Hell is... to be a Pakistani American

Chidanand Rajghatta


Couple of weeks back, US state department spokesman P J Crowley dropped a clanger that should have been a strict no-no in the Foggy Bottom rulebook. He compared, obliquely though, Pakistani-Americans with Indian-Americans . Pakistani-Americans , he suggested at a briefing, should strive to follow Indian-Americans when it comes to improving ties with the United States. Just as the Indian diaspora in the US played an affirmative role in terms of strengthening bonds between the two countries , Pakistan-Americans should take the same route to build ties between Islamabad and Washington.

There was nothing provocative or incendiary in what Crowley said; he clearly meant it in a constructive , positive way. But as any South Asian expert worth his or her salt will tell you, it’s bad form to imply Indians are somehow better at something, much less ask or suggest that Pakistan follow India in any respect — although the Pakistanis do it all the time. This is especially true in the US, where each Indian organisational effort is followed by a Pakistani imitation (such as associations for physicians , political action committees, aid foundations etc — each Indian-American effort has a Pakistani clone). Crowley was preaching to the converted, but as far as Pakistanis are concerned, it was offensive to be told to do as Indians do.

Despite some talk of common heritage by the liberal “South Asian” lot, many Pakistanis dislike being clubbed with Indians in the US. Some of them don’t like being subsumed under the South Asia rubric (this is also true of many Indians, who are even more resentful of having their distinct Indian identity swallowed by the recent “South Asian” entity.) Over the years, Pakistani-Americans have made strenuous efforts to carve a distinct identity, including campaigning to be counted separately in the US census like Indian-Americans are (Pakistani-Americans were earlier counted under the broader other ethnicities category). So to have Crowley appear to undermine this effort must have been a bummer.

In any case, Faisal Shahzad was probably past caring by then, if he was listening at all. Around the time Crowley was making his point, the young engineer was rigging up his crude bomb and casing Midtown Manhattan looking for right place to park the Nissan Pathfinder (Incidentally, the best gag to come out of the whole episode: How did Faisal Shahzad find parking in Times Square on a Saturday night?) As it turned out, the bomb fizzled, but for now, it has torpedoed the US administration’s carefully designed route to walk Pakistan back into the international mainstream and heal the post 9/11 trauma of Pakistani-Americans .

Because, make no mistake, for all the talk of common heritage, language, food etc, Americans see Indians very differently from Pakistanis in the US (as Crowley indicated). Indians are a stunning success, the best-educated , highest-earning , frequently-overachieving ethnic group in the country. Whenever they see Indians, Americans see IT — information technology — or similar high-funda stuff that they fear will take away jobs (although much of it is lowgrade work). And when they see Pakistanis? Also IT — except, it stands for international terrorism. “These days when I hear of a terrorist plot, I can count back from 10, and before I get to zero, someone will bring up the P word."



It’s not that there are no Pakistani-American success stories or Indian-Americans taking to crime. But over the course of the past two decade, starting with the first world trade center bombing, Pakistanis have gradually earned a reputation for herapheri — what began as a small time terrorist capers in India now has international dimensions. In more than a dozen incidents of terrorism across the world in the last couple of decades, the principals have either been Pakistanis or the trail has led to Pakistan.

Meantime, Indians have serenely chosen to build on their economic success. Last week’s incident provided a stark contrast between Indian and Pakistani achievement in the US. While young Faisal Shahzad joined the ranks of the Ajmal Kasab and others in the world's rogues gallery, a young Indian-American attorney , Preet Bharara, was readying to put the MBA grad+suburban dad on the mat. And even as that story picked up pace, Harvard Business School announced that IIT-ian Nitin Nohria would head the Harvard Business School. As much as it is a good time to be an Indian abroad, it is hell to be a Pakistani.

chidanand.rajghatta@timesgroup .com