A candlelight vigil will be held on Friday at 6 p.m. at Hendricks Chapel to mourn the lives lost in a recent Taliban attack in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The attack happened Tuesday morning when Taliban gunmen invaded the Army Public School and College, entered an auditorium filled with students and opened fire. The gunmen also entered classrooms and other parts of the school before government troops ended the attack. One hundred and forty-five people died in the attack, according to CNN. Of those who died, 132 were children.

Kulsoom Khalid Ijaz, a third year student in the Syracuse University College of Law who organized the vigil, said she found out about the attack when she woke up Tuesday morning and looked at her phone to see that #PeshawarAttack was trending on Twitter.

“I was immediately horrified, and then I was just angry,” Ijaz said. “I read a quote that said ‘the smallest coffins are the heaviest to carry.’ That made me incredibly sad and I just felt helpless.”

The vigil will start with a representative from the Muslim Chaplaincy to read words of inspiration and remembrance for the lives lost. Then candles will be lit and the names of each victim will be read. Ijaz said that a few SU students will then sing a song in remembrance and the vigil will close with a moment of silence. The event is scheduled to last 30-45 minutes and is open to the entire Central New York community.

Though many SU students are away for winter break, Ijaz said she worked with the administration to reach out to local churches and synagogues to participate in the event.

Ijaz said she was inspired by vigils for the Peshawar victims held in Washington D.C., and at Columbia University and Harvard University. She worked with friends to organize the vigil at SU, and to create a Facebook event and flyers.

Ijaz’s parents are both from Pakistan, and lived there until the late 1980s. Ijaz said that when growing up her parents taught her the history, culture and language of Pakistan.

“Your body is situated here, but you also have this visceral attachment to Pakistan because that’s where your heart is,” she said.

With the vigil, Ijaz said she hopes to demonstrate that each and every life that was taken mattered.

“This isn’t a political protest or demonstration,” she said. “This is just to honor the lives that have been taken. They deserve to be known.”

Published on December 18, 2014 at 10:09 pm

Contact Lydia: lawilson@syr.edu