Americans have a lot of misperceptions about us, especially in regard to our religion. Of course, Islam is very important to us, but it is wrong to assume that all Pakistanis are fundamentalists. Some Americans also mistakenly think that Pakistan had something to do with September 11th. However, Pakistan is an ally of the U.S. and it was one of the first countries to offer its support to Americans. Also, Americans usually think that we are Arabs. On the contrary, we are ethnically and culturally differerent from the people who live in the Middle East. Although we learn Arabic so that we can read the Qur'an, we speak Urdu, Punjabi, and over 70 other languages. Another common misperception is that women have no rights in Pakistan. Americans often believe that women are not allowed to work or do other things. They don't realize that many of our officials, including the head of the Board of Education and the Treasury, are women. In fact, Pakistan has over 90 female members of Parliament, which is the largest number of any Muslim country.
Many Pakistanis think that Americans view us with distrust and fear. This probably leads to mutual misunderstandings. We also may stereotype Americans as people who are lucky enough to have a lot of money without really having to do a lot of work. Sometimes Americans seem too self-involved to us and often they don't seem friendly.
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