By Arun Kumar

Washington, Sep 12 (IANS) Pakistani Muslims in the Washington area were the most affected by government policies in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks and Sikhs the target of hate crimes, while Hindus were largely unaffected, a new study says.

The study 'We are Americans Too: A Comparative Study of the Effects of 9/11 on South Asian Communities' was released Monday by the Discrimination and National Security Initiative (DNSI), an affiliate of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

The report addresses the impact of and the responses to the discrimination that South Asians have faced since Sep 11, 2001, focusing specifically on Indian Hindus, Pakistani Muslims and Sikhs in the Washington DC area.

Through in-depth interviews conducted over the course of two years, the study shows that 9/11 has had different effects on the identity, political participation and grassroots mobilisation efforts of members of these groups.

The main findings of the study showed that Sikh American respondents, particularly those with turbans, were most affected by hate crimes and incidents in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Of the three groups, Pakistani Muslim respondents were greatly affected by government policies and programmes after 9/11, including Special Registration and the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Indian Hindu respondents, by contrast, were largely unaffected by the post-9/11 backlash.

The report discusses respondents' reactions to various situations after 9/11.

At times, they were left wondering why they did not get jobs or promotions, or why someone sitting next to them on a plane would ask to be re-seated. In many cases, they concluded that these types of occurrences resulted from 9/11-related discrimination.

It also examines the emergence of hyphenated-identities after 9/11, such as Muslim American, and the practice of Sikhs and others putting up American flags on their homes and cars to prove their allegiance to America.

June Han, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University, who authored the report, said: "We now live in an era in which individuals who are or are perceived to be Arab or Muslim, including South Asians, are viewed with suspicion because of their religious background and/or the colour of their skin."

Dawinder Dave Sidhu, a founding director of DNSI, said the project was created in response to a climate in which Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim were being killed, harassed and subject to other noxious behaviour, and in which meaningful academic information did not exist as to the human impact of this climate.

Notable findings from the report include:

* After 9/11, only 15 percent of Indian Hindu respondents felt afraid for their physical safety, as compared to 41 percent of Pakistani Muslim respondents and 64 percent of Sikh respondents.

* 83 percent of Sikh respondents said they or someone they knew personally had experienced a hate crime or incident.

* 35 percent of Pakistani Muslim respondents considered leaving the United States because of the hostile post-9/11 environment.

* 86 percent of Pakistani Muslim respondents also said they became more interested in domestic and international politics after 9/11, and generally they felt more of a desire to participate politically.