Terror stalks Surrey twins
Terror stalks Surrey twin Sajid Hameed, originally from Karachi, Pakistan, moved to the United States to build a new life for his family. He worked as a lab technician in San Jose, California.
But the racial hostilities towards Muslims in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 destroyed that dream.
“I was laid off after 9/11. I believe this was done deliberately because of my religious background,” said Sajid.
Disillusioned, he switched over to the taxi business.
Sajid says he was soon after assaulted by a passenger, an incident he describes as a hate attack.
“He was upset with the Muslims and swore at me before hitting me with a soda can,” he said. “The police failed to find him.”
“Driving cab in the U.S. was not easy either. Following several incidents of hostilities I decided to quit and move to Canada.”
Sajid moved to Surrey, British Columbia – a thriving, multicultural metropolis and the second largest city in the province – to rebuild his dream of a happy and prosperous life for his family. And they were content – until his twin daughters were accosted on their way home from school, subjected to obscenities, called terrorists, and blamed for the recent attacks on Mumbai.
Sajid has filed a report with police, and his daughters remain traumatized.
Tarik Kiani, a member of the Pakistan Canada Association and a community activist, disclosed that his organization has also received complaints of post-Mumbai harassment toward local Pakistanis.
“We have formed a committee to confirm these incidents and will act accordingly after establishing the truth,” he told the South Asian Post.
Muslim sisters Ayesha and Nida say they were walking home from their school in Surrey last week when several Indo-Canadian youngsters in a silver car began to follow them, hurling racial slurs through the vehicle’s open windows.
Between other obscenities, the youths called the 14-year-old girls terrorists and blamed them for the recent terror attacks on Mumbai that left at least 172 people dead, including two Canadians, in India’s financial capital.
The India government has blamed the attack on Pakistan-based Islamic extremists. With the war of words escalating between the two neighbouring countries, the aftershocks of the Mumbai attack are now being felt in Metro Vancouver, where Canadians of both Indian and Pakistani origin have long lived in relative harmony.
Since the two sisters wear the hijab, a scarf that some Muslim women wear to cover their heads, they were an easy target for what their Pakistani father, Sajid Hameed, believes was a hateful, ignorant reaction to the madness in Mumbai.
Inside the car were four to five youngsters, including some girls, according to Ayesha.
“Driving cab in the U.S. was not easy either. Following several incidents of hostilities I decided to quit and move to Canada.”
Sajid moved to Surrey, British Columbia – a thriving, multicultural metropolis and the second largest city in the province – to rebuild his dream of a happy and prosperous life for his family. And they were content – until his twin daughters were accosted on their way home from school, subjected to obscenities, called terrorists, and blamed for the recent attacks on Mumbai.
Sajid has filed a report with police, and his daughters remain traumatized.
Tarik Kiani, a member of the Pakistan Canada Association and a community activist, disclosed that his organization has also received complaints of post-Mumbai harassment toward local Pakistanis.
“We have formed a committee to confirm these incidents and will act accordingly after establishing the truth,” he told the South Asian Post.
Muslim sisters Ayesha and Nida say they were walking home from their school in Surrey last week when several Indo-Canadian youngsters in a silver car began to follow them, hurling racial slurs through the vehicle’s open windows.
Between other obscenities, the youths called the 14-year-old girls terrorists and blamed them for the recent terror attacks on Mumbai that left at least 172 people dead, including two Canadians, in India’s financial capital.
The India government has blamed the attack on Pakistan-based Islamic extremists. With the war of words escalating between the two neighbouring countries, the aftershocks of the Mumbai attack are now being felt in Metro Vancouver, where Canadians of both Indian and Pakistani origin have long lived in relative harmony.
Since the two sisters wear the hijab, a scarf that some Muslim women wear to cover their heads, they were an easy target for what their Pakistani father, Sajid Hameed, believes was a hateful, ignorant reaction to the madness in Mumbai.
Inside the car were four to five youngsters, including some girls, according to Ayesha.
They called us terrorists and shouted you are the ones who attacked Mumbai. They also made some scary noises,” she told the South Asian Post.
Ayesha believes all of the youngsters were Indo Canadians.
“We couldn’t see their full faces, as they had opened their car windows half way,” she recalled.
While Ayesha provided details of the incident, frightened Nida sat quietly in the presence of her parents.
“As soon as our mother reached us to pick us up in her car, those people fled from the scene,” says Ayesha, of the alarming incident last Wednesday.
The Tamanawis Secondary School Grade 9 students, who live with their father and their stepmother Uzma, are known as Taylor (Ayesha) and Tera (Nida) amongst their high school friends.
Ayesha believes all of the youngsters were Indo Canadians.
“We couldn’t see their full faces, as they had opened their car windows half way,” she recalled.
While Ayesha provided details of the incident, frightened Nida sat quietly in the presence of her parents.
“As soon as our mother reached us to pick us up in her car, those people fled from the scene,” says Ayesha, of the alarming incident last Wednesday.
The Tamanawis Secondary School Grade 9 students, who live with their father and their stepmother Uzma, are known as Taylor (Ayesha) and Tera (Nida) amongst their high school friends.
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