Little Pakistan: Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue

An excellent article, Feroz.

It is good to see how you detach from your other persona in the articles you write.
When I lived in NY, LP was still growing. I went there couple of times to look for some special food. The culture was almost alien to me as I was raised in Karachi and Hyderabad and was not familiar with the Mirpuri or the central Punjab culture. Still, it was fun to go there when the craving for the Pakistani food became almost unbearable. Another area that I visited often was also somewhere in E. Brooklyn too. I can’t remember the name of the street now.

After the 9-11, I read a few articles in some papers about LP and then I looked at a web site of some South Asian volunteers, both Indians and Pakistani kids, from either queens or LI who were taking care of Pak families in the CIA-Brighton beach neighborhood.

Many assume that most of the Pakistanis in the US are from a middle class background but the community demographics of NY, Chicago, LA, and Houston dispel that notion quickly. All these metro areas are dominated by people who reached here just to provide livelihood to their families back in Pakistan and later moved families here.

Due to their educational background and other social pressures, these groups turned to religion to create the communal cohesiveness thus providing an opening for some of the most orthodox Muslim preachers and uneducated moulvis to take up the mantle of the community leaders. The constant refrains from these community leaders ensured that the folks stop looking beyond the community and the social structure available to them in the US society is not fully availed of.

That leaves the kids with the same mindset that their parents brought with them. The mullah in the mosque further pollutes any growth by shoving the inane religious concepts in to kids’ heads, thus thwarting any avenue of the normal growth and adjustment in the society.

This is almost a repeat of what took place in the mirpuri communities in England, leading to the rise of extremely parochial and convoluted dogma among the kids that prevented them from becoming a part of the mainstream without sacrificing their cultural heritage or the pride in the community. Now all they have left is the community and the mainstream in UK has pretty much shunned them. That means it will take at least couple or more generations to bring them back in to the UK mainstream.

Here in the US, if the same trend continues we may see another generation of Pak growing up with alienating social and community behavior. The only redeeming feature is that the Pak community in the US is not as large as in UK. Still, I think there has to be some intervention now from the middle class Pak in the major metro areas or the US social services are made aware of the possible problems in future.

Kul,

This is great ... the reason I still visit chowk. Have lots and lots to say .... will definitely interact. Eagerly waiting for a fantastic discussion .... yes, with all the maa-behen etc.

Regards

GT.

Kul, were the CIA pakis rounded up and sent off or did the leave voluntarily?

Actually, the glaring difference between the US and UK wrt to pakistanis is that the US demands integration as a melting pot and doesn't cater to multiculturalist whims of separate but equal.

Kul,

I went through your article again (I hardly read FP articles now-a-days) and also went through HP's interact. Of late, I have been writing on networks (groups, tribes) here in chowk ... pertaining to (1) insurance; (2) migration (e.g Mexican "Paisanos"). You provide a nice and short description of a particular "network". What you highlight here, and something which I did not pay attention to earlier, is the potential fragility of a net-work vis-a-vis exogenous socio-political "shocks" (9/11 in your article). You (and especially HP) also highlight how cohesion is provided through religios (social) norms.

I would like to know if you see any internal dynamics (as opposed to exogenous shocks) in todays Little Pakistan which would lead to it getting disolved in the future. After all, the jews did fade away from what is Little Pakistan today.

(Sorry for sounding pseudo-academic).

A lot of them were deported...others left because they were scared shitless..

right after 9/11, a lot of pakis were deported from the DC area too..in a lot of cases, rival pizza joints ratted out each other's illegal paki workers..


Deportation surge leaves void in Brooklyn's Little Pakistan

By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff | August 14, 2005

NEW YORK -- Business in his modest grocery store in Brooklyn's Little Pakistan has gone down so much that Shafiq Ul Hassan has started stocking what he calls ''American foods" in a desperate attempt to attract different customers. Across from the baby goat meat and the pungent ingredients for curry powder, the immigrant shopkeeper has placed candy bars and loaves of white bread.

''You see how empty the store is. This would normally be packed with Pakistani people," Hassan said, sighing. ''A lot of people have left. Most have gone back home or another state. You just don't see people anymore."

Many of Hassan's Pakistani customers, and possibly 20 percent or more of the neighborhood's residents, have disappeared as a result of a crackdown on undocumented immigrants that the federal government has waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Waves of new enforcement programs with names like Operation Community Shield, Operation Predator, and Operation Tarmac produced a record 161,676 deportations nationwide last year, a surge of 60 percent since 2000, and a similarly large increase also has occurred in New York City.

