March 12, 2002	Tuesday	Zilhaj 27, 1422

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WASHINGTON, March 11: In the period following the Sept 11 attacks, there was an increase in bias-motivated incidents against Asian Pacific Americans, particularly Pakistanis and Indians, says a report released here on Monday to mark the six-month anniversary of the attacks.

The report, entitled Backlash: When America Turned on its Own, has been prepared by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPAIC), an advocacy group, and it warns also against a wave of draconian US government measures that send a message of intolerance and discrimination in employment, immigration and other policies.

The report says six months after Sept 11, what it means to be an immigrant in America has been transformed.

Certain immigrant communities, particularly those who are, or appear to be Muslim, such as people of South Asian backgrounds, are bearing the brunt of policies that threaten fundamental ideals of American liberty.

NAPALC and its affiliates tracked an “intense period of bias-motivated incidents victimizing Asian Americans” between Sept 11 and Dec 11, 2001. Unlike the hate crime incidents typically reported, which generally involve relatively young male offenders and male victims, the post-9/11 backlash victims and perpetrators included women, senior citizens, shop owners and even children. A significant number of incidents occurred in schools and in the workplace.

Vandalism and arson of small businesses were also reported. The majority of the attacks, occurring nationwide, involved South Asian Americans, and among them focused particularly on Sikh Americans.

The bias-motivated incidents included a high degree of physical violence, with approximately one in five victims suffering bodily injury from physical assaults (perpetrators used baseball bats, metal poles and guns as weapons).

Men with turbans and beards were vulnerable to attacks from assailants who accused them of being Osama bin Laden.

The report details many of the incidents in notable case studies and regional incident reports, including the murder of a Pakistani, Waqar Hasan, who was working in a