May 22, 1990 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 11691 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN THE Afghan rebels based in Pakistan, continue Moslem militants. He denied that there had KASHMIR PROVINCE to operate with virtual impunity despite the been excesses by Indian soldiers. presence of about 15,000 Indian soldiers and But Jagmohan, who uses only one name, paramilitary troops in the Kashmir Valley. said he had no plans to ease the crackdown. HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA And the region's people, most of whom are "Now I am saving the Cindianl union," he OF AMERICAN SAMOA Moslems, appear to be broadly sympathetic said. "How many people did Abraham Lin­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES to the militants, despite severe deprivations coln kill? If I have to use force, there is a caused by around-the-clock curfews, house­ moral legitimacy to it.'' Tuesday, May 22, 1990 to-house searches, arbitrary detentions and Jagmohan said his approach had pro­ Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I want beatings meted out by security forces. duced "a massive gain" for the Indian gov­ to bring to your attention the grim conditions The valley's several million residents have ernment. But the valley's economy, which presently confronting the people of Kashmir been confined to their homes for long, unin­ depends heavily on tourism, has been virtu­ Province as a result of the repressive policies terrupted stretches-12 continuous days and ally shut down, and many Kashmiris said of the Indian Government against these nights at one point during April-while sol­ they felt they no longer had anything left diers pour through slum buildings and to lose by fighting the Indians. people. I call upon President Bush and Secre­ house boats nestled along the city's lakes A network of police informers, known as tary Baker to take action to investigate these and canals. The searches appear to have mukhbirs and developed by the Indian gov­ events that are taking place in Kashmir. raised the population's temper to the boil­ ernment here, coupled with the growing Mr. Speaker, I submit for the RECORD sev­ ing point. strength of the armed militants, has forced eral relevant newspaper accounts of the prob­ "When they have taken the gun against ordinary Kashmiris to take sides as they lems on Kashmir. the people, why not take up a gun-if we never have before. "Now there are only two CFrom the Washington Post, May 6, 19901 have to die tomorrow, why not today?" choices," said a Srinagar businessman. "You asked Mohammed Yusuf, a 70-year-old re­ become a mukhbir or a mujahed," or INDIAN CRACKDOWN IN KASHMIR HELPS FuEL tired school teacher. Moslem holy warrior. SEPARATIST CAUSE-MILITANTS, TROOPS Yusuf wept as he told how two days earli­ Doctors at a downtown Srinagar hospital SKIRMISH DAILY IN CITY er, his son, an engineer visiting from his said that because of a recent epidemic of <By Steve com home in the Middle East, had been beaten meningitis in the city, a number of people SRINAGAR, INDIA.-Rifle shots popped like by security forces after refusing to wash off had died, unable to reach medical help firecrackers in the thin mountain air of this anti-Indian slogans painted on a tree on the during the curfews. The doctors complained once-idyllic capital of Kashmir. A panicked street in front of his house. of acute shortages of medicines, including horde of civilians rushed down a dirty alley "They fell on him. They began to beat drugs for testing cancer. from the main road, the men slapping mules him with rifles. They hit on his head, and I "I'm sure Pakistan should give their high­ into motion, the women gathering children fell on him and they hit me. They took him est award to Jagmohan for pushing people under their arms as they ran. away. His whole body is injured ... What to become Pakistanis.'' said one doctor. Metal storefront shutters clanged shut. As has happened to us? I am an old man. I "There are many CKshmiril nationalists if on cue, veiled women leaned from apart­ can't fight them." who have become pro-Pakistani. A doctor is ments above and pulled their windows In a slum quarter across town, Bashir a suspect. A bureaucrat is a suspect, an engi­ closed. "Crossfiring," several of those flee­ Ahmed, a tailor, displayed deep scars on his neer, a businessman. If we are all suspects ing called out. arms, shoulders and feet, which he said Cto the Indians], who is with them?" Moslem militants who favor separation were the result of beatings administered by The anger and desperation expressed by from India had ambushed an Indian army Indian soldiers after he was detained during Kashmiris in interviews appears to have fed patrol