Hossain helped Afeefa engineer a surprise victory in a Democratic primary in Loudoun County

WASHINGTON, June 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Two years into the September 11 attacks, Muslim activists in the Northern Virginia made the effort to get a louder voice in the U.S. politics by setting up a political action committee to elect officials who will end human rights abuses associated with the “war on terrorism”.

There are hopes to create a Muslim powerhouse with sufficient funds to sway local elections in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, as well as state races, in November, Mukit Hossain, a telecommunications entrepreneur who emigrated from Bangladesh and lives near Sterling, told the Washington Post.

Hossain said the new PAC, called the Platform for Active Civil Empowerment, was inspired by last year's raids by federal officials on Muslim organizations or households in Herndon, Leesburg and other areas.

The raids were part of an investigation of possible financial ties to terrorists, the Post said.

Although no charges have been filed following the March 2002 raids, U.S. officials said the investigation is ongoing.

"That was the defining moment, … If we really want to have a voice in the government, we need to actively participate or else we'll be pushed into a corner and end up in concentration camps much like what happened to the Japanese during the second world war," Hossain said.

Hossain is part of an effort by Muslim leaders nationwide to become involved in electoral politics following the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, on which Washington blamed Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

"A lot of people have come to realize if you . . . ignore what's happening with the political leadership of this country, you're going to leave yourself open to its whims," Jameel Aalim-Johnson, chief of staff for Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, told the Post.

Seeking to clear stereotypes about Muslims, more than 100 Muslim leaders from across the U.S. held a conference near Washington on June 9, to explore new directions for millions of Muslims in the country prove for the American people that Muslims are "sincere partners" in this society

‘Baby Steps’

Aalim-Johnson, one of about 15 Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill, said that that increased awareness has yet to be shaped into a force - like the farm lobby - with the political heft to make politicians quake.

"It's baby steps, … people are going to learn to walk eventually, but baby steps are being taken."

Hossain argues that the Virginia suburbs sprawling west from Washington are especially fertile ground for building a movement.

Last week, Hossain helped Afeefa Syeed, director of the private Al Fatih Academy in Herndon and a board member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, engineer a surprise victory in a Democratic primary in Loudoun County.

Syeed declared her candidacy hours before the scheduled primary, then, in a vote of 11 to 4, knocked off the candidate anointed by party elders. Syeed will face independent Carol E. Peters and Republican Bruce E. Tulloch in the race for the Potomac District supervisor this November.

Hagga Abugideiri, who voted for Syeed, said "it's about time" Muslims in the area "have somebody representing and speaking for us."

"If we have a voice, maybe people will understand a little better about Islam and Muslims," said Abugideiri, who works for the International Institute of Islamic Thought, one of the organizations whose offices were searched by federal agents.

Abugideiri, who emigrated from Sudan in the 1960s, said that since Sept. 11, 2001, she's been stigmatized and threatened.

"To me, it's a lot of things. I'm black, I'm a woman, I'm a 'diaper head.' Since 9/11, I've had people shoot at me with their fingers. We just need to mingle with the community, and probably people will understand a little bit more," Abugideiri said.

John B. Stevens Jr., who ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) last year, said voters will be able to see Syeed as the fresh, energetic figure she is. But, he said, it will take work.

Fishing Expedition

Echoing the sentiments of many in Virginia's Muslim community, Hossain argued that the raids last March wrongly targeted widely respected Muslims and tarnished the broader Muslim community.

"The idea was, 'Let's muddy up the water and see what surfaces.' They were just trying to see if anything would come up if they did a very heavy-handed raid," Hossain said. "It's been over a year now. The government hasn't come up with anything yet."

Dean Boyd, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would not comment on the status of the investigation other than to say it continues.

"it's a legal process. It's not a fishing expedition," he told the Washington Post.

Boyd said government agents had convinced a judge that there was probable cause to believe they would find evidence of criminal activities and had conducted the raids "completely within the law."

Boyd also pointed to an earlier statement emphasizing that "race, religion or ethnicity played absolutely no role in the determination to conduct the searches."

A report published Saturday, June 7, that more than 13,000 Arabs and Muslims who came forward earlier this year to register with American immigration authorities might now face deportation.