Pakistani-Americans have expressed outrage at a statement by Pakistan’s Attorney General in
Pakistani-Americans have expressed outrage at a statement by Pakistan’s Attorney General in which he implied that Pakistanis who take United States citizenship remain loyal to Pakistan, despite taking the oath of allegiance to the U.S. Some worry that it will feed into American suspicions about their loyalty to their adopted home.
Pakistan’s Attorney General, Irfan Qadir, made the controversial statement in Pakistan’s Supreme Court on May 25 during a hearing on the dual citizenship of Farahnaz Isfahani, the wife of Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the U.S. Isfahani, a U.S. citizen, was a member of Pakistan’s National Assembly, the country’s lower house of parliament, but the court suspended her parliamentary membership on the grounds that she had sworn allegiance to a foreign country.
The Pakistani-American community’s leading Urdu weekly, Pakistan Post, took issue with Qadir’s statement, saying that it created the impression that Pakistanis living in the US are forced to become U.S. citizens, and that they are more loyal to Pakistan than the U.S. even after becoming naturalized. The newspaper recorded the reaction of Pakistani-Americans to Qadir’s statement in a nationwide survey, wrote a scathing editorial, and published an opinion piece by a noted Pakistani American columnist, Dr. Manzur Ejaz.
M. R. Farrukh, the newspaper’s correspondent, surveyed 180 Pakistanis during the May 26-28 annual convention of Islamic Circle of North America in Hartford, CT. The paper summed up the survey’s findings:
The majority of the respondents said Pakistani politicians and officials must not drag Pakistani-Americans into their domestic politics. Americans of Pakistani origin adopted this country because of the liberties and opportunities that the US offered and not a single Pakistani received his or her US citizenship under duress. Pakistan’s Attorney General must apologize for wrongly portraying the Pakistani American community.
The paper also published the statements of some of the respondents.
“I believe no Pakistani American opts for U.S. citizenship out of compulsion. People may want to become US citizens because of the opportunities that this country offers,” said ICNA president Dr. Zahid Bukhari.
Another prominent Pakistani-American and a former president of the Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America, Dr. Mehmood Alam, said Pakistani politicians should show more care while commenting on Pakistani communities overseas. He said every American of Pakistan origin took pride in being a citizen of this great country.
In an editorial, the Pakistan Post condemned Qadir’s statement.
Through his shameful statement, the Attorney General has reflected the flawed thinking of some in the Pakistani establishment that Pakistani Americans are their foot soldiers who are more loyal to the country of their origin than the one they adopted, and who can be used against the U.S. when needed. They wrongfully assume that Pakistani-Americans share their self-defeating global vision, which has already thrown Pakistan into international isolation.
The editorial describes the Pakistani-American community as first American and then Pakistani, and asks the government in Islamabad to disown the AG’s statement.
We believe that the attorney general is an enemy of the Pakistani state, who is portraying overseas Pakistanis as traitors to the countries they have adopted permanently, and which have given them security, freedom, financial independence and unlimited opportunities.
The U.S.-based Pakistani community must condemn the AG’s statement and send a clear signal that we may have our friends and relatives in Pakistan, but we remain as loyal to the U.S. as anybody else.
The Pakistani-American columnist Dr. Manzoor Ejaz, in a separate opinion piece in Pakistan Post, says that Qadir’s statement could raise American suspicions about Pakistani-Americans.
Qadir’s statement has done great harm to the Pakistani-American community and has even disgraced them. His statement could be used against Pakistani-Americans in any court of law in the U.S. to portray them as traitors.
Pakistani-Americans or Pakistanis who have become citizens of other countries should not become members of the Pakistani parliament. They should not be part of any Pakistani state institution. It’s natural that holders of dual citizenship have dual loyalties. They become suspects in the country of their origin and the country of their adoption every time they join a state institution in Pakistan. It is especially important in the context of complex Pakistan-U.S. relations that the Pakistani state doesn’t employ non-resident Pakistanis in state institutions. Non-resident Pakistanis must also avoid jobs which create questions about their loyalties.