Pakistani-origin influencer Junaid Akram alleged that growing up in the Gulf as a Pakistani, he is not new to racism, but he expected things to be better in Canada; however, he now faces casual racism as Canadians think he’s an Indian. In the Gulf, anyone who isn’t White or Arab is cheap labor, the influencer said, explaining how immune he is to racist trolling. Akram said he works at a fast food chain in Canada and people call him Indian there. He said he corrected them that he is not from India but from Pakistan, but they don’t care, as for them, it’s one big India. “It’s disrespectful,” Akram said, adding that the online hatred against Indians is not limited to Indians but for all South Asians.A section of social media users told him off and said it is the other way round: Indians are getting a bad name for Pakistanis abroad. They said Pakistanis and Bangladeshis run ‘Indian restaurants’ abroad, and they call themselves Indians because Indians are more respected.“Pakistani and Bangladeshi themselves call them Indians for honour. Too many foreign restaurants with Indian in name are actually owned by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis,” one wrote.“He should be proud that they are calling him Indian. If they knew he was a Pakistani, they would call him terrorist,” another wroteAkram said Pakistanis are treated as easily disposable in any country, as they are not respected in their own country. Pakistanis go to Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Korea and Japan and then to Canada, America. “The Internet is dividing people. It seems only Indians and Pakistanis are committing all the crimes abroad; they are stealing from Target. There is a wave of hate on the Internet against brown people, Muslims and Indians,” the influencer said, adding that he’s not defending Pakistan because they are not doing anything to earn respect.
