From left, Congressman Gary Ackerman, (D-NY) Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, the outgoing Indian Ambassador to Israel, who is to be the Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Dan Kurtzer, U.S. Ambassador to Israel. (Photo: Courtesy, Gary Ackerman’s office)

Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said on Jan. 11 that as Democratic Chair of the India Caucus, he would continue to put pressure on the Bush administration against military aid to Pakistan. Rep. Ackerman takes over from Rep. Joseph Crowley as the Democratic Co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, the largest Caucus on the Hill. His Republican counterpart is Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), who takes over from Rep. Joseph Wilson.

While the Congress is out of session, he said, he is spending his time like most legislators, encouraging people to contribute to tsunami disaster relief. His Congressional district includes more than 61,000 Asian Pacific Islanders in a total population of 580,000, and includes Flushing, Queens, an area heavily populated by Indians and Sri Lankans.

Just this Jan. 7, he brokered a deal between the government of Taiwan — through their Economic and Cultural Office in New York — to supply at least three 40-feet cargo containers and pay the shipping costs for tsunami relief supplies gathered by volunteers at the New York Buddhist Vihara, a Sri Lankan temple in Queens Village, Queens. The cost of transporting the emergency supplies was estimated at about $20,000.

“I am encouraging people to make contributions. I was at an American Jewish Committee meeting last night and they said they had collected $525,000,” he told News India-Times in a telephone interview from his New York office. Rep. Ackerman is also a senior member of the House International Relations Committee.

“We are going to be putting together an Indian Advisory Committee for me, made up of prominent Indian Americans,” Rep. Ackerman said. “I want some of the best minds and activists in the community,” he said, adding that the Committee would be teleconferencing on a regular basis and have a few meetings a year.

The Congressman said he will be going to India in three months looking for ways to further strengthen the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. “We are very concerned with the direction our administration is going in regard to Pakistan and I want to make sure that they fully understand the consequences of arms supplies in particular,” Rep. Ackerman told News India-Times, “And the fact that we have neglected to push for a direct interview with A.Q. Khan and rather than rely on the Pakistan giving us the answers it gets to questions we have.”

A.Q. Khan, known as the ‘father’ of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, stands accused of running a transnational nuclear proliferation network selling technology to states that the Bush administration considers ‘rogue’ nations. Islamabad has refused to let Washington question the scientist who was pardoned within days of being incarcerated for his crimes from which he is said to have made millions. The upcoming 109th Congress will tackle some contentious issues, including the Bush administration’s efforts to privatize Social Security, put a cap on punitive damages that juries can award to victims of physician errors, to name a few.

“I’ll be in the middle of the Medicare and saving Social Security (debate),” Rep. Ackerman said. On the so-called “tort reform,” he said, “I’m in favor of the American legal system — that you do need to address unwarranted court cases but certainly don’t want to take away the rights of citizens to sue.” Asked if that put him at odds with a number of Indian American physicians who have sided with President Bush because of his promise to change tort law, Rep. Ackerman laughed, “That puts me on the other side of a lot of physicians, not just Indian Americans. It’s a pocket-book issue. I think a lot of the problem here is with insurance companies.”

The Congressman said the priority issues relating to South Asia in Congress were terrorism and outsourcing.

“One concern we have is the spread of terrorism in South Asia and the countries that help us; to strengthen those that want greater democracy and to seek their cooperation in the fight,” he said.

“Outsourcing seems to be something people are concerned about too. We can’t stop outsourcing in a democracy. People should be able to do business where they want to but we have to do something with the tax code to give incentives to keep business here,” he emphasized.

He recalled that when he was in Israel this last October-November, sitting in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, “when who should walk in but the Indian Ambassador. I was happy to learn he was coming to Washington!” Rep. Ackerman said it emphasized the growing relations among the three countries.

“So it is something I have been working on for years — to build relations between India and Israel, and the tri-lateral relations between democracies.”

On the Diwali Stamp that some Indian Americans are campaigning for, Rep. Ackerman, who is a serious stamp collector and Chair of the Congressional Stamp Collectors Caucus, said, “There have been groups that have been asking for a postage stamp for one good cause or another and it hasn’t happened for 20-30 years, but eventually it will happen.”

He said he had the Mahatma Gandhi stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service decades ago. The U.S. was only the second country after India to issue a postage stamp of the Mahatma.

Rep. Ackerman, who has a large Indian- American population in his constituency, said he was comfortable with the community. “It’s refreshing to deal with Indians. They are so forthright, they say what’s on their mind, and are very opinionated. It’s like being in my own family.”

Rep. Ackerman is also an amateur photographer and boating enthusiast.