By Ras Siddiqui
Sacramento, Calif. — Close to 500 people from all walks of life gathered on the steps of the California State Capitol building here Dec. 20 to participate in a candlelight vigil to remember the 132 school children and 9 staff members killed by terrorists in Peshawar, Pakistan. Most of the attendees were Pakistani-Americans and local Muslims including many area Imams, and this time a substantial number of Indian Americans also came to show their support along with members of Sacramento’s vibrant interfaith community.
Four local organizations arranged the vigil led by the Pakistani American Association of Sacramento. Everyone was on the same platform, a show of solidarity with (one) humanity, irrespective of party, faith, race, gender or national origin.
Imam Abdul Azeez started with an opening prayer, delivering an eloquent and effective Islamic condemnation of this murderous act against children. He said that we are standing here tonight in this rain to mourn, not because they were Muslim, not because they were from Pakistan, but we are mourning them because they were children.
Bashir Choudhry, president of the Pakistani American Association, started with a prayer for the departed. He thanked the local interfaith community for being here to share in our grief. Bobbie Singh-Allen, president of the Elk Grove Unified School District, said that she was here as a representative of the greater Sacramento Indian American community, the Punjabi community, the Sikh community, and as a mother.
“We are all Pakistani today and mourn the loss of our children. These were our kids. Our future,” she said.
Also speaking on the occasion, Pratibha Shalini from the Hindu community expressed her deep condolences, and asking: What about after this candlelight vigil? Or in other words, where do we go from here?
Narinderpal S. Hundal and Harkirat Singh, both from the local Sikh community, voiced their support. This writer also got the opportunity to say a few words.
The closing prayer was presented by Imam Qasmi of the Sacramento Downtown Muslim Mosque. Imam Qasmi, who hails from India, said that the perpetrators of this heinous act of killing these school children have violated just about every tenet of our religion.
Meanwhile, members of the Pakistani American community gathered around the country in other cities to honor those who died in the militant attack.
Vigils were held Dec. 19 at the Consulate General of Pakistan’s office in Los Angeles, organized by the Consul General of Pakistan, Pakistan Arts Council, Council of Pakistan American Affairs, TCF, SHINE Humanity, DIL and the Pakistani American community; and at Stanford, San Jose and Davis on Dec. 17 organized by the Pakistan Association of San Francisco.
The Michigan Daily reports that last week’s candlelight vigil on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus included many speakers of Pakistani heritage. The event was organized by the Michigan Pakistanis and the Muslim Students’ Association, according to a report in AP.
Some pleaded for the world not to respond to the massacre in Peshawar with more force and instead look for ways to stop events like these from happening again. They also expressed hope that the media doesn’t define all of Pakistan by the attack.
Nearly all of the victims were young students. The Pakistani government and military has vowed a stepped-up campaign aimed at rooting out militant strongholds in the country’s tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.
This story originally appeared in India West.