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Tanmaya Kumar Nanda in New York
It was a voice that is rarely heard, not because it is too feeble, but because it rarely exists.
On September 22, however, that voice found the right volume, the right face, and the right opportunity to make itself heard.
At a silent candlelight rally on 74 Street in Jackson Heights, a coalition of South Asians, brought together by International South Asian Forum, cut across geography, politics, gender, and class demanded peace in the subcontinent.
The rally was also joined by Satveer Choudhary, the first Indian American to be elected to the Senate of Minnesota, and by former Lok Sabha member of parliament and Hindi film actor of yesteryear, Sunil Dutt.
Speaking from an unusual podium - the base of a lamp post - Choudhary said, "I want to tell the people of New York, and the South Asians of New York, that every South Asian from the mid-west and the country, stands with you in your moment of grief. It is the aim of the terrorists to create chaos in America, but we will prove that terrorism can be destroyed by freedom, not by more terror."
He also called upon South Asians to 'stand together in this time of pain, anger and grief'. Chaudhary called upon 'every patch that makes up the quilt that is America' to stand together.
The rally was supported by Aman, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Jackson Heights' Merchants Association, Manavi, New York Taxi Workers Alliance, South Asia Against AIDS Foundation, South Asian League of Artists in America, South Asian Gay and Lesbian Association, South Asian Youth Action, Workers' Awaaz, Youth Solidarity Summer, Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, Asia Pacific Forum, Solidarity Against The HIV Infection in India, South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection, Ayubowan and Narmada Solidarity Coalition of New York.
Dutt, who is in the United States for treatment following an air crash earlier this year as well as for a series of fundraisers - which have been postponed following the terrorist attacks of September 11 - for the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation, told the gathering, "Terrorists have no religion. People who believe in religion believe in humanity and compassion."
"All the great religions have come out of Asia, and it is the duty of all Asians at this time to work towards peace," he added
Speaking to rediff.com, Chaudhary said "Chaos is exactly what the terrorists want, they'd like nothing better than to tear the intricate fabric that is America."
Sekhar Ramakrishnan, one of the organisers of the rally, said that the rally was 'to mark what happened, as well as to drive home the point that this is a time for peace'.
Balaji, who is a volunteer for youth Solidarity Summer, was also at the rally, with his two-year-old daughter Nalanda, said it was a 'difficult time for those who want peace to locate themselves in the midst of preparation for military action. I would not like to see war in the subcontinent'.
What he would like to see, though, is a World Peace Centre in place of the World Trade Centre.
"It is more important at this stage to globalise peace than to globalise trade," he said.
The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage
EXTERNAL LINK For Further Coverage and Information, you may visit www.saja.org/roundup
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