Congressman Jim Leach, the second-most senior Republican on the House International Relations Committee after
chairman Henry Hyde, and one of the most respected and cerebral US lawmakers on Capitol Hill, has urged India not to break off the peace talks with Pakistan despite the Mumbai bombings.
Taking to the House floor in support of a resolution that condemned the terrorist bombings in Mumbai and offered
sympathies to the victims and their families and to the people of India, Leach, who represents Iowa, noted, "One of the extraordinary aspects of terrorism is that a few can, with relative ease, disrupt peace negotiations between nation states."
He said, consequently, "The challenge is to see that a small number of terrorists do not destroy the right to peace of
the many."
Leach acknowledged that "as rightfully angered and concerned as the Indian government must be, it would be a mistake of historic proportions to allow the violence of July 11 to end the warming dialogue that has commenced between the
Indian and the Pakistani governments."
He said, "There are few places on the globe where war can more easily break out than on the Indian subcontinent. India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the past 60 years, and both now possess nuclear weapons."
Leach argued that "the will to pursue peace is thus a social imperative. Revenge may be warranted, but real courage
rests with maintaining restraint."
"Our heart goes out to the families affected by these acts of violence, and our heads congratulate the care with which
the Indian government has refused, to date, to overreact."
Leach declared, "This Congress sympathizes with our Indian friends and holds in deepest respect the leaders in Delhi
who have such difficult decisions to make in the weeks and months ahead."
