With United States President-elect Donald Trump set to swear-in as the 45th president of America today, Pakistani-Americans continue to remain wary of their future under the new administration.
And this does not comes as a surprise as Trump has effectively declared Muslims the enemy during the presidential campaign, pushed to ban them from entering the country and suggested that the United States should start thinking seriously about profiling them.
Giving a few personal accounts the Dawn reports, Darakshan Raja, an activist and co-director of the non-profit Washington Peace Center, stressed on the need to organise after the election. But she adds that Trump's 'Islamophobia', including the idea of Muslim registries, is not exactly novel.
"Registries against Muslims already exist, [such as the] no-fly list, surveillance, informants [have been in place]," she said, adding, " The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERs), which was formed by George W Bush after 9/11, is an example of a long-operating registry of Muslims."
Even people in the Pakistani-American community who have never faced racial violence in the past find themselves aware of the threat following Trump's win.
Lisa Khan, 47, a white American woman, who has been involved in the Pakistani-American community for year, first visited Pakistan with her friend's family when she was 15, and she married her husband, a Pakistani man, when she was 24.
She said that she felt like she was in mourning the day Trump won.
More From This Section
"I honestly just have been praying that it is not as bad as we think it is going to be. I do not know what else we can do, just wait and see," she said.
However, only time will tell if Trump will actually implement the more radical policy proposals that charged his campaign.