[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 139 (Thursday, September 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      ISLAMIC HOLY WAR IN KASHMIR

                                 ______


                           HON. SHERROD BROWN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 29, 1994

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I call my colleagues' attention to an 
article in the August 26 London Times: ``Kabul Paymasters Aim for Jihad 
in Kashmir.''
  The article is unsettling for those of us in Congress who are 
concerned about the rise of terrorist acts being perpetrated against 
Indian citizens in the Province of Kashmir.
  According to Times correspondent Christopher Thomas, Pakistan's 
foreign policy on Kashmir has been taken captive by foreign Islamic 
terrorists who are determined to wage a holy war of terrorism on 
Kashmir.
  Thomas notes that no Pakistani Government has ever been fully in 
control of its Kashmir policy.
  Rather, until recently Pakistan's Kashmir policy has been directed 
largely by the Pakistani Army, which has contributed significantly to 
the unrest in Kashmir by training, supplying, arming, and underwriting 
Indian Kashmiris who have fought to overthrow the Indian Government and 
establish an independent Kashmir state.
  Evidence is mounting, however, that in recent months, this military 
support has given way to foreign Islamic extremists allied with 
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan.
  These extremists are using Pakistan as a base to channel greater and 
greater amounts of funds, armaments, and soldiers into Kashmir.
  The attack on Kashmir has now evolved from a secular independence 
movement into a religious holy war with a goal of making Kashmir a part 
of Pakistan.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an ominous development.
  First, Pakistan has declared war on India three times over the past 
four decades. Each of these wars has involved Kashmir, an Indian state 
over which Pakistan continues to claim territorial sovereignty.
  Second, former Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, recently 
stated publicly that Pakistan has for some time possessed nuclear 
weapons, despite statements to the contrary to the world community for 
the past 7 years. Former Army Chief of Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg 
also has said publicly that Pakistan would be prepared to use these 
weapons against India in any future war between the two nations.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, India is anxious to return self government to 
Kashmir, which had substantial control over its own affairs prior to 
this outbreak of terrorist aggression 4 years ago. However, India 
remains unable to return decisionmaking to the local level in the face 
of ever-widening terrorist attacks in Kashmir and Islamic 
fundamentalists in Pakistan, who have gained control of Pakistan's 
Kashmir policy.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to read the Times article closely.
  The issues raised in this important article cannot be ignored by the 
U.S. Government.
  I ask that the article be included in the Record at this point.

               [From the Times of London, Aug. 26, 1994]

               Kabul Paymasters Aim for Jihad in Kashmir

                        (By Christopher Thomas)

       Pakistan appears to have lost control of its Kashmir policy 
     to foreign Islamic extremists who are channeling increasing 
     amounts of money and weaponry into India's only Muslim 
     majority state. This makes a peaceful solution all but 
     impossible, despite India's apparent readiness to offer 
     significant political concessions.
       Benazir Bhutto, the Prime Minister, could not halt the flow 
     of funds, men and guns across the mountainous border, even if 
     she wanted to. No government in Islamabad has ever been fully 
     in control of Kashmir strategy, which has been directed 
     largely by the armed forces, but events have now moved well 
     beyond the present government's reach.
       Kashmir valley has become irrelevant, since the important 
     paymasters are Islamic groups that see this is as the next 
     jihad (holy war). The sophisticated weapons entering the 
     valley are proof of the escalating resources being committed 
     to the conflict.
       Groups within the Pakistani military continue to support 
     the rebellion, but training, financing and supplying Indian 
     Kashmiris is now mostly the business of foreign Islamic 
     groups, primarily those in Afghanistan with most limitless 
     resources from narcotics sales. Afghanistan rivals Burma as 
     the world's largest supplier of raw opium.
       Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the nominal Prime Minister of 
     Afghanistan, is close Hizbul Mujahidin, the biggest rebel 
     group in the valley, which is fighting to reunite the former 
     Kashmiri kingdom under the Pakistani flag, something the 
     Muslims of the valley fear. The secular groups that launched 
     the rebellion in 1989 wanted independence both from Pakistan 
     and India, but such organizations are now almost irrelevant. 
     What began as a nationalist uprising has been hijacked by 
     Islamic extremists who have more money and better weapons.
       Mian Nawaz Sharif, the former Pakistani Prime Minister, 
     yesterday defended his claim that Pakistan has a nuclear bomb 
     and that his government, which lost power last year, gave 
     substantial funds to help the Kashmir uprising. In a written 
     statement, he said has remarks were designed to stop Mrs. 
     Bhutto from giving in to foreign pressure to curb the nuclear 
     programme.
       Mrs. Bhutto was seeking a compromise with the United States 
     on the nuclear issue in the hope that Washington would 
     restore military and economic aid, which had ended in 1990 
     because of suspicions that Pakistan has assembled the 
     components for a nuclear bomb. After Mr. Sharif's comments on 
     Tuesday, the Prime Minister cannot afford to be seen to offer 
     any concessions on the nuclear issue.
       Commentators suggested yesterday that Mr. Sharif's remarks 
     were made at the behest of the Pakistani military, which is 
     deeply committed to the nuclear programme as a 
     defence against India's superior conventional forces and 
     feared it might be rolled back under a pact with the 
     United States.
       Tensions on the line of control dividing Kashmir, which is 
     heavily patrolled by troops on both sides, have risen amid 
     rumours that some senior Indian army officer favour a policy 
     of hot pursuit across the border. The Indian government has 
     firmly ruled out such a policy, aware that it could spark 
     war. In the latest atrocity in Kashmir yesterday, eight 
     people were killed and 29 injured in a bomb on a school bus 
     in a Hindu-majority region of Kashmir.
       Delhi is ready to return substantial powers to Kashmir, 
     which used to enjoy special status that gave it control over 
     most of its own affairs, if peace and democracy can be 
     restored. The government concedes that elections are 
     impossible in the foreseeable future. Kashmiri Muslims fear 
     that any elections would be rigged, as in the past, and their 
     leaders have said they would order a boycott of any poll.

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