Pakistani Americans declare war on terrorism

Sacramento's Pakistani Americans declare war on terrorism
http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2010/05/pakistani-americans-declare-war-on.html

Three ways of looking at the situation;

As Muslims we need to continue to remain alert, if we have an inkling of some one who 'wishes' to hurt another being, it is our religious duty to pounce on him/her and stop it at once unequivocally. The Quraan says saving one life is like saving the whole humanity. The only sin God does not forgive is shirk, that is assigning some one to do God's job; one of them is to give life and take life. This is where we need to do our Jihad, to prevent a Bin Laden or another idiot to take over God's job. This is Shirk, unforgivable by God.

We need to send a clear signal to the terrorists, what the Muslims in Mumbai had done - deny burial in a Muslim cemetery if there is one. Let them know clearly that they are not welcome among Muslims, who the hell they think they are, God? No Muslim should tolerate any one to do God's job, it is a shirk to give another person the status of God.

As Americans we need to treat these guys as common criminals, and should resist the temptation of labeling them a Muslim or a Pakistani, what is the point, blame the man and not his family, school, city, religion or country? We need to do a study if these idiots do it for glory, if they do, we should not give them any, and there should not be any incentive to them.

As a civil society, we need to encourage open conversations across America, let people express their frustrations and share what is on their mind.

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, writer and an activist of Pluralism, Justice, Islam, India and Civil Societies. He is a conflict mitigater and a goodwill nurturer offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. http://www.mikeghouse.net/

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Sacramento's Pakistani Americans declare war on terrorism

http://www.modbee.com/2010/05/08/1158741/sacramentos-pakistani-americans.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=923310#Comments_Container

By Stephen Magagnini - smagagnini@sacbee.com

Sacramento's Pakistani American community Friday declared war on terrorism – whether it's in Pakistan or homegrown.

At the downtown Muslim mosque, several dozen local leaders thanked God for the quick arrest of Pakistan-born U.S. citizen Faisal Shahzad in connection with the attempted Times Square car bombing before anyone was hurt.

Bashir Choudry, president of the Pakistani American Association of Sacramento, and other leaders expressed sadness that another Pakistani American has been linked to terrorism. Choudry said the community will do whatever it takes to root out terrorism.

That includes working with law enforcement, creating a Pakistani studies program at UC Davis to teach people about Pakistan's problems and potential, and lobbying U.S. lawmakers to promote stability, transparency and democracy in Pakistan.

Businessman Farrukh Saaed asked all community members "to help law enforcement find and prosecute these criminals – anyone who hears about suspicious behavior needs to come forward to try to stop it initially at the grass-roots level before it becomes something big."
"We are all together in defeating forces trying to hurt or damage the American way of life – peace, justice and freedom," Choudry said.

Community leaders said they'd support the Department of Homeland Security's plan to monitor travel between the United States and Pakistan. "We will cooperate as long as there's a good reason and it's not racial profiling," Choudry said.

The Rev. David Thompson, president of Sacramento's Interfaith Service Bureau, noted that the man "who found the smoking SUV and saved the day was a Muslim." True Islam is peaceful, "not this radicalized violence in the name of Islam," Thompson said.

Sacramento's 15,000 Pakistani Americans – whose roots in Northern California go back to 1895 – include doctors, lawyers, professors and philanthropists, said longtime community leader Rashid Ahmad.

"We have an obligation to educate our own people and American society about the true nature, problems and potential of Pakistan," said Ahmad, who supports a Pakistani Studies program at UC Davis and plans to invite the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court to California.

Not only have Pakistanis laid down their lives to battle terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan Ahmad said, "our relatives in Pakistan face a daily onslaught from terrorist bombings."
To help Pakistanis solve their own problems, "Pakistani Americans have an obligation to communicate with our government in the U.S. to not give money, but support democratic forces, transparency, good government and good education," Ahmad said.

Times Square suspect Shahzad, the son of a decorated aviator in the Pakistani air force, is an unemployed financial analyst from the suburb of Shelton, Conn. He allegedly hatched the car bomb plot after numerous trips to Pakistan where he was trained by radical elements in the Pakistani Taliban.

Haseeb A. Rana, an IT manager at Intel in Folsom, expressed the frustration shared by many Muslims when Americans are linked to terrorism in Pakistan.

Lodi's Hamid Hayat was convicted of lying about attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2007.

In 2003, the "Lackawanna Six," Yemeni Americans from New York who attended an al-Qaida jihadist camp in Pakistan, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.

"There are a lot of people like me who want to help but we don't know what to do – a good Muslim will never hurt anybody," Rana said. "We have to ask more questions so we can diagnose this cancer and find a cure."

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