[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 72 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H4216-H4218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INDIA IN NEED OF THIS COUNTRY'S ASSISTANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) is recognized 
for half the time until midnight as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I take the well at this very late hour 
because I want to talk about an issue that is, I think, vitally 
important not only to this country but to the stability of peace in the 
world community.
  I had the occasion to take a trip with my wife and several others to 
Pakistan in India, and to Kashmir about a month, or month and a half 
ago, and it indeed was one of the more interesting things I have done 
in my 28 years of political life. I came away more convinced than ever 
that the United States has a proactive role to play in helping with the 
challenges that are faced in South Asia.
  I think everyone now is aware that South Asia is a nuclear flash 
point; that the Indian Government and the Pakistanis have fought now 
three times since partition in 1947 from the British, and as a result 
of those wars, the recent skirmish in addition to that in the Kargil 
region, which claimed a thousand lives this past summer, it is a very 
dangerous place, with both countries now having the nuclear capability 
to destroy each other and inflict incredible destruction on not only 
that region of the world but the planet in general. So it seems to me 
that we need as a Nation and as a world community to focus our 
attention more and more on bringing peace and stability to the people 
of Kashmir. It is clearly in their interest.
  The people of Kashmir have suffered through 50 years of broken 
promises. If we recall our history, the United Nations called for a 
plebiscite on self-determination in Kashmir in 1948, but of course that 
has never been carried out, and this legacy of neglect has fostered 
distrust, it has fostered hopelessness among many in Kashmir, 
especially the Muslim majority, which has spawned a cycle of protest 
and of violence and of repression.
  As many as up to 70,000 Kashmiris in the last decade have died as a 
result of this war that is going on in their country. It is an 
incredibly beautiful place. Lush green valleys, enormously pristine 
sparkling lakes surrounded by the Himalayas' snow-capped mountains. Its 
beauty is only contrasted by the pain and the suffering of indeed this 
brutal repression and war that is raging now that, as I have said, has 
claimed as many, some say up to 70,000 lives. A staggering total.
  Indian security forces number in the neighborhood of somewhere 
between 500,000 and 700,000 troops in the States of Kashmir and Jammu, 
and they wage, along with the militants who are crossing the border and 
fighting in this region, a day-to-day campaign of terror and 
repression. And the Kashmiri people are caught in the middle. The human 
rights abuses are every bit as outrageous and repugnant as they have 
been in the Balkans as we have seen recently. The number of rapes and 
torture and all the things that go along with this type of 
international catastrophe is present in Kashmir.
  Independent human rights' groups report on these rapes and these 
tortures. Often they are not allowed into Kashmir. Amnesty 
International is not, and

[[Page H4217]]

other human rights' organizations have had a difficult time getting in 
and verifying some of these atrocities. Common disappearances occur all 
the time. People lose their loved ones.
  When we were up in Srinagar, which is the summer capital in Kashmir, 
we could just see the besieged nature of this once incredibly crystal 
beautiful land. The look of weariness and longing and hunger on the 
faces of the people beg for a solution and a way out of this quagmire 
of violence that they find themselves in.
  And their most precious resource, their children, the Kashmiri 
children, are being driven away by this violence. When the young people 
are old enough to go, they go. So whole families are being broken up as 
a result of this.
  Tourism, which could be as profitable and as abundant and as 
prosperous as anyplace in the world because of this incredible beauty 
is almost nonexistent. It is in ruins. We need to do something about 
this as a country.
  When the young people in Kashmir start to immolate themselves, burn 
themselves alive, because of the hopelessness that they feel; that 
there is no way out of this, it speaks clearly and loudly to just what 
has happened and how far they have come on the road to despair.
  Violent acts, such as the massacre of dozens of Sikh villagers in 
Kashmir during the President's visit to India have shown that the 
killings will continue unabated unless something is done to stop it.
  Now, I would like to just briefly, in the short time that I have here 
before we adjourn, touch upon the significance of doing this for 
Pakistan, for India, and for the United States. For Pakistan, the 
meaning of the conflict in Kashmir goes really to the heart and the 
soul of people in Kashmir. The people of Pakistan feel a deep sense of 
kinship with their brethren in Kashmir. Muslim countries. Muslim areas 
both.
  The crisis in Kashmir has drained Pakistan of its resources, leaving 
unmet needs for efforts to alleviate their poverty, their illiteracy, 
their health care needs, their infrastructure needs. I was told, and I 
do not know how completely accurate this is, but I have a sense that it 
is close to accurate, that of the budget in Pakistan, where they have 
roughly 130 million people, 60 percent of their budget goes to just 
servicing their debt. Imagine that, 60 cents on the dollar going to 
service the debt. Thirty percent goes to the military, nuclear 
development and their military establishment, and only 10 percent of 
their meager budget goes to dealing with the problems of illiteracy, 
health care, infrastructure, and all the things a civilized society 
would want to invest in.
  With Indian troops and a nuclear capability amassed on one border, 
and with the Taliban ever present and presenting a threat on the other 
in Afghanistan, Pakistan has devoted much of its income to the 
military, and, as I say, to the development of nuclear weapons.

