[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 825-826]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    PAKISTAN'S PATTERN OF SPONSORING TERRORISM, PROVOKING CRISIS IN 
           KASHMIR, AND THREATENING DESTABILIZATION OF REGION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the latest episode 
in a troubling, ongoing pattern by the military regime in Pakistan to 
provoke a crisis in Kashmir and to essentially pick a fight with India 
with results that could be destabilizing and devastating to the entire 
region and the entire world.
  The Pakistani government, a military junta that overthrew the 
civilian government in a coup last October, declared last Saturday, 
February 5, Kashmir Solidarity Day. Pakistan's military strongman 
leader, General Musharraf, visited the Pakistani-administered area of 
Kashmir and encouraged the terrorist forces there to continue their 
Jihad in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir.
  That same evening, according to an account from the Indo-American 
Kashmir Forum, a band of gun-wielding terrorists sought out Kashmiri 
Pandits or Hindus in the village of Telwani and opened fire on two 
families belonging to the minority Hindu community. Three Pandits, 
including a 9-year-old girl, were killed and many others were injured.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the true face of the so-called liberation 
campaign being waged by so-called freedom fighters for years in 
Kashmir. It is a violent terrorist campaign, pure and simple. Now 
Pakistan's support for this violent campaign has been laid bare for all 
the world to see.
  Pakistan has always acknowledged its political and moral support for 
the insurgency in Kashmir, but evidence clearly shows that Pakistan's 
support runs much deeper. Now General Musharraf has spelled it out. He 
publicly pledged his support for the terrorist groups fighting in 
India's state of Jammu and Kashmir.
  He was quoted in news accounts saying, ``All heads rise with pride 
when we hear of the struggle of Kashmiri freedom fighters.'' These are 
the same freedom fighters who carried out the atrocity against the 
Pandit villagers, including the little girl, that same night.
  Mr. Speaker, India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir. 
Last summer Pakistan initiated a border skirmish last year across the 
line of control that separates the two sides near the town of Kargil. 
Most news accounts indicate that General Musharraf and the other 
military coup leaders were behind the planning and execution of that 
disastrous campaign.

[[Page 826]]

  Fortunately, the United States and the rest of the world community 
recognize Pakistan as the aggressor. President Clinton prevailed on the 
civilian leadership of Pakistan, and I stress, civilian leadership of 
Pakistan at the time, because the civilian government was still in 
place, to withdraw its forces.
  A few months later General Musharraf overthrew Pakistan's civilian 
government, and the government in Islamabad has been escalating the 
threatening rhetoric and destabilizing actions ever since.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. has not done enough, in my opinion, to show its 
opposition to the military takeover in Pakistan. A House resolution 
that condemns the coup has come out of committee. The problem is that 
the military government has no legitimacy, and can only stay in power 
as long as it whips up hatred against India by citing Kashmir. That is 
why the generals started the Kargil war, and that is why they 
encouraged the hijacking of the India Airlines plane last December. 
That is why they continue the campaign against a multi-ethnic and 
religious state in Kashmir, and contribute to the murder of innocent 
Kashmiri Pandits. The end result of the generals' provocation would be 
another war with India over Kashmir. The problem is that the generals 
now control nuclear weapons they could unleash in such a war.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. must send an unequivocal message that this 
continued provocation in Kashmir by the Pakistan military regime is 
unacceptable. At a minimum, the President should not visit Pakistan 
during his trip to South Asia in March. The State Department should 
declare Pakistan a terrorist state, and make it clear there will be no 
further contact with the Pakistani government until it stops its 
provocative actions in Kashmir and takes steps to restore democracy in 
Pakistan.

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