[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 136 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1878-E1879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INDIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER SAYS INDIA MAY SUFFER SAME FATE AS SOVIET 
                                 UNION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 2, 1998

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on August 7, India-West reported that Sharad 
Pawar, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, the lower house 
of India's Parliament, ``expressed fear that the country might go the 
erstwhile Soviet Union way.'' Speaking at a function for the release of 
a book, Pawar said that although the Soviet Union was a nuclear power, 
it fell apart. He said that India's missile tests should not make it 
overconfident about keeping the country together.
  The decline of India is inevitable, Mr. Speaker, for many of the same 
reasons that doomed the Soviet Union. The fact that a leader of the 
Indian Parliament is now taking note of it is a significant 
development.
  India is a country made of may nations. It has 18 official languages. 
While it maintains a democratic form of government, the principles of 
democracy do not seem to apply where the minority nations are 
concerned. Tens of thousands of Sikhs, Christian Nagas, Kashmiri 
Muslims, Dalits, Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, and others have been 
murdered by the government, with no apparent difference no matter which 
party is in power. Currently, there are 17 freedom movements within 
India's borders. It looks like Mr. Pawar is on to something.
  India's breakup is inevitable. I think I speak for most of us here 
when I say that I hope it happens in the peaceful way that the Soviet 
breakup did. Otherwise, there is the risk of another Yugoslavia in 
South Asia.
  It has been American policy to preserve the current artificial 
stability in South Asia, but let us remember that we pursued a similar 
policy with regard to the Soviet empire and it collapsed anyway. The 
best way to preserve stability, democracy, prosperity, freedom, and 
peace in South Asia is to get on the side of the peaceful, democratic, 
nonviolent freedom movements in Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and the 
other nations living under Indian rule.
  I call on my colleagues to support an internationally supervised 
plebiscite to settle the future of Punjab, Khalistan by votes, the way 
that democracies decide issues. I also call on India to fulfill its 
obligation to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir as it promised the United 
Nations it would in 1948. By these steps, India will signal its 
commitment to a democratic solution rather than a Yugoslavian-style 
ethnic war. If it will not commit itself to take these steps, my 
colleagues can draw their own conclusions--and so can the people of the 
world. India must not try to settle this issue with more bullets, more 
genocide, and more nuclear warheads. The time has come to shine the 
light of freedom on all the people and nations of South Asia.
  I thank Dr. Aulakh for bringing this very informative article to my 
attention and I am placing the article into the Record.

                    [From India-West, Aug. 7, 1998]

                  India May Suffer Soviet Fate: Pawar

       Pune (PTI).--The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha 
     Sharad Pawar Aug. 2 expressed the fear that the country might 
     go the erstwhile Soviet Union way unless concerted efforts 
     are taken to strengthen its economy in the wake of 
     international reaction to its carrying out nuclear tests.
       Pawar was speaking at a function to release a book, 
     ``Hiroshima,'' by noted Marathi writer D.B. Kher on the after 
     effects of bomb explosion in Japan Aug. 6, 1945.
       Pawar said though the erstwhile USSR was a nuclear power it 
     collapsed, and added that India should not become over-
     confident after the Pokhran-II tests.

[[Page E1879]]

       He said India should also be very vigilant as the economy 
     of Pakistan was in the doldrums. It might take any dangerous 
     step out of frustration. ``We should not forget the fact that 
     Pakistan had a history of aggression against India and hence 
     we should be on guard,'' he said.

     

                          ____________________