April 1, 2002
A U.S. Newswire release
PRESS RELEASE:
Indo-American Kashmir Forum prays
for the victims of suicide terrorists massacred in Kashmir, India.
CONTACT INFO:
Indo-American Kashmir Forum,
Media Relations
Ph: 877-340-2678
Fax: 214-722-1518
Email: media@IAKF.org
WASHINGTON / On Saturday, March
30, suicide terrorists attacked a 150-year old famous Hindu temple in the
state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Ten people were brutally slain
in a senseless attack on innocent worshippers. Local law enforcement
officers have implicated the Pakistan-based Islamic terrorist group, Laskhar-e-Toiba,
which is already being targeted by the U.S. for previous, similar acts
of brutality. In the month of March alone, Islamic terrorists have
also slaughtered over 40 other civilians in Kashmir.
This massacre is the latest in a
series of barbaric acts of terrorism perpetrated by Pakistan-based terror
groups against innocent civilians. The target -- a Hindu place of worship
-- is a striking parallel to the recent Christian church bombing in which
foreign nationals were killed in Pakistan.
Pakistan's military commander, General
Musharraf, has agreed in principal to assist the U.S. in the war against
terrorism, yet he has already released nearly 1000 Islamic terrorists that
were arrested in January, including leaders of terrorist outfits that are
listed in the U.S. as official sponsors of global terrorism. In fact,
Pakistani-trained terrorists have been responsible for the ethnic cleansing
of thousands of people belonging to the Hindu minority community, and have
forced over 400,000 to flee their home and live as refugees.
As Congressman Frank Pallone recently
said in an interview, "Pakistan has encouraged terrorism in Kashmir for
so long that I do not think it can be turned around so easily." Indeed,
without a more aggressive stance, the seeds of terrorism sown throughout
Pakistan will continue to grow, and will again strike at democracies such
as India and the United States. Pakistani terrorists operating in
Kashmir have already been directly linked to Sept. 11.
Moreover, U.S. military commanders
chasing Al Qaeda operatives in eastern Afghanistan have asked for permission
to chase these terrorists across the border into Pakistan, yet Pakistani
officials have resisted such measures. Evidence from various sources,
including Yossef Bodansky, the director of the House Task Force on Terrorism
and Unconventional Warfare, indicates that Pakistan's complicity in harboring
terrorists will result in a shift of Al Qaeda forces from Afghanistan into
Kashmir. Only sustained, international pressure on Pakistan can prevent
this nightmare scenario from taking hold.