Immigration specialists and residents of Little Pakistan, part of the Midwood section of Brooklyn, say the devastating impact the operations have had on this tiny swath of Brooklyn to some extent mirrors the effect on other Muslim or Arab communities across the nation.

Although Pakistan is an ally of the United States, the Muslim country is also considered a hotbed of Islamic extremism, which has led FBI and immigration agents to knock on many doors in Brooklyn, looking for people it believes pose a potential threat to national security. Brooklyn has the largest concentration of Pakistanis in the country.

The new enforcement programs are part of the federal government's crackdown on an estimated 445,000 illegal immigrants in the country who have evaded deportation orders, as well as undocumented workers employed in areas of national security such as airports and nuclear power plants, officials said. While the number of Muslim and Arab deportations is still relatively small compared with those involving Latin American immigrants, they have been growing rapidly.

Marc Raimondi, spokesman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the initiatives also have helped the government capture a range of lawbreakers, including violent gang members, drug smugglers, and sexual predators, as well as undocumented immigrants.

''In order for a nation to have national security, one of the things it must have is an immigration system with integrity. We must prioritize our efforts to get those who we feel pose the greatest threat to national security and public safety. We have done that through a number of initiatives and programs," Raimondi said.

Federal officials, for example, point to Operation Predator, which they say has helped the government sweep up 7,000 illegal residents accused or charged with sexual crimes nationally. Of those arrested, 2,100 have been sent back to their home countries. Six thousand people have been arrested so far under Operation Community Shield, many of them gang members who smuggle people or drugs into the country, according to federal officials.

''If you smuggle a person looking for a job for profit, you could easily smuggle a terrorist," Raimondi said.

Besides Mexican and other Latin Americans, Pakistanis represented the group most affected by the crackdown, both nationally and in New York City. About 500,000 people with Pakistani ancestry are in the country, with more than 120,000 of them in New York City, according to city officials and Pakistani diplomats.

''There is pressure on Pakistani communities because of people's apprehensions that they might be questioned by the law enforcement agencies and they might go through extensive scrutiny. So yes, it has affected communities, especially Brooklyn," said Mansoor Suhail, a spokesman for Pakistan's mission to the United Nations.

Community leaders in Little Pakistan estimate that since the terror attacks, 4,000 residents have been arrested, detained, or deported, and 15,000 Pakistanis have left New York City during that time, according to Pakistan's government.

Once a bustling neighborhood where Pakistani restaurants were packed with customers and the mosque overflowed with worshipers on Fridays, Little Pakistan has lost some of the energy it had when there were at least 40,000 residents and as many as 100,000, based on the estimates of the Pakistani government and community leaders.

''It's quieter. People stay in. . . . Everyone is scared," said Shahid Ali Khan, who was arrested in May and held in a detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., for five days until he received a temporary reprieve. Now, he worries about his wife and 10-year-old son, both of whom recently received deportation orders.

Along Coney Island Avenue in the Midwood section, men in white skullcaps still gather for a chat on the sidewalks and women in headdresses handle grain in grocery stores. The smell of beef kababs and smoked tikka waft along the avenue, but fewer people go inside restaurants for lunch. Men head to Friday afternoon prayers as they have done for decades, but the mosque receives only a third of the worshipers it once did, a neighborhood activist said.

Russian and Latino immigrants are beginning to move into the apartments and stores left behind by Pakistanis. Overall, business in Little Pakistan is down 50 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Council of Peoples Organization, a resettlement house on Coney Island Avenue.

Many Pakistani residents, who settled in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1980s, worked as bankers and doctors in their homeland but found themselves working as laborers and shopkeepers in the United States. Some came on work visas, but many others arrived illegally, residents say. Still, the community thrived until 2001. The government began the controversial program in 2003 that mandated males 16 and older from 24 predominantly Muslim countries to contact the nearest immigration office. ''It was so bad," said Khan.

Because of that and other enforcement actions, some fearful residents decided to leave New York rather than face questions by agents. Mohammad Razvi, founder of the Council of Peoples Organization, recalled a barber leaving his shop without notifying anyone. A video clip of the abandoned shop shows the lights on and brushes and combs left on the tables as if the owner was returning the next day. Later, ''He called and said, 'I am in Canada, and I am not coming back,' " Razvi said.

Thousands have been left in legal limbo or picked up. Khan, 48, who was nearly deported in May, came to this country eight years ago so that his son Mansoor could have heart surgery. The day federal agents arrived with a deportation order, Khan, a former banker in Pakistan, was working as a laborer, but his wife was home dressing their son, who is in a wheelchair and suffers spasms. Khan said one agent was so touched by the mother and disabled son that he later told him, ''You are not the type of people we are looking for, but we have to do what we have to do."

