[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1031-E1032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INDIAN DEFENSE MINISTER'S STATEMENT SHOWS THAT INDIA IS ANTI-AMERICAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 19, 1999

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, we knew that India was a repressive tyranny. 
Now they have shown us how anti-American they are. I was offended by an 
article in the May 18 issue of the Indian Express, which Dr. Gurmit 
Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, shared with me. In 
the article, the Indian Defense Minister, a man named George Fernandes, 
describes the United States as ``vulgarly arrogant'' and accused the 
United States and NATO of ``aggression against Yugoslavia.''
  The meeting he was addressing, which was called by India, was also 
attended by representatives from China, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Russia, 
Libya, and Iraq, which leads me to wonder where the North Koreans were. 
They belong in this motley collection of America-bashers as much as any 
of these other countries.
  The article says that everyone at the meeting agreed that ``We have 
to stop the U.S. It started with Iraq, now Yugoslavia. We don't know 
who's next.'' The Russian Ambassador asked ``India and China to join us 
in stopping U.S. attempts to dominate the world.''
  I would like to remind my colleagues that India is one of the largest 
recipients of American foreign aid. Does this sound to you like a 
country we should be supporting with the tax dollars of the American 
people? It doesn't sound like that kind of country to me.
  Remember that it was India that started the nuclear arms race in 
South Asia by setting off five nuclear devices. It is India that 
refuses to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. India has attacked 
Pakistan twice and invaded Sri Lanka once.
  Whether or not one agrees with President Clinton's policy in Kosovo, 
we went there to stop the ``ethnic cleansing'' of the Kosovars by the 
Serbian government. Yet we have averted our glance from a similar 
campaign throughout India, a situation the Indian Supreme Court 
described as ``worse than a genocide.'' This ethnic cleansing has taken 
the lives of over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, over 200,000 Christians in 
Nagaland since 1947, over 60,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and 
thousands upon thousands of Dalits, Assamese, Manipuris, Tamils, and 
other minority peoples. India claims that it is democratic, but there 
is not democracy for these and other minorities. Currently, there are 
17 independence movements in the nations under Indian control. Now 
India is joining with some of the world's most tyrannical police states 
in a joint effort to ``stop the U.S.'' Not only that, but the so-called 
``world's largest democracy'' organized the meeting.
  We must stop funneling American money to countries that are 
repressive and are conspiring with our enemies against this country. We 
should place stringent economic sanctions on India to stop the 
repression and the anti-American activities, and we should apply every 
kind of peaceful pressure that we can to secure for the minority 
peoples and nations of South Asia the right to determine their own 
futures democratically in a free and fair vote, not by the force of 
Indian bayonets. This is our duty to the people of the world. We must 
begin today.
  I would like my colleagues to read the Indian Express article, which 
is alarming, so I would like to submit it for the Record.

        George Leads Envoys in Bashing `A Vulgarly Arrogant US'

       New Delhi, May 17: Yugoslavia, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, Russia, 
     China--and India. That these

[[Page E1032]]

     countries produce the world's finest boxers probably had 
     something to do with a session of US-bashing inside stuffy, 
     old Sapru House in Delhi today. And also that each one of 
     them have had a diplomatic disagreement with the US some time 
     or the other. Defence Minister George Fernandes' Samata Party 
     had organised the meeting ``to denounce the US-led NATO's 
     aggression on Yugoslavia''. Fernandes, typically led from the 
     front against a ``much stronger and a vulgarly arrogant 
     United States'' since the days of the Vietnam war. Envoys 
     from the other six countries to India added a long list of 
     adjectives in the same vein.
       ``We have to stop the US,'' agreed everyone, ``It started 
     with Iraq, now Yugoslavia. We don't know who's next.'' In 
     their anxiety, and in their furious speeches, there were 
     subtle messages being put across. Like Yugoslav Ambassador 
     Cedomir Strbac's statement that Belgrade was ready to 
     ``guarantee all Kosovars substantial autonomy'' in accordance 
     with international standards.
       ``But only if NATO stops its air strikes and a political 
     dialogue is initiated in accordance with Gandhinan 
     principles. We are ready to accept a solution which respects 
     our freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' he 
     said.
       Others said the Cold War may be over, and the USSR may have 
     disintegrated, but watch out for a new world order. ``They 
     (the US) are showing Russia and others what they can do. We 
     want India and China to join us in stopping US attempts to 
     dominate the world. The equation is: To be, or not to be,'' 
     said Russian Ambassador Albert S. Tchernshyev.
       ``The forthcoming 21st century should not witness a 
     unipolar world,'' added China's political counsellor Liu 
     Jenfeng, venting China's anger over NATO's bombing the 
     Chinese embassy in Belgrade which left three dead and 20 
     injured.
       The ambassadors from Cuba, Libya and Iraq narrated their 
     stories to express support for ``Yugoslavia's resilience''. 
     ``How can they pretend to solve a conflict by using 
     destructive weapons themselves. For 38 years, they have held 
     us to ransom with embargos,'' said Cuban Ambassador Olga 
     Chamero Trias. ``We have been called terrorists and law-
     breakers all these years. Now who is breaking the law?'' said 
     Libyan Ambassador Nuri Al-Fituri El-Madani. ``People in 
     Kosovo are becoming refugees because they are fleeing from 
     the bombing, not because there is ethnic cleansing. We in 
     Iraq know what it means to live in the middle of bombs 
     exploding all around,'' said Iraqi ambassador Salah Al-
     Mukhtar.
       George Fernandes agreed, and summarised. He said the US has 
     run away from all norms set by the United Nations. ``The UN 
     hardly has a say these days, America merely wished its way to 
     doing what it's doing. Therefore, we (referring to Russia, 
     China, India, Libya, Cuba, Iraq and Libya) who represent more 
     than half the world's population must get together to stop 
     the US-led NATO hegemony.''
       He pointed out that the new doctrine adopted by NATO on its 
     50th anniversary on April 23, when Yugoslav towns were being 
     bombed, made it clear that the military alliance was free to 
     attack any sovereign country if it ``thought that country was 
     doing or was likely to do anything against the interests of 
     any NATO country''. Fernandes added: ``That the United States 
     is the author of this doctrine does not need to be emphasised 
     here.''
       At the end of it all, inside the stuffy, old auditorium, an 
     emotional Yugoslav ambassador Strbac stood up and said ``Jai 
     Hind''.

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