In the wake of an arrest of a Pakistan-born US national Faisal Shahzad as the suspect behind the failed Times Square bombing plot, Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned against any anti-Muslim incidents.
"We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers," he said. Shahzad has been arrested in connection with the failed car bomb that was planned to go off in a crowded area of Times Square. The 30-year-old was arrested as he was reportedly trying to flee New York and go to Dubai by an Emirates flight on Monday.
The suspect was in Pakistan for five months between April and August 2009, a Pakistan Interior Ministry official told the New York Times. Earlier, the city experienced several cases of racist attacks against Muslims and Sikhs, who were mistaken to be Muslims because of their turbans and long beards, after the 9/11 terror attacks.
© 2025