Khan, a polite man who still wears the starched attire of a banker, said things are a little better for now, but he is unsure about his family's future.

The crackdown continues to affect the neighborhood. On Tuesday, Razvi was trying to help a cabdriver who had been called by a federal immigration agent. The next day, Razvi sat in his chair looking drawn and sad. The cabdriver, whose work visa had allegedly expired, had been picked up by authorities but not deported.

Razvi sees hope for Little Pakistan, though. While business is not improving, at least it is not getting worse. He also said federal agents are no longer searching for anyone who might lack proper immigration papers, and instead are targeting certain individuals who have overstayed their visas.

Established residents like Hassan, who has owned his grocery store for nearly two decades, are trying to change with the times. Another store owner converted his jewelry shop into a 99-cent store once he realized most of his customers would not return. He thought it would be easier to run a convenience store because of a drop-off in business at the jewelry store, which was heavily patronized by Pakistanis.

New Pakistani arrivals, Razvi said, have their immigration papers in order. ''They have their T's crossed and their I's dotted," he said, rubbing his weary eyes and smiling.

but a tremendous majority, if not all, detest extremism and terrorism, or use of any violence to achieve even the legitimate goals


Kulharee, with all due respect, this is BS...before 9/11, the vast majority of pakis on the internet or otherwise were completely supportive of the jihad in kashmir and the taliban in afghanistan....they used to brag openly about dropping money in chanda boxes when they went back home..

either you're ignorant(willfully or otherwise) or not being honest..

Thanks feroz for the article
I’ve visited Brooklyn couple of times my cousin used to live there.the difference I saw between UK and there, was the welfare state was virtually non-existent there,which made people work which is a good thing for integration. Another thing I noticed was the lack of good desi restaurants, in UK there is one around virtually every street corner, there is at least 9000 of them, though most are run by Bengalis.

Kulharee,

I haven't read the article yet, but I'm still reeling from arjun's beginning a post with "with all due respect". My goodness, how often does he say that with regard to us "pakis." Please make sure you give him a good clean argument! :)

IS Feroz Qutabshahi the same person as Kulharee?

America is useing poor people of world and when they do not like something racism comes up against dark,brown skin ewaring personas.
But one should not feel dishearted as democracy is great idea based on quantity and if sufficient number of people are thre if they vote things change. Today no English man in Bradford English city can Ignore faithfuls. Slowly but surely regions will develop with even 20% population can have effect of making a region as like in part of Lahore or Karachi. Demography is great tool and can be effectively used. Once some numbers reaches then anti believers gate anxious and abandon areas and that all areas for capture. It has great thing of democratic defeat of other people and expansion of territory and in sense liberation from western elite influence and mental liberation and freedom to resort old culturalways without any shame. Soon in heart of Europe , england , france, germany , denmark there will be such liberated areas , you can find job and profession without dealing with recoist locals and then they will respect believers. German people destroyed Roman empire they were shunned by Italians as Barbarians but german tribes decided future rome. Patience is virtue,Demography is sleeping bomb, victory is certain on its now waiting game. Those who does discrimination will be defeated in long term , immigrant has patience and ready wait for generations he has no desire to return back home,he has left home for good as he left home in hope of finding better society of white people and justice and equality and raising himself up. Just like Mohajirs of India poured and changed demography and dynamics and became overlords of Urban sindh and taught lessons to locals, our Dispharia will teach lessons to local recists.In the beginning new immigrants are afraid of white people soon their children will give hell to whites as north Africans are teaching lesson to snobby french. After all it is survival of fittest in classical way. I read in England they are putting statues of pakistani leaders and inaugarated by white politicians toget good rating. It is inspiring story of people to read thanks.

"As it is, an estimated one million NYC residents are undocumented migrants but because of circumstances Paks paid the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Feroz,

It is the above type of stupid statements and sentiments that is causing major problem to the pakistanis every where. If pakis are being targeted every where, there is reason. The london bombers, the latest hijackers, most of teh 9/11 people, they all were in pakistan, most are of pakistani origin, though lived in the UK for long.

There is simething intrinsic in the paki mindset that leads them to terrorism.

If it is pure islam, it should be the saudis, if it is pure poverty it should be the bangldeshis or teh sudanese,

In pakistan the entire society and the govt are in suppiort fo terrorism. The western and teh saudi monies have vanished to support terror, but it is flourishing in pakistan.

