NRIs appeal to folks back home to maintain calm

Apprehensive of communal disturbances in India following the Mumbai terror attacks, leading Indian Americans Thursday urged people back home to maintain calm and peace.

Expressing outrage at the nature of attacks that has killed more than 100 people in India's commercial capital Mumbai so far, these eminent Indian Americans from various parts of the United States in a signed statement urged the political parties not to use this tragedy for their own advantage.

'We appeal to all Indians to stay united and foil the evil designs of the terrorists whose main objective is to fan the flames of discord and hatred. We urge the political parties not to exploit these terrorist acts for political purposes,' the statement said.

Prominent among those who signed the statement are Shahid Ali Khan of the Indian Minorities Advocacy Network, Manzoor Ghori of Indian Muslim Relief and Charities and Khursheed Mallick from American Muslim Physicians of Indian Origin (AMPI).

Among other signatories are Dr Shaikh Ubaid (New York), Saeed Patel (New Jersey), Dr Syed S. Ahmed (Chicago), Dr Shaikh O. Saeed (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Syed Azmatullah Quadri (Chicago) and Habeeb Ahmed (Long Island, New York).

These NRIs expressed their alarm over the sophistication and military level planning seen in these coordinated attacks and on the failure of the intelligence agencies in preventing such a huge and widespread attack.

'We demand that the federal and state governments bring the perpetrators of these actions to justice swiftly,' they said.

Expressing their deepest condolences to the families of the victims of these heinous attacks, the statement said: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the hostages especially those who were guests of India and were visiting from the US and Britain.'

'We stand in solidarity with the family of Anti Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was courageously heading the inquiry in the recent Malegaon bomb blasts in which Hindu extremists, including military officers and some religious leaders were implicated,' it said.