                              {time}  2350

  Stopping the incursions of militants into Kashmir is in the interest 
of the leaders of Pakistan so they can focus in on their internal 
concerns.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Terry). As there is no speaker for the 
majority on his designated time, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Bonior) is recognized for 10 minutes.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, so unless confidence is restored with the 
Indian Government, a lasting peace will never occur.
  I had the chance when I was there to meet with the Pakistani leaders. 
I met with General Musharraf, who is the chief executive of Pakistan, 
the head of state. I came to that meeting prepared to meet a military 
man who engaged in a coup and was not quite sure what to expect.
  In my discussions with people in Pakistan, in my discussions with him 
in the meeting I had with him, I came away with the understanding that 
he wants to break the cycle of corruption and impotence on the people 
of the party politically, he wants to do something to change the 
internal dynamics of his country, and he wants to do it in a transition 
way that can lead to the reestablish of democracy in his country.
  There are some signals and some signs that he is doing some things 
that will move in that direction. While I was there, they had the first 
human rights conference that they ever have had in Pakistan. And they 
dealt with the question of honor killings, which had been ignored for a 
very long time, where male members and heads of families would kill and 
beat and torture their wives if they suspected infidelity or thought 
perhaps it might even have occurred. This he has taken on strongly and 
has enforced since that conference.
  He has taken on the question of child labor and moving in the 
direction of making sure that children are not abused at the work site 
and are provided an opportunity for an education.
  In the area of empowering people, for the first time they are redoing 
all the roles of government in Pakistan, the voter roles. They have 
allowed the 18-year-olds to vote. And in November of this year, there 
will be under these new regimes of empowerment local elections 
throughout the country. And, of course, the supreme court recently 
ruled in Pakistan that there would be national elections within a 2\1/
2\-year period in which General Musharraf has agreed to.
  So on the democracy front, on the human rights front, on dealing with 
corruption, he has commissioned people within his government to act 
forcefully at trying to stop the corruption that is so endemic to that 
society and which was responsible to a large extent for the failures of 
the Bhutto and the Sharif governments.
  So there is a strong movement to fight corruption, to establish an 
economic system that is fair and equitable and honest.
  As my colleagues can tell, Mr. Speaker, I came away with some hope 
when I was not really expecting to. But I have watched, even in recent 
days, the minister in Pakistan who deals with the question of terrorism 
issue some statements. There was an article recently on Saturday in the 
New York Times that showed that they are on the offensive to deal with 
this important aspect of their national and international obligations.
  So there are some things that are happening here. General Musharraf 
has offered on numerous occasions, and he did to me when I was with him 
in our visit, that he in fact wants to dialogue with the Indian 
leaders, with the Indian Government, and that he understands the 
necessity to stop this cycle of violence.
  The sense of distress between the people of Kashmir and the 
Government of India and the tensions between India and Pakistan have 
stalled every diplomatic effort that has been made to stop these 
killings. But we have a chance now, because I think it is in 
everybody's interest to get this done, Pakistan, and it is in India's 
interest. And if I could just move to them for a second. Their 
government has a compelling interest to resolve this Kashmir question, 
as well.
  India shares Pakistan's challenge with poverty, with illiteracy, with 
health care, with their infrastructure needs. They do not want 600,000 
troops stationed in Kashmir. That takes an enormous amount of 
resources, and it drains their ability to deal with these other 
problems. They do not want this continuing and escalating violence in 
Kashmir. They want, it would seem to me, to resolve this issue, as 
well.
  And there are some signs of hope. The Indian Government has allowed 
some Kashmiri political and civil leaders out of jail. I met with them 
when I was in Kashmir. I met with the conference leaders, some of whom 
just recently were let out of jail, and they are asking for a dialogue 
with the Indian Government. And while there has been intimations that 
that dialogue would occur, it has not. And I would encourage the Indian 
Government to engage in it.
  Kashmiris must have a responsible role in deciding their own fate, 
and this will only occur when we continue to build confidence-building 
measures, such as opening preliminary discussions, allowing people to 
exercise their leadership, freeing them from jail, stopping the 
violence of incursions of militants across the border. These are all 
pieces that have to take place in order for this to come together.
  The Indian Government, as I said, has participated in some of these. 
Other things they have not, they have not shown an interest. And we 
need, as a Government here in the United

