Frank Pallone (D-NJ)	Dan Burton (R-IN)

WASHINGTON: Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) last week defended India’s position on Kashmir, saying that “there can be no legal ambiguity regarding the accession of Jammu and Kashmir state to India.” “Over half a century ago, India requested the United Nations to force Pakistan to withdraw from the region it occupied,” Pallone said at a briefing on the Kashmir conflict on Capitol Hill. “The United Nations asked both Pakistan and India to withdraw all military forces from Kashmir and to hold a plebiscite. Neither side withdrew troops, and the United Nations now believes a plebiscite would not be valid.”

Pallone was responding to a statement made by Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) calling on the Indian go-vernment to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir. Burton had stated the Indian government does not want to hold a plebiscite because, if given the option, he claimed an “overwhelming number” of Kashmiris would vote to become a part of Pakistan.

“Contrary to claims made by Congressman Burton and Kashmiri secessionists, there is no legal ambiguity regarding the accession of Jammu and Kashmir State to India,” Pallone said. “Kashmir’s last two elections were transparent and fair. If a plebiscite was held, it is unlikely that Kashmiris would vote for Pakistan,” Pallone who is also co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans said.

He is currently chairman of the Caucus’s Kashmir Task Force, and his briefing focused on the conflict in the state and the mistreatment of the Kashmiri Pandits. The briefing included presentations by Dr. Vijay Sazawal and Jeevan Zutshi from the Indo-American Kashmir Forum, and B. Raman, former head of counter-terrorism at the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency.

The presenters updated Task Force members on the current political and economic climate in the Kashmir valley, including the impact of the Kashmiri state government’s policies. They also highlighted the need for the Pandits to be included in any negotiations between the Indian and Kashmiri state governments and urged Caucus members to request the Indian government to be proactive in creating political space for Pandits.

During the briefing, Pallone questioned assurances made by the Kashmiri state government that Pandits would be protected from violence and that resources would be provided for their resettlement. “Certainly, this has not been the case and the authorities have failed to protect the Pandits,” Pallone said.

Since 1990, hundreds of thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims have fled Kashmir due to extreme danger and instability. The Kashmiri Pandit community has faced a long history of attacks that resulted in the murder of well over 60,000 Pandit men, women and children and caused the mass migration of this indigenous population from the Kashmir Valley, Sazawal and Zutshi claimed at the briefing.