Farah Pandith, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Special Representative to Muslim Communities, participated in a conference call with university journalists across the country last Thursday.
Pandith, who often focuses her efforts on people under age 30 and calls this generation the “change makers,” spoke on-the-record to participants, addressing issues facing Muslim Americans and United States relations with Middle Eastern Countries.
Pandith encouraged students to “look at ways we can challenge issues that are not always discussed on the world stage.”
During the call, Pandith expressed a “need to be proactive” when engaging in topics surrounding Muslims both in the United States and abroad. In particular, Pandith pointed to the Obama administration for setting a tone which values significant diplomatic engagement with Muslims globally.
However, it was not until President Obama’s speech in Cairo on June 4, 2009 that Pandith said the administration outlined its plan of action regarding Muslim relations. It was two weeks after this speech that Pandith was appointed to her current position.
From Cairo, Obama addressed the Muslim world when he said he traveled to Egypt to reframe America’s relationship with Muslims.
“I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” he said in the landmark appearance. “One based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.”
Pandith described her role as working on a “people-to-people” level. She said she sees her work as seeking “innovation on the ground,” and spends her time working with people on a grassroots level, which includes students, imams and community leaders. Pandith works all over the world with countries where Muslims are both the majority and the minority, in order to reach the globe’s 1.6 billion adherents.
In a time where Islamaphobia has become a regular topic in the American polemic, Pandith said she is working to connect individuals in order to spread information about what being a Muslim today is really like.
Pandith said she wants the world to recognize that there is “diversity and nuance that exist with Muslim communities around the world.”
In speaking to college students, Pandith said she hopes to engage student communities in a discussion about Muslims in the United States and abroad. She elaborated, explaining that understanding that Muslim is not another word for terrorist is unfortunately a discussion the US media continues to propagate, as seen this summer with the issue of a proposed Islamic community center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Pandith graduated from Smith College in 1990. She was president of the student body her senior year and double-majored in government and psychology. After graduation, she spent three years working for United States Agency for International Development. Pandith then returned to graduate school and earned her masters’ degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Pandith, an American Muslim, was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, and at the age of one immigrated to America with her mother.
Pandith was sworn in as the Special Representative to Muslim Communities on September 15, 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It is the third position Pandith has held in the United States government that pertains to engaging with Muslims around the world.
Prior to her current position, Pandith was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. In this position, Pandith focused on working with Muslim communities in Europe and was responsible for policy oversight for integration, democracy and Islam in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Before Pandith began working with the State Department, she served as the Director for Middle East Regional Initiatives for the National Security Council from 2004 to 2007. Pandith’s responsibilities in this position included coordinating the United States’ policy on “Muslim World” outreach, and the Broader Middle East North Africa Initiative, a partnership between the US and members of the G8 group and the European Union meant to bolster democracy and prosperity in the Middle East.
The position of Special Representative to Muslim Communities was created especially for Pandith, which began with her appointment in 2009.
Pandith pointed to Obama’s inauguration speech when explaining her role as the Special Representative, saying the speech had asked Americans to “begin again with Muslims.” Pandith has said that currently, it “is a Presidential priority…to engage with Muslims around the world.”
Sara Jackson can be reached at [email protected].
