WASHINGTON: As the race for White House is intensifying between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, two Pakistanis have emerged as face of Muslim Americans in this fiercely contested US presidential election.
Maryland born businessman Sajid Tarar is leading supporter of Trump campaign while father of a fallen US army hero Khizr Khan is top representative of Muslims supporting Mrs. Clinton. Both have addresses national conventions of their respective parties, a major honor as these conventions are biggest political gatherings of the respective parties before every election.
Khizr Khan’s emotional address to 2016 Democratic National Convention (DNC) not only brought him to political limelight but also tilted the balance of Presidential race in favour of Mrs Clinton.
Speaking at the convention, Khan, a Harvard-educated lawyer came down hard on Trump for his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Khan’s son Army Captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, earning a Purple Heart medal for his bravery in saving lives of fellow soldiers.
Khan waving a copy of the US constitution challenged Trump whether the GOP candidate had ever read the document which guarantees rights for minorities. Trump’s attempt to insult Khizr in response backfired and even some of the Republicans openly criticised their party’s presidential candidate.
Khan, moved to US from Pakistan in 1960 but he is still strongly connected to Pakistani community here. Talking to Pakistani journalists here the other day, Khan urged American Muslims to actively participate in political process to ensure their voice is heard in power corridors.
“Because we do not participate in the democratic processes, our voice as a community does not get heard,” Khan told Geo News in an earlier interview. While majority of American Muslims are supporting Hillary Clinton in this election, there is some support for Trump camp too. And leading the “American Muslims for Trump” campaign is none other than a Pakistan-born businessman Sajid Tarar.
Tarar, also a law graduate from Punjab University who was born in Mandi Bahauddin district said the victory of Republican candidate would be good for all Muslims as he would take concrete step against terrorism.
“Biggest victims of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Taliban are Muslims and strong action against these outfits will eventually benefit Muslims,” Tarar told The News in an exclusive interview.
He said the United States is a country which provided refuge to Muslims who migrated from troubled countries. “Now my message to fellow Muslims and Pakistanis is that we must work for the prosperity of this country which extended open arms to welcome us.”
Tarar said he will try to convince Trump to rethink his approach towards Muslims. “I have been trying to convince him that it is not possible to ban 1.6 billion Muslims and that it is against the Constitution. He has made some changes and I hope he will make further changes,” he said.
He was of the view that Trump is not traditional politician and his speeches are not written by experts which is the case with Clinton. “I want to present a positive face of Muslims and Pakistanis in this election campaign. My aim is to tell mainstream Americans that all of us are not bad. We are peace loving and hardworking people,” Sajid told The News in an exclusive interview.
While asked how Trump’s victory would benefit Pakistan he said: “Pakistan will only be benefitted when people of Pakistan will sincerely think about their country. They would have to choose their leaders wisely. I believe the world needs a strong leader and Trump will be a good leader for the entire world” he said.
Ali Imran, a Washington based senior Pakistani journalist and founder of a news website agrees that participation of Muslims in US elections would augur well for the community. “I think these two Muslims who are in different parties can play a vital role in ensuring better future of the community in the United States,” Ali said.