WASHINGTON, June 1: Pakistanis living in the United States have urged Congress to help fight the wave of backlash and discrimination they have faced since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The appeal, voiced at a special hearing on civil liberties, comes amid reports of increasing hatred against Pakistani and other Muslim communities living in the United States.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post published a full-page report on this issue, stating that many Pakistanis had to leave the country because of the discrimination they faced.

The hearing entitled “Past and Present: Safeguarding American Civil Liberties,” was chaired by Congressman Michael M. Honda and attended by seven other lawmakers.

Faiz Rehman, President of the National Council of Pakistani-Americans, represented the Pakistani community. James Zogby, President and CEO of the Arab-American Institute, Manjit Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh Media Watch and Resource Task Force and Deepa Iyer, Vice Chair, South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow represented their communities.

Immigration lawyers, human rights activists and representatives of the Japanese American community also expressed their views.

Highlighting the backlash against Pakistani-Americans in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, Mr Rehman also narrated the story of a young Pakistani who gave his life while trying to help the victims.

“Let me start my testimony today with a story of a young Pakistani American who, on Sept 11, sacrificed his life to save the lives of his fellow human beings; Salman Hamdani, a young paramedic technician, was four blocks away when the attacks on the twin towers took place. Instead of running away from the scene of the disaster, Salman ran toward it answering the call to duty as a paramedic. In the process, he, too, perished,” said Mr Rehman, adding that the Pakistani and Muslim Americans, too, were the victims of the terrorist attacks.

Mr Rehman raised the issue of the family of Waqar Hasan, who was shot to death in Dallas in a hate crime spree that followed 9-11 and also caused the death of a Sikh American in Arizona. Now the surviving family members face deportation as their green card proceedings ended with Mr Hasan’s death.

This was the first time that a Pakistani group was invited to offer testimony at a Congressional hearing.