The Americans have no choice but to profile everyone since Pakistanis have such a dismal track record.
BURLINGTON, VT, US: With reference to Javed Chaudhry’s article, Ejaz Haider had an even worse experience in Washington. Unfortunately, the Americans have no choice but to profile everyone since Pakistanis have such a dismal track record. MIT-educated scientists (Dr Aafia Siddiqi) are marrying al Qaeda operatives by their own admission and veteran journalists are spinning conspiracy theories with impunity. What do we deserve then — they can’t just single out imams with beards.
As a Pakistani-American I am questioned frequently about these issues but I bear this patiently as a price to pay for my homeland’s follies. As long as the officers are not rude there is little to whine about. They have a toll-free number where one can call and complain if someone is rude. I actually had a very positive experience at the US-Canadian border recently. My cousin wears a hijab and she forgot her handbag at a border post after passing through immigration. We were on our way by road to New York from Toronto and an hour after stopping at the post we got a call on my cell phone number telling us that my sister had left her bag. The officer did not panic or call the bomb squad, instead she told me not to worry and that the handbag would be sent to the mailing address given on the form. It arrived with nothing missing.
So there are lots of good stories as well at the border Mr Chaudhry
Saleem H Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2010.
