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Afghanistan losses mourned at vigil

By Kechia Smith-Gran, Special to the Daily Planet
Friday November 09, 2001

 

 

Students and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil Thursday night in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza to mourn the loss of lives in Afghanistan and to urge a halt to the U.S. bombing.  

While the organizers said they extend their full sympathies to the victims of Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., they said the U.S. government should not retaliate by waging war on innocent civilians.  

“We can best honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks by not forgetting the human rights of those in the United States and around the world,” Tram Nguyen of Amnesty International told the crowd of about 175. “We are also here to remind ourselves of a common humanity.” 

During the two-hour vigil, the crowd listened to half a dozen speakers from the sponsoring organizations, as well as traditional Afghan music, which painted a backdrop for the poignant stories of remembrance. 

Hatem Bazian, an Islamic scholar and frequent commentator on Middle Asian issues, was the featured speaker for the evening. He said the message of tonight’s vigil was to bring attention to the innocent lives that were being lost for no reason.  

“Those responsible should be brought to justice, but not through this process and through this mechanism that the United States has chosen, which is to bomb the poorest country in the world that has the lowest standard of living, that has been in the process of war for 21 years, so there is no infrastructure left to bomb and therefore one wonders what these bombs are destroying other than life,” he said.  

Taliban officials have claimed as many as 1,500 civilian casualties since the air 

strikes began, however U.S. military officials have insisted that the Taliban is 

grossly exaggerating those numbers. International journalists have been unable to independently verify any casualty numbers from either side. 

Nguyen invited several candle-holding participants to sign a petition which will be sent to President George W. Bush.  

“The petition urges him along with his cabinet members and the government to make sure that all human rights are being protected in the military operations in Afghanistan,” she said.  

Although many in the crowd said they wanted an end to the bombing, the petition itself made no call to stop the air strikes. 

“The people of Afghanistan are dying, a nation is dying,” said a student from the Afghan Student Association. “We mourn for the victims of this tragedy, the loss of life, for the sorrow and for their grief. We are here tonight because of our respect for humanity and appreciation of the value of life,” she said.  

The vigil was sponsored by Afghan Students Association, Society of Afghan Professionals and the UC Berkeley chapter of Amnesty International.