Whereas, on July 11, 2006, during evening rush hour, 7
major explosions occurred on commuter trains in the Indian financial capital of
Mumbai, killing as many as 200 and wounding more than 400 innocent
people;
Whereas the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, has
urged calm in the country and vowed to take all possible measures to maintain
law and order and to defeat the forces of terrorism;
Whereas the Mumbai attacks occurred shortly after a series
of grenade attacks took the lives of 8 innocent civilians and wounded 39 others
in tourist areas of Srinagar, the capital city of Indian Kashmir;
Whereas the United States and India are both
multicultural, multireligious democracies that abhor terrorism in all its forms
and will continue to work steadfastly together to overcome terrorist ideology
and establish peace and security;
Whereas the people of India have long faced, with bravery
and resolve, past acts of terrorism, including twin bombings at a train station
and a temple in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi that killed 20 people in March
2006, a series of bombings in New Delhi a day before the Hindu festival of
Diwali that resulted in the death of more than 60 people in October 2005, 2
simultaneous car bombings in Mumbai that killed 52 people in August 2003, a
bombing on a passenger train in Mumbai that killed 10 people in March 2003, an
attack on a Hindu temple in the state of Gujarat that left 33 people dead in
September 2002, an attack on India’s parliament in New Delhi in December 2001
that left 14 people dead and precipitated a 5-month military stand off with
neighboring Pakistan, a series of bombings that struck the Mumbai stock
exchange, killing 257 people and wounding more than 1,000 others, and countless
attacks in Indian Kashmir that have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands
of people over the last 16 years;
Whereas the terrorists responsible for these attacks seek
to disrupt the free, democratic, and pluralistic lifestyle enjoyed by the
people of India;
Whereas the Government of India has been engaged in joint
efforts with the United States Government to combat terrorism and to ensure a
safer and more secure world; and
Whereas the governments of countries throughout the world
strongly condemned the attacks in Mumbai, including the United States
Government and the Governments of Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and France:
Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)condemns in the
strongest terms the July 11, 2006, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India;
(2)expresses its
condolences to the families and friends of those individuals killed in the
attacks and expresses its sympathies to those individuals who have been
injured;
(3)expresses its
solidarity with the Government and people of India in fighting and defeating
terrorism in all its forms; and
(4)expresses its
support for the enhancement of strategic cooperation between the United States
and India, with the goal of combating terrorism and advancing peace and
security.