[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11466-11467]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     RESOLUTION OF KASHMIR ISSUE MUST INCLUDE THE KASHMIRI PANDITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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, in recent years the United States and the 
world community have been forced to confront the need for a resolution 
of the conflict in Kashmir. This conflict in the Himalayan Mountains 
has for decades poisoned relations between India and Pakistan.
  The conflict has also poisoned life within Kashmir itself. People 
from all ethnic and religious groups have suffered from the violence, 
be they Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, but the most forgotten victims have been 
the Pandits.
  Recently, it was reported by the Indo-American Kashmir forum that 
Karl Inderfurth, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, 
reiterated the view that Pandits should not be ignored in upcoming 
discussions of the Kashmir issue. In a meeting with the National 
Advisory Council on South Asia at the State Department earlier this 
month, Mr. Inderfurth acknowledged that the U.S. has not always 
mentioned the Pandits in its statements on the Kashmir, but assured the 
Council that the displaced status of the Pandits is a matter of concern 
to the United States.
  As a U.S. official who has frequently sought to give more attention 
to the plight of the Pandits, I am encouraged by Mr. Inderfurth's 
recent statement. I will urge our State Department to continue to draw 
attention to the suffering that the Pandits have endured and continue 
to endure in its statements on the Kashmir issue.
  I have also called for the U.N. and international organizations to 
devote greater attention to what I consider a case of ethnic cleansing 
that is afflicting the Kashmiri Pandit community.
  Mr. Speaker, India's Prime Minister Vajpayee has indicated that his 
government would be willing to meet with Kashmiri groups to address 
their concerns but the prime minister has stressed that Pakistan should 
not have any role in this dialogue, which is in fact an internal matter 
for India.
  Some of these separatist elements within Kashmir, the same 
organizations involved in the terrorism that has uprooted the Pandit 
community, are clearly working to promote greater Pakistani involvement 
in this process. Mr. Speaker, there is overwhelming evidence of 
Pakistani support for the continued terror campaign in Jammu and 
Kashmir. Indeed, Pakistani involvement and terrorist activities in 
Kashmir has been acknowledged by our State Department and a 
Congressionally appointed advisory panel has recommended that Pakistan 
be designated as the government that is not fully cooperative against 
terrorism.
  The Pakistani government itself has at least tacitly acknowledged, 
under heavy international pressure, that it must take action to curb 
the network of militants that has taken root on its soil. The one 
aspect of this tragedy that frequently is overlooked is the plight of 
the Hindu community of this region, the Kashmiri Pandits. As I have 
gotten to know the Kashmiri American community, and hearing about the 
situation facing the Pandits, I have been increasingly outraged not 
only at the terrible abuses they have suffered but at the seeming 
indifference of the world community. At the same time, I

[[Page 11467]]

am impressed by the dignity and the determination that the Kashmiri 
Pandits have maintained despite their horrible conditions, and I am 
touched by the deep concern that the Kashmiri Americans feel for their 
brothers and sisters living in Kashmir in the refugee centers set up in 
India to accommodate the Pandits driven from their homes in the Kashmir 
Valley.
  Mr. Speaker, in the great international debates that we have, it is 
sometimes all too easy to overlook the so-called small problem of one 
persecuted ethnic group, but I hope that the United States and India, 
as the world's two largest democracies, will show determination to 
finally address this humanitarian catastrophe in an effective and 
humane way.

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