A couple of examples would do nicely — I guess you’ve heard about all of them :

(1)An innocent young Brazilian whose only crime was he overstayed ( barely a capital offence per se ! ) and , who WASN’T behaving suspiciously, was mercilessly gunned down by trigger-nervous plainclothesmen of the London Metropolitan Police — because he LOOKED like an Asian — in a botched-up operation based on wrong intelligence in 2005 ; despite an attempt at cover-up, they were tried but not only they walked free, they all returned to firearms duties eventually !

(2) The same Mets ( London Metropolitan Police ) raided the home of two Bangladeshi “terror suspects” in East London in 2006 at the crack of dawn and shot one of them in the arm from a few feet away although they were unarmed, dressed in their nightclothes and not offering any resistance; nothing that can link them to terrorism was found in their home !

(3) Two men in their 20s were taken off a Malaga-Manchester flight at the insistence of the rest of the passengers ( who were mostly white ) EVEN after they were security-checked and a thorough search of the airliner revealed nothing unusual. Their crime ? They looked like Asians, were long-haired, wore thick jackets and spoke with each other in ‘what sounded like Arabic’! All very ‘suspicious’ without a doubt, but why dump them ,if they’re clean, simply because most of their fellow passengers won’t trust them ?

Islamic militancy is the scourge of the 21st century but it’s immensely clear now that it’s a Frankestein the West HELPED create : Osama Bin-laden and the Taliban would have been dead meat long ago, had the CIA not armed ALL Mujaheddin guerrillas with Stinger missiles , regardless of religious fanaticism, in Afghanistan in the ’80s !

Back to the core issue : if Britain is gripped by safety awareness gone mad, picture to yourself what Americans ( who have long developed a siege mentality ) can do ! The UK, BTW, is no stranger to terrorism but Irish air travellers were probably not taken off flights without a good reason in the darkest days of the IRA-led terrorism !

“Racial profiling” is not fool-proof : “shoe-bomber” was a WHITE Radical Islamist and the 7/7 terrorists sent a second team two weeks later that consisted of North Africans ! Only good intelligence — which is the best weapon to fight terrorism with — can prevent future attacks but “racial profiling” is a quick-fix thing that’s far easier to plan and carry out — and it keeps the public happy.

If you’re a young Asian ( or “Asian-looking” ) male ( females cannot be terrorists, apparently ), be prepare yourself mentally for some systemetic humiliation in the West no matter what your faith or nationality : blame it on your skin colour ! After all, shouldn’t you do your bit when it comes to making the world safe for WHITES ?

And what has followed has been almost equally striking: a public apology by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who defended the police, but criticized the Gray Line employees for overreacting, a message that for some has raised questions about just what a public frightened by terrorism is supposed to do with what they feel are legitimate worries. Yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg maintained his position, and told New Yorkers calling in their suspicions, “please don’t embellish what the facts are.” This was important, Mr. Bloomberg said, because the police respond to such threats with frightening force, and in the case of the five men who were detained on Sunday, he said, such a response had been “unwarranted.”

You tell ‘em, Mikey.

A flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to Boston early Tuesday because three Pakistani passengers were acting suspiciously, but nothing amiss was found and the three were released after questioning, authorities said.

United Airlines Flight 934 landed in Boston shortly before 3 a.m., Logan Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said.

The three Pakistani men were taken into custody and questioned after other passengers complained that they were moving about the cabin, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

”Some of the individuals were in first class and another was in coach,” and they were walking between the two sections, she said.

The full thing is here: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Flight-Diverted.html

i know that what i said is really harsh and non PC, so i thought hard before writing that, but I have experienced many of the same things you listed previously. I don’t have hard evidence to support my claims, hence, i prefaced my original comments w/ ‘based on my experiences’.

i guess i do see some overt differences between indian muslims and pakistani muslims here. I feel that indian muslims on the whole are a lot more welcoming and open to others and don’t necessarily make a distinction between being paki, bangla, or indian, i get the feeling they consider us one on the whole (yes there are exceptions). On the other hand, the pakistanis that I have come across for the most part do consider other desis based off religion and especially nationality. You have to walk on eggshells a bit more around them than you would indian muslims. It’s a lot harder to socialize or have real discussions w/ pakistanis w/o incensing them (that could be my cheery personality though ), whereas i have not had those issues w/ indian muslims. Also, in a business setting, i have seen Pakistanis go out of their way to first serve Pakistanis and then others. Also, for example, i have seen at my wedding and at other non muslim weddings, more indian muslims will take part to some degree in the festivities whereas the Pakistani Muslims will make it a point to let you know they think what you do is wrong, or is wrong for them to do. If they aren’t comfortable, fine, but they also don’t have to make a public stance against it either right?

however, my dad’s 2 best friends here are pakistani muslims and are the greatest people in the world, so what the hell do I know.