around the corner, prompting the sol­ a house-to-house search in April. Ahmed the growing strength of the valley's radical diers to return fire at a crowd of civilians. said he was beaten with sticks and rifle Islamic militant groups, particularly the Two young men were wounded in the legs, butts until he passed out. Hezbollah mujaheddin, whose members say hospital doctors said later. There were un­ "I thought, 'This is the end of my life.' I they have received money and arms-includ­ confirmed reports that a soldier died. asked, 'Just shoot me.' But they only beat ing U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Bloody skirmishes between militant sepa­ me." rocket-propelled grenades and land mines­ ratists and Indian soldiers now occur several Indian government officials describe the from private sources in Pakistan, Saudi times a day in Srinagar, a former tourist reports of abuses by security forces-includ­ Arabia and Iran, as well as from the U.S.­ haven gripped these days by anger, fear and ing alleged rapes and widespread thefts-as backed Afghan mujaheddin rebels. violence after five months of armed rebel­ exaggerations concocted by propogandists In recent months, the pro-Pakistan Hez­ lion, prolonged curfews and a brutal crack­ for the separatist militants. Kashmiris op­ bollah has joined the nationalistic, pro-inde­ down by Indian security forces. posed to the government agree that the pendence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation The Indian government contends that the valley is rife with rumors about atrocities al­ Front in a coordinated and apparently well­ situation is coming under control, but the legedly committed by soldiers, and that planned insurgency against the Indian secu­ popular separatist uprising here that has many of the rumors are unfounded. rity forces. "We have to prepare CKash­ led India and Pakistan to threaten a fourth But physical evidence of abuses by securi­ mirisl for a long-term war, instead of a war for control of Kashmir appears more in­ ty forces-in the form of scars, bruises, short-term war," said, instead of a short­ tractable than ever. Interviews with scores smashed windows and charred buildings-is term war," said a Hezbollah guerrilla who of Kashmiris over several days-from slum widely visible in Srinagar. uses the nom de guerre Nadim. dwellers to doctors and bankers-suggested Indian forces have virtually occupied the He said his group is stockpiling weapons that the crackdown has polarized the popu­ city, which normally overflows in May with for what he called a "new phase" of the up­ lation, driving many previously neutral civil­ foreign and Indian tourists attracted by the rising, including assassinations of Indian ians to the side of the militants. colors of the springtime bloom and spectac­ government officials, plane hijackings and a Hindu-majority India claims full sover­ ular views of peaks in the Himalayan range. full-scale guerrilla war in the Kashmir eignty over the region, while Islamic Paki­ Sandbag bunkers with machine gun barrels mountains. "The first thing at this time is stan urges that Kashmiris be allowed to protruding have been erected by the army just to catch them sleeping," he said. choose their own destiny in a plebiscite. in front of hotels and handicraft shops. The While Nadim sat talking in a slum house Meanwhile, Kashmiri militants have taken houseboats, hiking trails and lakeside walks just 50 yards from a well-manned Indian matters into their own hands, regularly at­ are empty. army bunker, a 15-year-old colleague tacking Indian soldiers and assassinating Jammu and Kashmir Gov. Jagmohan, brought in one of Hezbollah's weapons, an government officials. who has overseen the recent Indian crack­ AK-47 automatic assault rifle with Chinese Well-armed urban guerrillas here, some of down, during which more than 300 people markings and bullets manufactured in the whom have apparently obtained weapons have died, said the recent curfews and United States-the same type of weapon originally supplied by the United States to searches were forced upon him by the supplied by the U.S. government to Afghan e This " bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. 39-059 0 -91-35 (Pt. 8) 11692 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS May 22, 1990 rebels based across the border in Pakistan. trumpet the government line rather than stani Army growing out of its pivotal role in Nadim said some Kashmiri Hezbollah guer­ examine it. Neither the Pakistani nor the supplying the Afghan rebels. rillas had received training from the Afghan Indian Parliament is debating the issue in In a candid interview with the news maga­ rebels. any productive way. Myths are thrown zine India Today, Gen.