UND students discuss India terrorism

GRAND FORKS (AP) — University of North Dakota students from India say the terror rampage in that country’s financial capital of Mumbai has them angry and frustrated.

“When I see this, I want to do something for my nation,” said Rajanikanth Katte, a graduate student in chemical engineering. “I am asking myself: ‘What am I doing here?’ After this, who will want to go to India?”

The terror rampage left almost 200 people dead, including six Americans, in Mumbai, India’s second-largest city.

Katte said he had planned to return home for a visit. “But my mother said, ‘If this kind of thing is going on in India, don’t come,”‘ he said.

The students said they worry about the impact the attacks might have on the world’s perception of India, where tourism has been a rapidly growing part of the economy.

“There has been terrorism in India, but it was smaller than this and usually confined to the state of Kashmir,” the disputed territory between India and Pakistan, said Somasekhar Vedireswarapu, a graduate student in chemical engineering. “This was not as big as 9/11, but it is one of the biggest attacks in India, and there was the taking of hostages, which is very unusual in India.”

The students said they are grateful for expressions of sympathy they’ve heard from people in Grand Forks.

“People are realizing that India has been suffering from terrorism, too,” said Bhanu Dasari, a graduate student in pharmacology. “Now, it is evolving. It is not just putting a bomb under a car and running away.”

The three friends and a fourth, Srinivas Abbina, a graduate student in chemistry, have been in Grand Forks from three months to two years. All are from the central India state of Andhra Pradesh, about 400 miles from Mumbai, but the terror attacks still hit home.

“We feel we should be there,” Dasari said.

Tags: und, india, terrorist, mumbai, violence