The FBI/INS Case Against Ansar Mahmood in Rochester's backyard

The FBI/INS Case Against Ansar Mahmood in Rochester's backyard. The case is symbolic of a larger issue; the debate between liberty and security.

It has been two years, two articles by the Rochester D&C, two news spots on NBC Channel 10, two New York Senators contacted, two pieces in the Washington Post, a brief story on CNN, and yet the story has been largely ignored by the populations of people in the two cities closest to the case.
Ansar Mahmood has turned 25 and 26 in the INS Detention Center in Batavia. He was a legal, valid green-card holding Pakistani immigrant of the US. He settled in Hudson, NY, working 13-hour shifts as a Domino's pizza delivery boy, so he could send extra money back home to his family in Islamabad, Pakistan. His father was sick and they needed the extra money to pay for medicine.
His family had requested that he send them pictures of where he lived, so one day he set out in his Domino's uniform and a disposable camera. Upon reaching a scenic overlook of the Hudson Valley, he asked security guards at the gate to take his picture. The guards took his picture and then called the police. The hill Ansar had chosen just so happened to also overlook a water treatment center. At the height of hysteria over terrorists, the guards thought Ansar was casing the place for anthrax. He has been locked up ever since. He became one of the 1,200 immigrants arrested in the FBI's 9/11 terrorist-hunt.
He was immediately found to have no connection whatsoever with terrorism. However when his apartment was searched, authorities found he had helped a Pakistani couple, friends of his sister, find an apartment. The couple had overstayed their visa and Ansar was charged with harboring an illegal immigrant. He was sentenced to time served plus five years probation and he became subject to deportation. Deportation will result in very serious economic hardship for him and his family.
As a Pakistani, Ansar falls between the white and black races, as Batavia falls between well-known places. Distance culturally and geographically, could be the reason Rochesterians and Buffalonians don't give this brown man in Batavia much attention. Similar to how, for centuries, the Indians were dealt with on the frontier : when modern society doesn't see the struggle, it doesn't exist.
Today the two fanged tiger of the FBI/INS creeps away with a mix of stealth and disappearance via deportation. Sept. 11 destroyed many lives and what the government is doing in response is ruining more. With all our quiet and collective incognizance, they can continue the hunt.
"He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," reads a petition circulating in Hudson, NY - Ansar's hometown. A more fitting sticker might read "�the wrong race at the wrong time," for here is a delay to our collective recognition of atrocities done to a minority or people of another color. Ansar's case falls in the dark alley of America's racial awareness: this is not a black thing or a white thing. It has been a historical practice to pick on the most defenseless member in society - today that is Muslims, yesterday it was the Japanese.
You can be sure if they were bombing Africa, it would cause an uproar in the African-American community. If they were bombing Puerto Rico, there would be loud protests. And if they were bombing a white or Christian country there would be marches, not just for a couple days here and there when convenient for us to email each other and tell us when to meet. But the government knows the people better than the people know themselves. They know what it can and can not get away with and going after a minority group locally and internationally is still popularly accepted by the people - whether tacitly or willingly.
Even though believers don't like to admit it, logic has won their religions as many converts as faith has. And even agnostic stalwarts and scientists can agree with some of the logic in religious teachings. An example of this is the religious truth in Mathew's Gospel where Jesus notes; "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, that you would do to me." This is both a religious and logical axiom that is popularly accepted but not popularly defended? We sure know how to talk the talk.
How the least among us are treated reflects on not only our nation but ourselves. This humane recognition - the most fundamental human right is what speaks to how we have evolved past simple "survival of the fittest."
If we are willing to change places with Ansar, then it is okay to be silent. Short of that we are part of the injustice. If we allow this one distant Domino's worker to fall, those black and white tiles of liberty and freedom, may come crashing down closer to us. What makes us human is our ability to recognize that. America is an immigrant nation, let us not suddenly become ignorant of this immigrant. Ansar's fate rests upon us. Patriots and peaceniks alike have a chance to walk the walk this Saturday, Oct. 11 at the Rally to Free Ansar Mahmood.
The Rally will take place outside the INS Detention Facility in Batavia. Protesters from the Rochester area can meet at noon at Java's Caf� on Gibbs St. in downtown Rochester. From there car pooling is arranged for the 30 minute trek to Batavia. For more information please contact: Rajesh Barnabas at 585-671-6967 or rbarnabas@hotmail.com. To Sign a Petition to Stop the Deportation of Ansar Mahmood go to the website: http://www.petitiononline.com/ansar123/petition.html