COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

India Justified In Defending Territory, Says Pallone

A P Kamath in Washington

Representative Frank Pallone, who introduced a legislation two weeks ago, to suspend all the sanctions the United States has imposed against India following New Delhi's nuclear tests, lashed out on May 28 at a fellow Congressman Sam Brownback for withdrawing an amendment against the sanctions.

Brownback, a Republican from Kansas, had sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill to suspend the sanctions for five years but he withdrew it on May 26, citing the current hostilities on the Indian border.

Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, in asserting that India had acted "with legitimacy and restrain" in fighting the guerrillas in Jammu and Kashmir, said he was disappointed at the withdrawal of the amendment.

Unlike the Pallone legislation which demands an end to all sanctions but which is yet to be discussed by the appropriate Committee, the Brownback amendment had an imminent chance of being voted on.

"I was disappointed that this amendment was withdrawn, with the stated reason being this week's action by India's air force," Pallone said on Friday.

"The implication was that India and Pakistan were equally guilty," said Pallone who had earlier criticized an effort in the Senate to bar Indian scientists from visiting American defense labs following the allegation that India, along with China and Russia, had access to stolen nuclear data from America.

Pallone in a resolution in the House of Representatives had asserted that it was unfair to group India and its indigenously evolved nuclear programs with those of China and Pakistan.

This week the Congressman talked of another kind of reality.

"India is trying to respond to an aggression that has caused the deaths of thousands of people and the dislocation of hundreds of thousands of refugees," he said. On many occasions, Pallone has brought the issue of Kashmiri Pandits to the attention of the media.

"Given the Pakistani support for the millions who have infiltrated territory on India's side of the Line of Control, it is clear that Pakistan is the country that is promoting instability," he said.

He referred to the reports that the well-trained mercenaries are not only supported by Pakistan's army but that Pakistan army regulars may be participating in smuggling into India.

"India cannot stand by and allow this to continue," he said, adding that the militants were trying to alter the LOC.

The sanctions against India and Pakistan be withdrawn, he said, but it would be a mistake to repeal the Pressler Amendment which denies Pakistan aid because of its nuclear programs.

Quoting the Cox Report which contains several references to transfers of nuclear technology and missile technology between China and Pakistan, Pallone said, "India has not been involved in sharing this (indigenously produced) technology with unstable regimes."

"This is an extremely important distinction," he added.

He also urged America not to intervene in the Kashmir issue.

"There have been suggestions that Pakistan's support of the militants is part of an effort to internationalize this conflict. India and Pakistan must resolve this conflict on a bilateral basis," he said.

Next story: The Need To Be Counted: Major Campaign Launched in New York City

Tell us what you think of this report