[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 62 (Wednesday, May 15, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2501-H2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MUSHARRAF'S FAILURE TO ROOT OUT TERRORISM IN KASHMIR

  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, I come to the House floor this evening to 
reiterate once again that President Musharraf of Pakistan is failing to 
root out terrorism in Kashmir.
  This past Tuesday, more than 30 Indian soldiers and members of their 
families fell victim to a deadly attack in Kashmir at the hands of 
three Pakistani-based militants.
  Mr. Speaker, this type of terrorism is tragic and is exactly the type 
of terrorist activity that President Musharraf so valiantly claimed he 
would eliminate. It seems clear that President Musharraf has paid no 
regard whatsoever to preventing infiltration of Islamic militants into 
Kashmir.
  As a result of the October 1 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir State 
Assembly and the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament last year, 
Musharraf stated that action would be taken against Islamic militants. 
He proceeded to outlaw two organizations responsible for terrorism in 
Kashmir, Jaish e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. He also arrested nearly 
2,000 men supposedly linked to terrorists and ordered madrassahs to be 
closed. This supposed crack down on terrorists and closing of extremist 
religious schools was a sham. Most of the militants that were arrested 
are now free and madrassahs continue to recruit and train young boys in 
Islamic fundamentalism and terrorist activities.
  Although Musharraf made claims that he is cracking down on terrorists 
throughout Pakistan, he has always referred to the Pakistani-based 
militants in Kashmir as freedom fighters. At the times he has referred 
to these terrorists, with deep, close connections to groups like al 
Qaeda and the Taliban, I have tried to highlight that Musharraf is 
operating under a double standard of siding with the U.S. against 
terrorism, while allowing terrorism to continue in Kashmir.

[[Page H2502]]

  More and more, the world is able to see that President Musharraf has 
dedicated himself to continuing military rule in Pakistan and allowing 
terrorism to occur in Kashmir.
  President Bush stressed in his address to Congress after September 11 
that there would be no shades of gray. A country either supports us in 
our war against terrorism, or it does not. The Bush administration 
praises President Musharraf for joining the U.S. effort again the 
Taliban, but this support does not extend to countering terrorism in 
Kashmir.
  There are more indications daily that the terrorist elements are 
regaining ground in Pakistan, and the Musharraf government is doing 
very little to condition constrain it. I believe the U.S. should 
rethink its support for Musharraf in light of these events.

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