Pakistanis, Muslims Worry About NYC Bomb Fallout

(May 5) -- In the wake of the revelation that the Times Square bomb suspect is Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, tension is running high in U.S. Pakistani and Muslim communities about a possible backlash. At the same time, many of their leaders are calling on members to condemn terrorism and root out fanatics in their ranks.

While physical attacks on Pakistanis are a risk, "our concern is more of the systematic backlash that might come in because of policies," Irfan Malik, executive director of the D.C.-based Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, told AOL News. He worries that counterterrorism regulations and general suspicions will increase scrutiny of Pakistani Americans when they travel, for instance, or when they look for jobs, he said.

Javed Iqbal, who is on the board of the Council of Pakistan American Affairs, based in Los Angeles, is similarly concerned. Many Pakistani Americans travel to and from Pakistan to visit family, sometimes for months, he said. And many Pakistanis have names similar to that of the suspect, who is listed on the federal no-fly list.

"The general atmosphere becomes uneasy," Iqbal told AOL News. "The looks and stares, it becomes more evident."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg echoed these concerns at a press conference Tuesday.

"I want to make clear that we will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers," Bloomberg said. "All of us live in this city, and among any group there's always a few bad apples."

Though many Pakistani and Muslim groups were quick to publicly condemn Saturday's failed bomb attempt, the fear of backlash isn't unfounded. Writing in the New York Post on Tuesday, columnist Ralph Peters complained that the Obama administration is too soft on the Muslim world, asserting that "the First Amendment bows before Islam." Referring to a censored episode of the cartoon "South Park," he added, "Comics will go on ripping up [non-Muslim] faiths for their stand-up routines, but the religion that's spawned such ungodly terror will get a pass."

Still, the loudest message from some Pakistani-American and Muslim leaders has been directed inward.

"We need to self-police, we need to identify these individuals if we see them doing something that is not loyal to this country," Malik said.

On Tuesday, Naseem Mahdi, the national vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, gave a speech at the National Press Club warning American Muslims of the consequences of silence.

"If the vast majority of reasonable, peace-loving and law-abiding population of Muslims living in the U.S. do not speak out and speak out loudly, this will continue and ultimately ruin the lives, economic and social, of all Muslims and the community at large," Mahdi said.

Inam Kauser, a Pakistani American and regional imam of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, voiced a similar belief in an interview with AOL News.

He said Muslims' allegiance should be to the country of their residence -- and that should have been the case for Shahzad, too.

"If he was a U.S. citizen, he should have been loyal to the country," Kauser said. "If I am Muslim, if I am living in New York City, then I've got to be loyal. If not, then I should be living somewhere else."