Annapoorni Sankaran

SankaranA@GTLAW.com
(713) 374-3658

March 14, 2011

The Honorable Peter King

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
339 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Re: House Committee on Homeland Security’s Hearings on the “Extent of Radicalization

in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response”

Dear Representative King:

We are writing on behalf of the North American South Asian Bar Association (“NASABA”). NASABA is
one of the seven national affinity bar associations in the United States, made of 27 chapters and representing
over 6,000 South Asian attorneys in the United States and Canada. Our members comprise attorneys in
private practice, corporate counsel, academia, public interest and government across North America. We
write to you to express our concern about the Committee on Homeland Security’s (the “Committee”)
hearings focused on the “Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that
Community’s Response” (the “Hearings”).

In doing so, we reiterate the concerns raised by the South Asian Bar Association of New York, a chapter of
NASABA, that “by narrowly targeting Muslim-Americans, the Committee’s Hearings perpetuate the
stereotype that Muslim-Americans, by virtue of practicing Islam, are more likely to commit acts of
terrorism.” Extremism can manifest itself in any group; indeed, on the day before the Committee began its
hearings, the FBI arrested an alleged white supremacist in connection with an attempted bombing of Martin
Luther King celebrations in eastern Washington. Rather than singling out Muslim-Americans, we believe
that the Committee’s important goals would be better served by examining the radicalization of homegrown
terrorists of all backgrounds. Hearings examining the broader problem of radicalization would develop a
much more robust and comprehensive understanding of the pernicious problem of home grown terrorism.

As South Asians, we also believe that singling out Muslim-Americans can have the unintended consequence
of encouraging anti-Muslim violence. In early March, unknown assailants shot two elderly men of the Sikh
religion, one fatally, in Sacramento, California in what police suspect to be a hate crime. Police believe the
unknown assailants may have mistaken these two men, who were wearing traditional Sikh turbans, for
Muslims. According to the Los Angeles Times, two men plead non-contest in a hate crime attack against a
Sikh taxi driver in West Sacramento. And in August 2010, perpetrators torched a mosque construction site in
Tennessee in an apparent hate crime. Thus, we urge the Committee to take great care that its inquiry does not
foment violence against Muslim-Americans and others who may be mistaken for Muslim-Americans.

Finally, as a former Bush Administration anti-terrorism official has pointed out, the Committee’s undertaking
could itself be a sword wielded by Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists in radicalizing potential recruits.
According to that official, the Committee’s focus on Muslims “risks helping to promote precisely the
narrative Osama bin Laden and his sympathizers try to promote, namely dividing the world between

Arizona | Boston | British Columbia | Chicago-IABA | Chicago-PABA |

Colorado | Connecticut | Dallas | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida
| Georgia | Houston | Las Vegas | Michigan | New Jersey | New York |
Northern California | Ohio | Oklahoma | Ottawa | Philadelphia |
Sacramento | San Diego | Southern California | Toronto | Washington
Monday, March 14, 2011

Muslims and non-Muslims.” The Hearings risk antagonizing the proud and patriotic Muslim-American
community, who have been and can continue to be the first line of defense for the United States against
radicalized members of their own community.

Thus, NASABA strenuously urges you and the Committee to refrain from singling out the Muslim-American
community for your inquiry. The Committee’s actions could endanger the safety of peace-loving Americans,
chill the cooperation of Muslim-Americans with law enforcement to prevent acts of terror and feed into
Osama bin Laden’s narrative. Instead, the Committee should use its resources to conduct a comprehensive
investigation of the radicalization of all elements of American society.

The following local affiliates of NASABA cosign this letter:

South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of
Delaware New York Greater Boston

South Asian Bar Association of Indian-American Bar South Asian Bar Association of
Houston Association of Chicago New Jersey

South Asian Bar Association of Pakistani-American Bar South Asian Bar Association of
Southern California Association Pittsburgh

South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of
Connecticut Michigan Sacramento

South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of South Asian Bar Association of
Colorado Las Vegas District of Columbia

Thank you for your attention to these issues, and we look forward to hearing from you to further discuss
them.

Sincerely,

Annapoorni Sankaran
President
North American South Asian Bar Association

cc: The Honorable John Boehner

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
The Honorable Joseph Crowley
The Honorable Dan Burton
The Honorable Edward Royce
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee

Arizona | Boston | British Columbia | Chicago-IABA | Chicago-PABA |

Colorado | Connecticut | Dallas | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida
| Georgia | Houston | Las Vegas | Michigan | New Jersey | New York |
Northern California | Ohio | Oklahoma | Ottawa | Philadelphia |
Sacramento | San Diego | Southern California | Toronto | Washington