Are Muslims Under Siege in the Land of the Free?

ByABC News
October 21, 2003, 10:37 AM

N E W   Y O R K, Oct. 27 -- The jewelers round the corner from the halal meat store has closed its shutters, the grocery store is no more, and in the sari shop, salesgirls sit idly before a dazzling display of satins, silks and wispy veils, waiting for customers who rarely show up these days.

This stretch of Brooklyn's Coney Island Avenue, commonly called "Little Pakistan," was once a magnet for immigrants seeking essential wares from home and intrepid culinary hounds on the hunt for the consummate fiery, South Asian fare.

But the post-9/11 security crackdown with its baggage of suspicions, fears, increasing backlash attacks and dwindling civil rights, have taken its toll on the once-vibrant neighborhood.

Today, "Little Pakistan" is a neighborhood under siege as thousands of Pakistani immigrants in the United States have been seeking new lives in Canada, fleeing the land that prides itself as a destination for the world's weary, huddled masses, for an uncertain life in a new country.

In Muslim homes across the world over the weekend, the sighting of the sliver of moon on the eastern horizon marked the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

At sundown for the next few weeks, devout Muslims in America like their brethren all over the world will break their daylong fast with the iftar, or traditional evening meal, featuring a sumptuous array of dishes. (Click here for more on Ramadan.)

But more than two years after the 9/11 attacks, a disturbing sense of anxiety has cast a shadow over Ramadan, a quiet unease that threatens to disturb the comfort and security that rituals are meant to bestow.

"American Muslims as a whole feel under attack from this government and not without reason," says Dalia Hashad, a spokeswoman for the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). "They look at all the policies and laws of the U.S. government that targets Muslims in America and they get a clear sense that this government discriminates against them on the basis of religion and ethnicity."