Congressional Statements

Musharraf's failure to root out terrorism in Kashmir

Rep. Frank Pallone Statement in House of Representatives
May 15, 2002

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.

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.