Kerry says he will stop jobs being outsourced to India and China if he becomes the new US president. So, the Indians will vote for Bush while the Pakistanis will vote for Kerry because he says he will cancel the Patriot Act
And let slip the dogs of spin as Senator Kerry and President Bush get at each other’s throats in their fight for the White House this November. Homogeneity not being the driving force in today’s most over-worked word, the Diaspora, Pakistanis of this dispersion are as schizophrenic in their political affiliations as their social and economic bearings — from an ascendant corporate star down to a grungy New York cabby, America is hostland to all kinds.
Zooming first on the rich and famous, of the desi variety, who trundled to America long ago, worked and went places, including the White House as invitees, this species of Pakistani-born, receding and scarce, is yet powerful enough to pull strings among the elite in Washington DC.
Asma Gull Hasan, not yet 30, with two books on Muslims in America, is an aggressive opinion-slinger on TV. At times a trifle shrill, yet effective enough, she knows well who her daddy is going to vote for, come this fall.
Dr Malik Hasan is a Bush man. And he has proved his loyalty by doling out large donations to the Republican Party. As a reward, the doctor from Denver who made it big — no, make it the biggest health maintenance foundation — wangles coveted invites to the White House dinner parties and is considered weighty enough to take wife, Seeme, along to the Bush’s Crawford ranch reserved only for FoBs (Friends of Bush).
“As a Muslim, I felt that it was wonderful that Saddam Hussein was removed,” raved Dr Hasan, squarely beating up the Ummah for its wantonness. “The rest of the Muslim countries were standing there doing nothing. Honestly, I wrote to the President and said I adored his accomplishments.”
The adoration of the Malik apart, a bit ago when his son became a victim of racial profiling, the cheery couple eschewed the humiliation slapped on their son, US-born and Americanized, like daughter Asma. Hasan Jr was surrounded by the police and detained at an airport without any apparent cause except for his colour and race. “The couple say they are still fans of Mr Bush,” reported the New York Times with tongue-in-cheek.
Racial profiling, the scourge of Bush administration’s Patriot Act that the President swears to make permanent, is veering many Pakistanis towards the JFK’s camp — that is John F. Kerry. “Muslims are very angry with Bush, his rhetoric from the day he took office was not only full of anti-Muslim buzzwords but frankly contemptuous of the entire Muslim world. His speeches seem to have the flavour of Tel Aviv rather than the Foggy Bottom ....” says a less sanguine Inayat Lalani, another physician who, unlike Hasan, is campaigning for ABB (Anybody But Bush).
Doggedly definitive in his goals, Lalani founded the American Muslim Caucus in Dallas, Texas, 13 years ago and has since shored up the Muslim numbers to influence the outcome as in the words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a few individuals can change the destiny of a nation. Indeed, it is only the few who have changed the course of the world.”
Far from changing the destiny of America, Lalani, as co-chair of the American Muslim Alliance, nonetheless stands firm in his beliefs: “Am I implying that Muslim vote can actually determine the outcome of American elections?” His answer: “Yes. In a close election, the Muslim vote will be the swing vote.” While Muslims cannot assure victory for Kerry, it can be a nip and tuck for Bush, he thinks.
Darn, but JFK’s buzzwords before some selected special interest groups with known animus toward Muslims and well-documented thirst for Arab blood — like madressah and Wahhabism — make Lalani queasy: “I am not a Wahhabi, by the way, but these disturbing utterances could give Muslim voters a pause.”
In America today there are 2.7-3 million Muslim voters, some 60 per cent are registered voters and South Asians constitute the largest voting block — 39pc.
Tossed in our desi Diaspora is Mansoor Ejaz — complicated and cocky — hooting away in his Yankee accent as Fox News political analyst, self-congratulating and back-patting: “I personally gave the Clinton and Bush administrations specific information (specific names) about the nuclear bazaar spawned by Pakistan.”
Whoa! The Pakistani American touts as having unfettered access to the highest in Pakistan and the US. “We must make the aid package to Pakistan conditional on Musharraf delivering every piece of document and information relating to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and its interactions with other countries,” he urges ingratiatingly.
He’s the lone wolf — Bush, his President, and America, his homeland, has waived all sanctions against Pakistan, clearing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid segueing in. Why do Pakistanis then wish Bush to get lost?
“If Pakistanis don’t recognize that America will use their country for whatever it is worth and then reimpose sanctions (there are always pretexts galore) to appease India at the earliest opportunity, then Pakistanis have a serious problem for which I know no cure,” is the cryptic response from Lalani who, by the way, comes from India and knows well India’s mindset against Pakistan.
Calling Colin Powell a “pathological liar”, Lalani reminds me, “Nations don’t have permanent friends or permanent enemies, just permanent interests.” He’s smart enough to wager, “It’s in America’s interest to have approving India on its side and that will not change in the foreseeable future.”
India’s ambassador to the United States, Lalit Mansingh, has loudly chided his host country for breaching trust when Powell, within 48 hours of holding talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi, went to Islamabad and made the announcement of Pakistan becoming a major Non-Nato ally.
Congressman Gary Ackerman is a ranking member of the House International Relations Committee. Pakistan is his bete noire. Spiking our newfound non-Nato status, the eleven-term (22 years) Democrat from New York has moved legislation against us on the Hill. Indians have cultivated this burly Brooklyn-born Jewish grandfather, who wears a white carnation in his buttonhole each day and lives on a houseboat named Unsinkable II while in Washington DC.
The disjointed and malfunctioning Pakistani community in New York is yodelling over three Democrat senators, raising $65,000 for them. Don’t ask! Ackerman cajoling, that’s what they should be doing by, say, ensuring his one-year supply of white carnations or hauling in designer stuff (we’re the best) from craftsmen in Pakistan to refurbish Unsinkable II anchored on the Potomac.
Are Pakistanis then a mere blip on the radar screen here?
More of this in a moment. Calling Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. If you happen to read this, please contact Gary at his houseboat and get working on him ASAP!
Back to the elections. Kerry says he will end jobs being outsourced to India and China if he becomes the new US President. So, now the Indians here will vote for Bush while the Pakistanis will vote for Kerry because he says he will cancel the Patriot Act. Hmm, ... interesting.
Kerry’s foreign policy adviser, Rand Beers (best friend and colleague to Bush’s whistle-blower, Richard Clarke, who has stung the White House with heaping 9/11 blame indirectly on Condi Rice and her boss, Bush), will not be any different to the present lot. And Kerry “at best, is an indifferent candidate ... his statements and interviews over the past weeks dealing with foreign affairs have been both vague and incoherent.”
“To be critical of Bush is scarcely justification for wishful thinking about Kerry. Since 1947, the foreign policies of the Democrats and Republicans have been essentially consensual on crucial issues,” writes Gabriel Kolko in Counterpunch. Shahid Ahmed Khan is gerrymandering for Kerry. “Please wake up,” he shouted to an apolitical audience, “I am here to get you activated ...” before he could complete his sentence, the guy was shouted off the stage. He’s also the chief trooper for the Pak-Millennium Conference, an event held here yearly.
Inayat Lalani labels these go-it-alone types as “pushing their own agenda, devoting a measly part of their time and money to their party, yet ending up having disproportionate share of power.”
Kerry says he will stop jobs being outsourced to India and China if he becomes the new US president. So, the Indians will vote for Bush while the Pakistanis will vote for Kerry because he says he will cancel the Patriot Act 