Can you back any of these generalizations up with some kind of evidence? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it’s hard to say you’re right about links to the political culture and everything else. Despite that we’re just commenters on a blog, at this point in time, it seems unfair and irresponsible to join the pile on on Pakistanis without some really strong evidence that what you’re arguing is the case.

I say this in part because my experience with the Pakistanis and Pakistani Americans has been vastly different: 1) welcoming 2) friendship 3) differences in class, language, and presumed sexuality differences making me feel alienated 4) watching self-serving self-appointed leaders kowtow to the American government and or their own interests and/or milk the press 5) observving fear and bitterness over targeted deportations that helped to severely undermine their biggest community 6) accusations of domestic violence against some of the men and 7) a really lame Independence day festival where there was no dancing despite music. Different people had different reactions; the subset above includes working class people I tried (largely fruitlessly) to help with immigartion problems, people I met through SALGA, friends who were also activists, leftists, moderates, Americans, uncles, and an aunty or two thrown in.

i really believe bcuz there is an inferiority complex amongst many Pakistani’s that one, they didn’t achieve independence separately from India on their own, it took india to secede from the british for Pakistan to exist at all. Two, I think it’s also bcuz Muslims in Pakistan are fascinated w/ power and conquest and being that Pakistan has always been run by religious law and religious pretenses coupled w/ frequent military coups, it sets the standard that power is to be attained at all costs. I know this is a radical explanation, but this is what I truly believe based off my experiences. My family has many Pakistani friends that are nice people, but they still make it a point to draw that ‘line in the sand’ that we are different from them, even though here in teh US, we all share very common cultural bonds. Sad

Funny thing is, this morning there were a group of Police-Men standing by a table conducting random searches of bags, briefcases and backpacks….I thought that they would stop me since I was a South Asian and was carrying a briefase that looked like it was stuffed (it was, with books)….but instead they smile and let me go and stop the Caucasian guy behind me who has this tiny little backpack, which looks pretty much empty. Go figure…..

I think one of the most bizarre experiences was when I was traveling to California, and they had pulled over this five year old kid and security was making him take off his sneakers and checking his clothes, all while his horrified parents looked on.

It’s a strange world we live in, and it’s easy to point the blame and hatred towards others. It’s happening on both sides. The real challenge is how to live with this and how to deal with ignorance, fear….hatred………..

Only a Punjabi guy from Birmingham could be so chilled out and relaxed about it – ahhh yes – salt of the Earth – capital city of bhangra (and falsely arrested tourists in New York) – have a glassy and raise a salute to the Brummies!

The five British tourists left town yesterday to continue their U.S. trip, and one said the Sunday incident didn’t spoil their time in the city. “These things happen, don’t they?” said the man, who gave his name as Jas, 39. “We have no hard feelings. It certainly made our trip different, but didn’t ruin it at all.” The tourists were all members of the Sikh religion who grew up together in Birmingham, England. Jas said he planned to return to New York in December to celebrate his 40th birthday. “I’m definitely coming back,” he said.

The jokes and stories will be doing the rounds in pubs across Handsworth and Wolverhampton soon – watch them transmute from being handcuffed politely to being chased by machine gun wielding FBI agents and Bruce Willis action sequences hahaha

So there was a similiar case just after 911 as well! More or less the same key words: crowded, popular – that raise red flags.

Quick – anybody here who has a close relative who’s a cop – raise your hands.

This is the most Orwellian thing I’ve read in a day full of sheep-like postings. It was HIS fault that he asked, Is it crowded?

Mmmmm – “fault” is dependent on the context of the situation. Or am I being too realistic?

I think too many folks here look at things as how they should be instead of how things actually are.

Maybe, say, if I’m shopping with a friend, and I tell her “that dress makes my thighs so fat, I want to kill myself”?!

It was the prevalent sense of humour that attracted me to this blog….

Stand up for something, man. Who brainwashed you, Ari Fleischer??

…but rhetorical branding may be thing that drives me away. But then, that would’nt be too bad, would it?

M. Nam