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By Shaan Lodhie
Congressman
Ike Skelton with LEDtronics CEO Pervaiz Lodhie
Torrance, CA: On Tuesday, October
5, Congressman Ike Skelton
held a meeting in Torrance with a
small group of Southern California’s
most prominent Pakistani-
American professionals to discuss
various issues impacting US-Pakistan
relations.
The discussion was held under
the aegis of the Pakistan American
Leadership Center, Washington
DC (PAL-C).
Rep. Skelton, 78, represents
Missouri’s Fourth Congressional
District in the US House of Representatives.
He is also the chairman
of the House Armed Services
Committee.
The meeting started off with
the group telling Rep. Skelton that
many Pakistani-Americans don’t
feel like equal citizens in America,
especially after the terrorist attack
on the New York Twin Towers on
Sept. 11, 2001. They believe that
regardless of how much they have
contributed to the country — in
terms of creating jobs, innovating
technology, providing healthcare,
etc.— in the last five decades, they
are still perceived as outsiders by
many.
Everyone did agree though
that a big reason for this disconcerting
situation was that Pakistani
Americans have failed to engage in
political advocacy for most of the
time that they had been in the US.
It was only in recent years that the
situation has begun to change and
they are now establishing a rapport
with Washington DC.
The discussants then went
on to more directly address the issues
of US-Pakistan relations. The
group impressed upon the Congressman
the fact that Pakistani-
Americans are America’s best, unutilized
resource for strengthening
the friendship between the two
nations.
“Pakistan is an ally,” said
Rep. Skelton. He explained that if the
Pakistani-Americans want their
voices to be heard, they should
be seized of the pressing necessity:
“Presence and old-fashioned
friendship. Knock on the doors.
Just come out and say ‘Hi, I want to
see how you are.’”
“You have to work
at it,” he
urged.
The meeting lasted two hours.
Pakistani-American Pervaiz Lodhie
hosted the luncheon meeting at his
manufacturing company, LEDtronics,
Inc. Others in attendance were:
Shoaib Kothawala; Najeeb Ghauri;
Dr. Sattar Abbasi; Faisal Gill; Tony
Ashai; Kashif Zubair; Dianne
Moss, representing Congresswoman
Jane Harman; Patty Skelton, the
Congressman’s wife; and Margaret
Onken, from the Congressman’s
Missouri office.
Rep. Ike Skelton with prominent Southern California Pakistani Americans
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