Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY). (Photo, as it appears on www.house.gov)

June 2: The Political Action Committee (PAC) of Pakistani-American Liaison Committee (PAL-C), which was registered last week with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, is not going to focus on anti-India activities, according to its Executive Director Faiz Rehman.

Rehman, who has been leading the National Council of Pakistani Americans, told News India-Times: "Our functions are basically as a pro-Pakistan and pro-Pakistani-American PAC, and we are not going to be engaged in any anti-India or any negative activity. Lots of Indian organizations are about anti-Pakistan things. We want to use our energy and our resources for our own betterment rather than attacking other countries and communities."

Rehman, who has been active is trying to help hundreds of Pakistani families in the country who feared new Justice Department regulations targeting immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East, and who fled to the Canadian border to seek asylum, said the PAC was in operation already. "We have an office and are in the process of setting it up on Capitol Hill area."

The registration of the PAC comes on the heels of the formation of PAL-C that came into being this February after more than 100 leading Pakistani-Americans met in Washington on Feb. 28. So far, the PAC has six members on its board of directors and three board of trustees. According to press reports, each member of the board has contributed $10,000, and each trustee contributed $3,000.

The board is expected to expand to 25 trustees and 15 directors in coming months when regional directors will also be appointed. The PAC's board of directors met last month with visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri at a reception hosted by Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.

The PAC is soliciting donations from Pakistani-Americans around the country so that national campaigns of various candidates and races can be funded to target issues that help Pakistani-Americans and Pakistan. "There are multiple activities going on already. We are providing other local and national organizations with a national platform, because there are organizations that come here (Capitol Hill) to meet legislators. So we will be more like coordinating and helping their activities," Rehman told News India-Times. "It would be premature for me to talk of our immediate specific programs."