[[Page H4218]]

States, to move them in that direction and to get them to stop the 
torture and the other repressive measures that they are taking in 
Kashmir against the Kashmiri people.
  Now, I see a way forward but only if we, as the United States, are 
willing to invest more time and resources to bring these parties 
together. And I think we have an obligation to do that. I think we have 
a moral responsibility to do that.
  During the war in Afghanistan, the United States armed Pakistan's 
neighbors and the militants. And then we sort of casually abandoned the 
region, and that left the region in a state of militarism with enormous 
amounts of weapons and ammunitions.
  Now we have an obligation, it seems to me, to do our part to help 
establish stability in South Asia. It is in our interest to do so. The 
threat of nuclear conflict in South Asia is very, very real. We must 
reduce this threat and halt the arms race in South Asia. And unless 
Kashmir is addressed, that will not happen. We cannot make progress 
unless people in the world community are willing to tackle this issue.
  The United States has called for democracy to take root in South 
Asia, but this will not happen on its own and it surely will not happen 
without a resolution to this very important question.
  And by ``democracy,'' I am talking about not only democracy in form 
but I am talking about supporting democracy through helping Pakistan 
develop some of those institutions for democratic action, and we have 
ways to do that here. Instead of withholding support for Pakistan, who 
has been a great front for this country throughout its history, one of 
our best allies and best friends, instead of engaging in embargoes, we 
ought to be financially helping Pakistan move forward.
  Because democracy works well when there is an economic component. 
When you give people a sense of home for their economic life, that 
works very well with establishing and enhancing the democratic life of 
a country. Democracy by itself, without any support economically, is 
going to be a very fragile democracy.
  If we turn our attention away from the region, as we did after the 
war in Afghanistan, we risk further erosion, violence, and 
disillusionment.
  We are, as a country, as a superpower, as a country that is engaged 
in the Middle East and in Ireland and in Africa and in other places 
recently, in Latin America, we have a role to play here. And as a long-
standing ally of Pakistan as an emerging friend of India, we are in a 
position to bring people together. And given the stakes in South Asia, 
punitive economic sanctions, as I said, are clearly counterproductive.
  While we have our differences, we must never forget that Pakistan, as 
I said, has been a long-standing ally of the United States. Democracy 
will be strengthened not by economic sanctions but by economic aid and 
by taking the know-how of our democratic institutions and trying to 
provide those kinds of expertise and know-how with those who are 
struggling for an expanded democracy in Pakistan.
  So I think everything is in place to make this work. And because of 
the nuclear potential, the world needs desperately to focus in on this 
region. And because of the promise that was made to the Kashmiris over 
50 years ago, we need to desperately take hold of this issue and focus 
our attention and try to develop a process by which we can reach some 
resolve.
  People in Kashmir are exhausted from the violence. They are exhausted 
from the war. They are exhausted from the economic inactivity. We can 
make a big change in a very important part of the world if we will 
devote some of our energies, some our good will, some of our resources 
to making that happen.
  So I look forward, as I told the President when I discussed this with 
him briefly at the White House, I look forward to working with him and 
our administration and our allies in bringing Pakistan and India 
together and bringing the Kashmiris into discussions so that both 
countries can live in peace and the Kashmiris can have the right to 
express their views and work for a better situation economically and 
politically and democratically for their people.

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