Think feroz, think, why is pakistan the terror central

Re: # 7

on the chowk, one can see the posts by tahmed, romair etc following the indian aircraft hijacking. teh action was praised sky high by the romairs and others on chowk.

Re: # 9; ana

I don' think Arjun has a problem with Pakis per se. It seems more of a personal issue with another character around (feel free to correct me Arjun).

If left to its devices, nature does have a balance of sorts; the two seem to achieve that quite well!

Re: # 13 Jayp,Arjun People change as they mature or degenerate with time. Above gentle men have matured and also global experience is different thing. Old times I used to teach students why earth is round and some reasoning etc.But once satellites went in sky and pictures came of round earth as white orange ,said no reason to think ,it is round you can see. It stopped flat earthers in track.
There are evil people like you who never liked any and can hard to reason with. If one changes due to knowledge and changed situation or heavenly enlightenment (Thunderstorm heating head) one changes opinion then you will say you changed opinion. You lost for you forgot people are principled and loyal but we change principles to correct ourselves.

Bonehead-Arjun wont get it(after all it takes brain+wisdom too bad Arjun doesnt seem to possess either)so here it goes:

Article URL: http://americandaily.com/article/16838 Copyright ©2007 AmericanDaily.Com


Illegal Immigration: India Invades America
By Guest Author: William H. Calhoun (12/18/06)


An ex-Army intelligence officer recently said, "We are under attack. And it's not just Mexico. It's all Central and South American countries. It's India. It's China. It's most of the non-European world. And if we do not fight back soon, America will be third-world sewer within 30 years!."

America is currently being invaded from all corners of the world. Mexico. China. Africa. India. They all are invading and carving out their enclaves. And you know what? They are backed by big business and the American government.

A perfect case in point is India. The Indian Government and American corporations have been lobbying the US for more H-1B visas to allow Indians to move to the United States.

American companies use the H-1B to drive down American wages. An associate of mine who works for a high-tech company in California (whose name I cannot say for legal reasons) recently watched about 90% of his fellow American employees be fired from his company. They were replaced with H-1B imports from India, who were paid about one-third of what the Americans were making.

GW Bush has largely supported this H-1B invasion, portraying it as sound policy. He, however, and the mainstream media always fail to mention that large companies are using the H-1B to drive down wages whereby they fire American employees and replace them with low-paid foreigners. They also fail to mention that India has the largest Muslim population, the most terrorist cells, and now the most reported cases of HIV in the world.

At my friend's high-tech company in California, within a few months of the firings, two of the Indian employees had already spread HIV to three Americans, three of the other Indians had known ties to terrorist cells in India, and the Indians would openly speak of "exterminating the European race." Was any of this reported in the mainstream media? Of course not. Did any of these people serve jail time? Of course not. In essence, because of H-1B provisions, they have more rights than American citizens. Nor is this incident isolated.

As previously reported, I was at the airport recently in Los Angeles, and I could overhear the conversation of some younger Indians waiting for a flight from India. These youths were obviously raised in America, as they did not have accents, unlike their parents sitting next to them. The Indian youth, after debating their favorite rappers, began to discuss how recent DNA studies show that Indians are closely related to Sub-Saharan Africans. They then began to speak approvingly of India invading California, and went on to say that they should "wipe out all the whites." Now, the parents, seeing that I was listening, lightly admonished the youth, not really because of what they said, but only because others could hear.

This is the norm all across America. After previously publishing my experience in the Los Angeles airport, I received many emails from patriots saying they had experienced very similar situations.

And you know what? GW Bush and Condoleezza Rice just gave these people more nuclear technology.

The same ex-intelligence Army officer said to me, "This policy of giving nuclear technology to India is borderline treason. The motivating factor was big business, not national security. All of our intelligence has shown that now it is just a matter of when, not if, an Indian detonates a backpack nuke within the United States or sells one to a Mexican nationalist."

And Bush has sworn to uphold the US Constitution? perduellio est communist!

If we don't immediately lose our country via a backpack nuke, then we most certainly will lose our jobs and standard of living. Americans' wages are dropping every year (adjusted for inflation) due to legal and illegal immigration. We are being ambushed from every angle.

Patriotic Americas had better wake up! We are under attack. Be vigilant and prepare! Stop the third-world invasion!

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William H. Calhoun is a writer, paleoconservative, and a farmer who lives on his ancestral estate.

Article URL: http://americandaily.com/article/16838 Copyright ©2007 AmericanDaily.Com