Pakistanis in Korea fear backlash from IS
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Pakistani Ambassador Zahid Nasrulla Khan
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Pakistani student Hassan Hafeez is worried about a possible backlash against the Muslim community in Korea following the beheading of two Japanese citizens by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
“The heightened concerns about IS in Korea do make me feel that Koreans’ perception of Muslims like me may turn negative,” Hafeez, a Ph.D. student in material engineering at Hanyang University in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, tells The Korea Times.
”I am afraid that we Muslims here will suffer as a result.”
His remarks are indicative of many Koreans’ lack of knowledge of Islamic culture, and the IS threat could negatively affect Koreans’ perception of Islam and Muslims in general.
IS’s beheading of the two Japanese nationals, Haruna Yukawa and journalist Kenji Goto, and release of a video showing the grisly killing of the latter have caused many Koreans to realize that the militant group is no longer a distant threat.
The militant group threatened to retaliate against countries that joined the U.S.-led military coalition against the group, such as Korea, and this adds to the Korean people’s worries.
Hafeez says he has never been treated badly because of his ethnic background since arriving in Korea for study in 2011. But, he says, he fears that things may take a negative turn from now on.
“We Muslims here are beginning to feel insecure and nervous. Koreans’ worries about the militant group’s inhumane deeds in the name of Islam and the safety of Korean nationals overseas may cause Koreans to stereotype Muslims.”
An estimated 100,000 Muslims live in Korea, many of whom are migrant workers from Central or Southeast Asia.
To date, Koreans do not seem to harbor hard feelings toward or negative perceptions of Muslims here. However, Hafeez’s concern is not baseless.
Last month’s investigation into an alleged terror plot involving a Pakistani student worried the Pakistani community in Korea. The probe came after an anonymous source emailed university authorities that the Pakistani student is an operative of an international terrorist group and is scheduled to commit a suicide bombing against an unspecified infrastructure in this country.
The police searched the student’s house but found no evidence that could back the allegations, clearing the Pakistani student. The police are now investigating the anonymous source who provided the false information.
The investigation and its findings were widely reported by local media outlets.
The Pakistani Embassy in Seoul, however, claims that the media coverage of the story is misleading, and indicated that journalists were not supposed to cover the story because the police investigation found that the allegations against the Pakistani student were baseless.
“The embassy strongly protests against the misleading news coverage in certain print and electronic media. The accused Pakistani student is totally innocent and not an iota of proof was found against him by the investigators,” it said in a statement.
The embassy expressed worries that such media coverage could misinform the Korean public and could result in the spread of Islamophobia. Pakistani workers and students in this country could suffer because of it, it claimed.
Pakistani student Hafeez blames the IS not only for putting him and his fellow Muslims at risk but also for the insecurity they feel.
“The people who have been affected the most are the Muslims themselves, as we have been tagged with these undeserved, bad images,” he says.
Counter-terrorism drive
Meanwhile, the brutal IS killings prompted the counter-terrorism drive in Korea.
Calls are mounting for the parliament to introduce an anti-terrorism bill, which had been dropped eight times in the past for fear of abuse of power by the National Intelligence Service.
Supporters of the bill say Korea is not safe from attacks by international terrorists and it’s the right time for counter-terrorism measures.
Over the past five years, some 50 foreigners linked to international terrorist groups have been deported, including three migrant workers from Central Asia who were found to be al-Qaida operatives.
In 2013, a Taliban operative who came to Korea under the guise of a migrant worker was deported for his role in organizing rallies against the United States and a war against the West.
As no counter-terrorism legislation is in place in Korea, the law enforcement authorities are not allowed to penalize terrorists here.
The IS slaying of the two Japanese citizens also raised a red flag about the safety of Koreans abroad.
On Feb. 2, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a meeting to discuss ways to protect Koreans in the Middle East. Nearly 1,000 Korean workers are based in war-torn Iraq, and hundreds more in Libya and Egypt, for construction projects.
An official said on condition of anonymity that the government takes the Japanese victims’ case seriously because they were killed by the militant group following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s trip to the Middle East in January, during which he committed to provide $200 million for non-military, humanitarian assistance for the Middle Eastern countries affected by IS.
Korea is one of some 50 countries that joined the U.S.-led military coalition to fight against IS, making Koreans in the Middle East vulnerable to IS, the official said.