[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 124 (Thursday, September 17, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1751-E1752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MEMBER OF INDIAN PARLIAMENT CRITICIZES INDIAN GOVERNMENT'S ACTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 17, 1998

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, on August 14, News India-Times reported 
that Kuldip Nayar, a member of the Rajiya Sabha, the upper house of 
India's Parliament, came under verbal attack for saying that Pakistan's 
attack at the town of Doda came in retaliation for similar acts by 
Indian agents in the Pakistani state of Sindh.
  For this admission, some Indian Americans are trying to have him 
removed from Parliament, according to the article. Mr. Nayar

[[Page E1752]]

has forthrightly stated Indian responsibility for the situation in 
Kashmir and has opposed the Indian government's nuclear tests.
  Indian governments haven't always been the close friends with the 
United States and have often destabilized the region. It put the 
Prithvi missile on the export market a few years ago, some of which can 
even reach parts of the United States. It has provided nuclear 
technology to repressive, anti=American regimes such as Iran. The 
Indian government votes against the United States at the United Nations 
more often than any other country except Cuba, yet it remains one of 
the top five recipients of U.S. aid.
  Not only India's neighbors, but also several of its constituent 
peoples have suffered at the hands of violent Indian governments. 
Internally, the Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
1984, more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, almost 
60,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of Assamese, 
Tamils, Manipuris, Dalits, and others. In November 1994 the Hitvada 
newspaper reported that India paid the last Governor of Punjab, 
Surendra Nath, $1.5 billion to foment terrorism in neighboring Kashmir 
and in Punjab, Khalistan as well. According to the State Department, 
between 1992 and 1994 the Indian government paid over 41,000 cash 
bounties to police officers for murdering Sikhs. In one case, the 
police event went so far as to kill a three-year-old boy and his father 
and uncle to collect one of these bounties.
  We should also go on record demanding that India fulfill its half-
century-old promise of a plebiscite in Kashmir and that it hold an 
internationally-supervised plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan to decide 
the future of that country in a free and fair vote.
  I would like to submit the News India-Times article for my 
colleagues.

               [From the News India-Times, Aug. 14, 1998]

             Kuldip Nayar Flayed For ``Anti-India'' Remarks

       New Delhi: The recent statement allegedly made by Kuldip 
     Nayar, veteran journalist and nominated member of the Rajya 
     Sabha on the Doda massacre has created a furor in the 
     country.
       Nayar is now looked upon as a ``treacherous, anti-national 
     element'' for suggesting that the massacre at Doda is only a 
     retaliation by Pakistan for similar actions by Indian agents 
     in Sindh.
       The comment which has been so strong has even taken up 
     editorial columns of the country's leading newspapers and 
     magazines.
       One such editorial piece has even called it a blasphemous 
     statement and that patriotism has been turned into a dirty 
     word by a ``coterie of influential so-called intellectual.''
       It added that such a statement would not have been made 
     even by a spokesperson of Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services 
     intelligence as that would have indicated its involvement in 
     the Doda massacres.
       Meanwhile, American Friends of India condemning Kuldip 
     Nayar have circulated a release questioning Nayar's 
     credibility as a representative of the nation. ``This 
     preposterous action by Kuldip Nayar brings several issues 
     into question. Can he be trusted to be our representative in 
     the Upper House of the
       It may be noted here that Nayar represents a lobby of so 
     called intellectuals that blames the Indian government for 
     Pakistan-sponsored massacres in Kashmir, and vehemently 
     supports the U.S. government protests against the Indian 
     nuclear tests. Does this lobby stand for India's unity or 
     does it wish for its dismemberment?
       Nayar and his fellow co-conspirators will do well to note 
     that Kashmir is not about religion. It is about freedom of 
     religion. We urge the government of India and the Indian 
     National Human Rights Commission to treat the Kashmiri 
     Pandits as ``internally displaced people'' and stress the 
     importance of providing conditions for their safe return to 
     the valley.
       In light of such terrible tragedy of fellow Indians in 
     Kashmir, Nayar should be expelled from the Rajya Sabha. We 
     also urge the patriotic parliamentarians to take immediate 
     action against Nayar for his treacherous and anti-national 
     actions in the Rajya Sabha,'' the organization stated.

     

                          ____________________