By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that as US special representative to Muslim communities Farah Pandith, a Kashmiri-origin woman, will “play a leading role” in US efforts to engage Muslims around the world.
“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Farah Pandith to serve as Special Representative to Muslim Communities,” she said making a formal announcement about the creation of a new office responsible for US “efforts to engage with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level”.
“Farah brings years of experience to the job, and she will play a leading role in our efforts to engage Muslims around the world,” Clinton said.
Pandith was the senior adviser on Muslim engagement in the European and Eurasian region at the State Department. The position was created for the first time in the US history.
Prior to the State Department, she served on the National Security Council at the White House where she worked on Muslim engagement and combating extremism.
She worked at the US Agency for International Development in the early 1990s and again in 2003. She also served in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2004.
Pandith, a Muslim, immigrated to the US with her parents from Srinagar, India. She has said that she sees her personal experience as an illustration of how Muslim immigrants to the US can successfully integrate themselves into American society. She grew up in Massachusetts with a diversity of faiths, ethnicities and perspectives.
Pandith’s appointment comes three weeks after President Barack Obama’s historic June 4 speech in Cairo to Muslims around the world.
Obama said he was seeking “a new beginning” between the US and Muslims “based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition.”
The US and Islam share common principles of justice, progress, tolerance and “the dignity of all human beings”, Obama said.
He also urged Americans and Muslims to commit themselves to a “sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.”