[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16652-16653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ELECTIONS IN KASHMIR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pence). Under a previous order of the

[[Page 16653]]

House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise on the House floor this afternoon to 
express my deep concerns regarding the upcoming elections in Kashmir, 
which begin on September 16.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to first make it clear that Kashmir is a 
state within India, which is the largest democracy in the world. Given 
that India has operated under the traditions of democracy since 
independence, I am confident that Indian officials and their electoral 
commission are doing everything possible to ensure that the elections 
proceed under free and fair circumstances.
  In fact, this week myself and some of my colleagues who are members 
of the India Caucus met on a bipartisan basis, I should say, with the 
external minister, Sinha; and he told us very dramatically that the 
Indian Government, together with the electoral commission, are doing 
everything possible to make sure that these elections are held in free 
and fair circumstances. They have learned some of the lessons from the 
past about how to improve the voter turnout and to make sure that 
violence is not committed against those who would choose to exercise 
their right to vote.
  However, my concern stems not only from increased infiltration of 
terrorists at the Kashmiri line of control, but also from the surge of 
violence in the Kashmir region by Islamic fundamentalists, whose 
primary purpose is to thwart the elections in Kashmir.
  It is no coincidence that the new wave of infiltration at the border 
and the specific violence aimed at candidates running in Kashmir are 
occurring now just days prior to the beginnings of the election. On a 
near-daily basis for over a year, we have been witnessing cross-border 
terrorism in Kashmir that has led to countless murders of Indian army 
officials and innocent civilians.
  This leads me to believe that there is very little possibility that 
infiltration by Islamic militants at the Kashmir line of control has 
subsided, even though President Musharraf of Pakistan pledged that 
infiltration would decrease several months ago. Mr. Speaker, increased 
cross-border activity, augmented by targeted attacks against those 
running in the elections, and President Musharraf's calling the 
elections a sham, are cause for serious alarm.
  Just yesterday, it was reported that a candidate, a Kashmiri state 
government minister, along with seven others, was killed by militants. 
This was the second murder of a candidate in less than a week and is 
the most recent addition to a string of murders by militants that have 
killed 40 political workers in the past several weeks. Militants have 
vowed to escalate violence prior to the election in an effort to 
disrupt the elections, and they go so far as to say that they will 
attempt to kill anyone who participates.
  Mr. Speaker, unless there is a clear directive from the Pakistani 
President to the militants to end this violence surrounding the 
elections, and an acknowledgment from President Musharraf that these 
elections are not to be interfered with, and that they should proceed 
free and fair, it is unclear to me what type of outcome there will be 
between now and the conclusion of the elections. The elections go, Mr. 
Speaker, from September 16 until sometime in October.
  I would urge President Musharraf of Pakistan to take a leadership 
role and to ensure India that the elections can take place without any 
threat of violence. I urge the Bush administration to put more pressure 
on Musharraf to end cross-border infiltration and not condone 
interference at the polls in Kashmir.
  Mr. Speaker, I mention that when the Indian external minister, Mr. 
Sinha, was here, he spoke to our Secretary of State, Mr. Powell, and 
asked him to do whatever he could to put pressure on Musharraf to make 
sure that the elections in Kashmir are not interfered with.
  But, of course, the concern is whether Musharraf is going to carry 
through. He has to be made to uphold his commitments to ending 
terrorism, and the first step he can take is to do everything in his 
power to ensure that cross-border terrorism into Kashmir ceases and 
that the elections in Kashmir take place freely and fairly, without the 
threat of violence to the candidates or Kashmiri voters.

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