Remarks by Dr. Sangita Rayamajhi
on the 5th Anniversary of 9/11
Kamal Kunj

9/11, 2006, Kathmandu

Your Excellency the American Ambassador Mr. James F Moriarty,   Excellencies and all the Dignitaries present on this occasion today.

I would like to thank you your Excellency for inviting me to speak a few words on this occasion organised to commemorate the tragic demise of over 3000 innocent people in the horrible terrorist attack of the Twin Tower on September 11, 2001.  Since this was an attack against humankind, against civilisation and peaceful order of life, it has gone down in history as an event that we all who live on this earth remember as our common concern. Indeed this horrible event has brought the people of this earth closer together than ever before.  As the ambassador has put the figure, people of over 90 different countries lost their lives in this attack five years ago. This common tragedy has united the people of this globe in their fight against terrorism physically, morally and psychologically. Figures show that ‘seventy percent Americans reportedly gave time and money to charities attempting to help the victims of 9/11’ and this tragic incident spurred civic revitalisation. Similar trends were noticed in different terrorist attacks in different parts of the world since the 9/11 terrorist attack. The five years of the global solidarity in fight against terrorism has shown that the terrorist attacks anywhere in the world can not demoralise the people and deter them from their resolution to condemn such attacks.

Cold-blooded murder of innocent people can not be the part of any religion. No prophets, yogis, priests or religious philosophers have ever justified people’s murder as part of any religio-cultural ethics, nor can such crimes be part of any pious holy visions of anybody on this earth. People using religion to kill the innocent people may have temporarily succeeded in subjugating others and conquering their territories, but it has never become successful in changing the course of civilisation and tarnishing the images of the great religious traditions like Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism or Islam. Terrorist attacks only reflect the sick minds of a few people who hatch dismal plans hiding in the dark caves and dungeons of this earth.

The 9/11 attack has increased many avenues of international cooperation. The terrorist attacks have made people of this earth more sensitive to the sufferings of their fellow human beings. Many terrorist organisations we can guess must have been altering their bloody paths too because they must have seen that the 9/11 attack and other assaults on people’s lives have only increased people’s resolve to fight for peace with greater energy. Peace not terror is what wins ultimately.

The countries of Asia have experienced the pains caused by terrorist attacks. But the greatest antidote to the pain of terrorism is greater democracy and respect of human rights and people’s liberties and respect to each other’s faiths. We in Nepal despite the difficult times we have experienced consider respect for each other’s life and dignity as the ultimate goals of all our efforts for peace.

Our greatest tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks will be the reiteration of our belief that terrorism does not win and will never win anywhere in the world. And I would like to end by saying, as we stand here we are all united in our prayers for the victims of 9/11 and all the others who have fallen victims to such hideous acts of terrorism around the world. 

Thank you.