PRESS RELEASE
Community Organizations Join GOPIO in NY Solidarity Meeting
Twenty five community
organization joined GOPIO in a solidarity meeting held in New York at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sunday, September 23rd evening. There were several prominent
political and community leaders
who paid tributes to those who lost their lives at the terrorist attacks on
America.
The program started with
the American National Anthem sung by Liza Abraham followed by interfaith
prayers by Padita Indrani, Haji Zakir, Bhai Anand Singh and V.Rev. P.S. Samuel.
GOPIO President Dr. Thomas Abraham, in his welcome address condemned the Sept
11 brutal and senseless attack on America as a henious crime on humanity. Dr.
Abraham said "the terrorists attacked the most diverse city in the world
and there is hardly a national or ethnic group that has not been touched
directly by this tragedy.".
Dr. Abraham further
pointed that some misinformed and misguided people have engaged in violence
against South Asian Americans. "The terrorists were trying to breakdown
the fabric of America and we should not allow these people to breakdown what
America stands for", Abraham said. "Let us not forget that our common
enemy is global terrorism and to fight that, all nations have to come together,"
Abraham added.
Congressman
Gilman expressed gratefulness to India for offering to help right after the
terrorist attack. He regretted that America had to learn the hard way who their
friends really are in that region, and acknowledged that American troops in the
current situation will be far safer in India than anywhere else. Gilman said, "Kashmir, faced the
same problem that has now hit America." The world at large ignored
Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and its support of other hard core terrorist
groups, he continued, but promised that his committee on South Asian affairs
would be closley monitoring Pakistan even as the U.S. accept assistance from
Pakistan.
Gilman
said that this was not just a war against terrorism, nor was it about
Arab-Israeli conflict; it was about fundamentalist Islam wanting to demolish
democracy and all it stands for."The government intends to take just
retribution agasint the guilty, whether they live, be in Afghanistan, Sudan,
Iraq or Pakistan," Gilman said. "America is not going to be any
fallen tower but a tower of light in the dark world," Gilman added.
Member
of Indian Parliament, Sunil Dutt took time off from his fund-raising efforts in
America for Nargis Memorial foundatuion to explain that America has sent over
$4 million in aid to cancer projects in India. Dutt canceled all current
fund-raising to join and share in the sorrow of the country. Dutt said
"the two towers were like two strong arms of America trying to embrace you
and now the strong arms are no longer there but the strong arms of the people
are there to build it again." America, he said, is like a small world and
making this an attack was not just on America but on the world.
Santosh
Jha, vice consul at the Indian Consulate in New York, said they liased with
press and government officials on the backlash that was affecting people of
Indian origin also. Their initiatives saw a Sikh and Hindu priest also joining
in public prayers held by New York city at Yankee stadium.
George
Canard, construction project manager of parks dvision in New York city,
explained that they were working to conserve the Gandhi statue in Union Square.
He lauded Gandhi for influening his life and for providing non-violence way of
life to the world. As a volunteer at the Ground Zero, in his words, there is
not one piece of concrete at the disaster site that could not fit in a pail or
bucket, pointing to the magnititude of damage one by the terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center.
Queens
Congressman Gregory Meeks said "the terrorists attacked the wrong country
and wrong city and we will get them and bring them to justice." Other
speakers included Dr. Mukund Mody, Dr. Bhupi Patel, Dr. Sushila Gidwani-Buschi,
Dr. Najma Sultana, Deo Gosine and representatives of Queens Boro President Shulman
and New York Governor Pattaki. An auction was conducted at the end of the
meeing including two Executive Class tickets from Air India, RBC radios and
several other books and a painting. GOPIO presented a check of $10,000 as the
first instalment to American Red Cross.
The
program was coordinated by Lal Motwani and compered by GOPIO' Secretary General
Ashook Ramsaran and ITV Anchor person Renu Lobo.
PHOTOGRAPHS
(Click on Caption to view)
Organizer of GOPIO's solidarity Rally and Meeting, from L. to R. are: GOPIO Secretary General Ashook Ramsaran, GOPIO President Dr. Thomas Abraham and Program Coordinator Lal Motwani ____________________________________________________________________
GLOBAL ORGANIZATION OF PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN (GOPIO), P.O. Box 1413, Stamford, CT 06904, Tel: 203-329-8010, gopio@optonline.net
