Attacks on Sikhs due to mistaken identity

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 15. While the search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center complex continue, reports from New York speak of at least 77 injured Indians being treated in various hospitals. And 250 Indians or people of Indian origin are reported missing. Authorities in New York have placed the total number of missing persons between 5000 and 10,000.

The Indian Consulate in New York and the Embassy here have expanded their facilities to ensure all assistance to those Indians or people of Indian origin who are missing after the Tuesday collapse of the WTC complex. Several community organisations have also come forward to help.

In a larger sense, senior community leaders here are driving home the point that Indian Americans are ``part of the American society'' and are doing everything possible in the hour of crisis. ``This is not about religion,'' one of them said. If coming to grips with the injured and missing is one aspect of the post-terrorist strikes, the other relates to the sporadic attacks on a section of the Indian community in different parts of the country - New York, Cleveland and Chicago.

The attacks may not be as intense as those against Arab Americans but the incidents are not being taken lightly either by the community leaders or by the Indian missions.

The president of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, Mr. Rajwant Singh, has said in a statement that the attacks are as a result of the mistaken assumption that Sikhs are Muslims or that they come from West Asia.

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Section  : International
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