Financial Capitals Unite: Candlelight Vigils for Mumbai Victims
(3 December 2008)

About 1,000 British city professionals working in London's Canary Wharf and Finsbury Square took part in two candlelight vigils on the evening of Wednesday 3rd December 2008 in memory of the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks from 26th - 29th November. British-Indian charity SewaVolunteers organised the vigils that took place outside the main entrance of Canary Wharf tube station and in the heart of the square mile - Liverpool St. Among those who attended were Tony McNulty MP, Minister for London, Gillan Merron MP, Foreign Office Minister, Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London and MPs Virendra Sharma, Stephen Pound and Barry Gardiner.

Asif Ibrahim and Raveesh Kumar represented the Indian High Commission, with Mr S. A. Hasan, Managing Director of Tata Ltd and Subhash Thaker, Vice President of Taj Hotels also attending. The Taj Hotel in Mumbai was one of the buildings targeted by the terrorists last week and is reported to be badly damaged. The company added that according to preliminary inspections, the Tower wing of the hotel has not suffered any significant damage, while the Heritage wing suffered from the impact of severe assault.

Commenting on the vigils, Arup Ganguly, President of SewaVolunteers said: "As someone who works in the financial services industry, I felt that we should stand shoulder to shoulder with our counterparts and colleagues in Mumbai. The symbolism of organising this at the two financial districts in London serves to emphasise that despite all the turmoil we see in the markets, we believe that the bond between our two cities is strengthened by a common goal of ensuring the prosperity & safety of our communities."

The organisers would like to convey their gratitude to Howard Dawber and the team at Canary Wharf Plc; Manjit Buttar & Steve Kemp and their team at Canary Wharf tube station; Revd Dr Fiona Stewart-Darling, Canary Wharf Chaplain. SewaVolunteers promotes public service in Britain. Those interested in volunteering can register at www.sewavolunteers.org