Campus, News

Asian groups hold vigil for Mumbai

Only about 15 percent of each class at Boston University is of Asian descent, but everyone should be aware of last month’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, students said.

More than 200 students gathered silently in Marsh Chapel on Friday to commemorate the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks, which began Nov. 26 and ended Nov. 29, killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 300 others.

‘What happened is unbelievable,’ College of Arts and Science freshman Shailee Dave said. ‘I knew people who live around the area, and it’s horrible.’

Invoking messages of peace and unity, 16 Boston University South Asian organizations collaborated to organize the vigil. A representative from each organization lit a candle, followed by a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims.

‘This shows that we’re all united, and we want to organize together,’ CAS junior Shuchi Lakhanpal said. ‘We’ve been organizing it since we got back from Thanksgiving break.’

BU India Club President Nirav Bhavsar said it was important for all the organizations to come together because the incident ‘affects everyone.’

‘Being born and brought up here, a lot of us don’t think that much about issues happening there,’ Bhavsar, a College of Engineering senior, said. ‘It’s important, though, to stay connected because, we do have heritage in India.’

CAS senior Qasim Salimi said he worries people tend to only pay attention to events in their own countries

‘It is important to promote awareness, because there is a lot of ignorance about events that occur in other countries,’ Salimi said. ‘Terrorism is a global concern.’

Event organizers raised funds by selling white ribbons to those who attended. Organizers said all proceeds would go to whichever charity they decide will be most effective toward aiding the situation in Mumbai.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

Though India is no stranger to terror attacks, it is important to hold a vigil in remembrance of the Mumbai victims, students said.

‘Having a vigil is important, because it makes people reflect and think about why something like this happened,’ CAS senior Ayda Zugay said. ‘Then we can think about how to prevent it in the future.’

College of Communication sophomore Omar Aqeel said he thinks it is important for him to show his support, despite not being South Asian.

‘We should know about these things,’ he said. ‘By gaining knowledge about it, we can broaden our perspective of the world, which is important.’

Suno, BU’s Hindi a cappella group, concluded by singing India’s national anthem.

COM junior Mihika Verma said the incident was especially personal for her.

‘I’m from India, and I know a commando who died during the attacks,’ she said. ‘Initially, I was not very surprised, but it’s always sad.’

Website | More Articles

This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.

Comments are closed.