His Excellency Ambassador Ronen Sen,

Ambassador of India to United States of America,

Embassy of India, Washington D.C.

Your Excellency Ambassador Sen,

This letter is to send to you sincere condolences on the tragic incidents in Mumbai, India. The recent attacks in India have not only affected the people of India, but have affected the people of Pakistani heritage as well. This was an attack on all civilized people. The terrorists have no boundaries, no religion, no nationality and no ethnicity. They kill indiscriminately to instill fear in the hearts and minds of the people and generate negative feelings amongst people.

While the real facts of these attacks are not fully available, some views shared by people have suggested that there is a possibility that some of these people may have indirect or remote links to some groups in Pakistan. As the main organization of the Pakistani-American Community, the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) takes some of these allegations very seriously and is highly concerned about this situation, should these be accurate.

I wanted to share with you that the Pakistani-American Communities stands by with our fellow Americans and Indian-American Community members to unconditionally condemn this outrageous and cowardly act. Our prayers and thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. The Pakistani-American Community lives in harmony with our fellow Indian-American Community and we feel that our understanding, closeness and mutual respect for each other in United States gives us an excellent opportunity to build on a culture of mutual respect and harmony free of any type of justifications for wrong actions.

We also strongly believe that for a stable South-Asian region, it is critical that Pakistan be stable. We will be advocating and reaching out to our legislators to seek ways of working and educating the masses in Pakistan and work with the people of Pakistan to educate the masses to start to develop respect for each other.

We hope that the two communities can work together for not only their combined future in Unites States, but also for the combined future of the people of South Asia. We request that the Indian authorities work for the safety of all its citizens and ensure that such terrorists’ attacks do not lead to any ethnic backlash in an emotionally charged environment.

Sincerely,

M. Saud Anwar MD, MPH, FCCP

President, PAKPAC
President@pakpac.net

7350 Vandusen Road, Suite 450, Laurel, MD 20707                Tel: 202 558 6404                                 www.pakpac.net                   info@pakpac.net