.  E-Verify must be used to confirm that all new hires, whether employed on a federal contract or not, and existing employees directly working on these contracts are legally authorized to work in the United States.   More information on the program is available on the E-Verify Web site at www.dhs.gov/e-verify.  E-Verify customer support is also available by calling toll free (888) 464-4218

USCIS Issues Guidance for Surviving Spouses of U.S. Citizens

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today issued guidance on requesting deferred action for surviving spouses of U.S. citizens who died before the second anniversary of their marriage. Surviving spouses qualify for this temporary program if they were married to, but not legally separated from, their U.S. citizen spouse at the time of that spouse’s death; did not remarry; and are currently residing in the United States.

Surviving spouses qualify for deferred action regardless of whether the U.S. citizen spouse filed a Form I-130 petition for them. Surviving spouses may ask to have their qualifying children included in their deferred action request. To be considered a “qualifying child” of a surviving spouse, the child must be younger than age 21 or otherwise qualify as a child when the deferred action request is submitted; currently reside in the United States; and be unmarried.

For additional information about this and other immigration services, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283, or visit our Web site, http://www.uscis.gov. 

Civil Liberties

PAKPAC submits recommendations for  Dept of Justice Reference Guide

PAKPAC submitted its recommendations for Department of Justice’s sub department Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Reference Guide about Arabs and Muslims which is  used by Law enforcement agencies.  PAKPAC suggested some additions to the pamphlet clarifying some of the misconceptions about  Muslims and Islam. PAKPAC also suggested corrections to various errors and omissions in the pamphlet. Complete recommendations can be read here.