Bangladeshis are unlike Akayadul

Even though there have been no complaints or reports of an uptick of hate crimes against Bangladeshis in the US, the community is feeling jittery in the aftermath of the morning attack at Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City on December 11.

The Bangladesh embassy said it was not aware of any hate crime incidents against Bangladeshis.

Shamim Ahmad, press minister of the Bangladesh embassy in Washington DC stated that the Bangladeshi community “…feels embarrassed and ashamed of the incident,” mentioning the embassy publicly condemned the incident in New York City and hoped the perpetrator would be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, there is a general feeling of horror and disgust among the Bangladeshis living in New York City.

Mosfique Chowdhury, a businessman living in NY for the last 25 years, is concerned.

“I was shocked because Bangladeshis are not like that, we do not support the attacker,” he stated.

A young Bangladeshi-American student attending the City College of New York, said she was horrified when details of the attack surfaced.

“I was lucky enough to not have been on the trains during the time of the explosion,” she said. “My friend called me asking me if I was okay and told me the bomber was Bangladeshi.

“I felt my heart sink. I immediately thought about my mother who works in the city and whether she was going to be safe or not. She wears a hijab and I didn't want her to get caught in any altercations with anyone. I just thought that I shouldn't speak Bangla in the open or go around wearing kameez, it won't be safe,” she said.

Many Bangladeshis feel the community needs to start taking action to protect themselves. A teacher, who often commutes to work by train in the city, felt this was a lesson for the community to be extra vigilant.

She said, “We need to keep an eye on our family and neighbours. If we want to keep our reputation, we need to act now and be alert and watchful.”

Chowdhury echoed her thoughts. “We should be united. We have to prove that the attacker is not a reflection of us, that we are not bad people.”

Meanwhile, after the attack, President Trump has called for serious immigration reforms, blaming chain migration for the terror incidents Americans have seen in the last few months.

Some Bangladeshis are also apprehensive about possible travel sanctions, hoping they do not face harsh reaction from the government.

“It will be sad if the government starts targeting us,” a 50-year-old Bangladeshi woman said. “It is going to be a little harder for us to come into the country. This is the first time a Bangladeshi has ever done something like this.”

The Bangladesh embassy reported that no restrictions on traveling from Bangladesh are known as of yet and did not comment on the issue any further. The embassy reassures that Bangladesh has good relations with the United States government and will cooperate while dealing with the aftermath of the Port Authority incident.

The explosion on December 11 happened in an underground passageway under 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. The 7:30am blast caused smoke to fill the passageway, which was crowded with throngs of Monday morning commuters. Four persons were injured in the incident.

The attacker was identified as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man from Brooklyn. Authorities have reported Ullah carried out the attack for the Islamic State and cited the conflict in Gaza as another motive.

Back in October, in another terror attack, Sayfullo Saipov, a man from Uzbekistan, plowed a pickup truck into a crowd down a street in Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring 11.