[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H5439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THE PLIGHT OF THE KASHMIRI PANDITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, recent events in India's state of Jammu and 
Kashmir, where radical Islamic militants have infiltrated into India's 
territory with the support of, and apparently active collaboration 
with, Pakistan, have drawn international attention to this mountainous 
region. Now that Pakistan has apparently agreed to withdraw its 
fighters who have crossed onto India's side of the Line of Control, I 
hope that the attention of the U.S. and the world community will 
finally focus on the long-ignored plight of the Kashmiri Pandits.
  The Pandits, who are the Hindu community of Kashmir, have an ancient 
and a proud culture. Their roots in the Kashmir Valley run deep. The 
Pandits have been amongst the most afflicted victims of the Pakistani-
supported campaign of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. Virtually the 
entire population of 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to leave 
their ancestral homes and property. Threatened with violence and 
intimidation, they have been turned into refugees in their own country.
  Mr. Speaker, in June, the Pandits received somewhat of a mixed 
message from the National Human Rights Commission of India. In a 
positive step, the Commission did accept jurisdiction over the issue of 
human rights in Kashmir which was a matter of some question because of 
the special status that the state of Jammu and Kashmir enjoys under 
India's federal system. But the Commission also announced that it would 
not term the violence against the Pandits as genocide as has been 
requested by leaders of the Pandit community as well as myself and 
other Members of Congress. The National Human Rights Commission also 
rejected the request to define the Pandits as an Internally Displaced 
People. The Commission did acknowledge that the Pandits had been 
victims of killings and ethnic cleansings as part of the militants' 
campaign to get Kashmir to secede from India.
  The National Human Rights Commission has recently set up a committee 
to address the Pandits' concerns, which includes representatives from 
the Commission, the Jammu and Kashmir State Government, and one 
representative from the Pandit community. But, Mr. Speaker, the 
committee has not yet met.
  I am asking my colleagues to join me in signing a letter to the 
National Human Rights Commission asking that the decisions on genocide 
and internally displaced persons be reconsidered and that the new 
committee begin regular meetings. I have often cited India's Human 
Rights Commission as a model for other Asian nations and developing 
nations the world over to emulate. It is an example of India's 
commitment to democracy and the rule of law. I am sure the commission 
will give serious consideration to these requests by myself and other 
Members of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been calling along with some of my colleagues in 
this House for increased world attention to the plight of the Kashmiri 
Pandits. As I have gotten to know the Kashmiri-American community and 
have heard about the situation facing the Pandits, I have become 
increasingly outraged not only at the terrible abuses that they have 
suffered but at the seeming indifference of the world community. Mr. 
Speaker, India's government must work to provide conditions for the 
safe return of the Pandit community to the Kashmir Valley.
  I also urge that our State Department continue to hold Pakistan 
accountable for provoking the current fighting in Kashmir by its 
support for the militants who have infiltrated India's territory.
  Even before the current fighting, there has been a disturbing pattern 
of massacres of civilians carried out by the militants operating in 
Kashmir. While it is predominantly Hindus who have been the victims of 
these attacks, we have also seen attacks against Muslim residents of 
Jammu and Kashmir who have dared to assist the legitimate state 
authorities in putting a halt to the violence.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, this is the true face of the insurgency in 
Kashmir. The militants have transformed a peaceful, secular state in 
India, one which happens to have a predominantly Muslim population, 
into a killing field as part of the goal of turning the state into an 
area under strict Islamic rule. From the standpoint of international 
stability, this would be a disaster. From the human standpoint, the 
militants' campaign has already been a disaster as the displaced 
Kashmiri Pandit community demonstrates. It is wrong to continue to 
ignore their plight. We must address their concerns and hopefully the 
Human Rights Commission will do so and reconsider some of the decisions 
that it has already made.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 minutes.

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