Kashmiri pandits ask US for humanitarian aid

A delegation of Kashmiri pandits have urged the United States to grant direct 'humanitarian' aid to the members of their community who are refugees in various Indian cities.

The delegation, led by Indo-American Kashmir Forum (a US-based lobby group of Kashmiri pandits) president Dr Vijay Sazawal, met Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth in Washington on Wednesday.

Sazawal said they wanted the Clinton administration to approve a proposal to this effect, presented earlier in the US House of Representatives by Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone.

Pallone, who is the co-chairman of Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, had suggested that programmes such as the Agency for International Development could be vehicles to assist displaced Kashmiri pandits.

Dr Sazawal criticised the 'apathy and indifference' shown by Dr Farooq Abdullah's government to the plight of the pandits.

He said the recent rehabilitation package which Dr Abdullah offered the pandits lacked credibility. It did not take into account core issues like political and human rights and ignored urgent security concerns.

Dr Sazawal said his delegation welcomed the US decision to designate the Pakistan-based militant group Harkat Ul-Ansar as a 'terrorist organisation'. But there were more of the same kind -- the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and the Hizbul Mujahideen, for instance -- operating in the valley which have been allowed to go scot-free.

The pandits also wanted the US to declare Pakistan as a 'terrorist state'.

UNI

RELATED REPORT:
The natives refuse to return