Reception in honor of Congressional leaders at Washington, D.C.

Photo:  Courtesy :  Jay Mandal

From left:  Shiv Dass, Ed Royce, Ami Bera, Jagdish Sewhani,  and Joe Crowley

A Reception in honor of Congressional leaders at Washington, D.C. was organized by The American India Public Affairs Committee (AIPACom) on June 27^th  in which Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee; Joe Crowley, Chair, India Caucus; Steve Chabot, Chairman, Subcommittee, South Asia;  Gregory Meeks, Joe Wilson, Ami Bera, Grace Meng and several high ranking officials from State Department,  Senate and India Caucus participated.  Joe Crowley and all the Congressmen expressed their whole-hearted support in favor of India.

 Addressing the august gathering, Mr. Jagdish Sewhani, President of the AIPACom said that the issue of pulling out USA and its allied forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and rise of Taliban has created a sort of anxiety in the region.

"There is a fear in the region that Taliban, supported by radicalized Pakistani army may make a forceful bid to take over Afghanistan and establish Sharia. This could trigger tension in the region," he said.

Disappointed over Pakistan's sluggish pace of trial in Mumbai terror attack,  Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the powerful House Foreign Relations Committee  demanded that the seven suspects, including LeT operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, be handed over to the International Criminal Court to bring them to justice.

Royce said there are rouge elements in the ISI, who would use the opportunity of any instability in Afghanistan to go back to the Taliban era.

"Ethnic cleansing is going out in Pakistan today  against those who are speaking against it," he said, alleging that the population of Hindus in Pakistan has now dropped to 1.5 per cent, against 25 per cent at the time of independence.

Tracing the history of India Caucus, Mr. Sewhani said that  India Caucus has been really a source of strength.  It has done a commendable job to further cement Indo-American relationship.

Reminding the audience, Mr. Sewhani said that Pakistan is still the epicenter of  terrorism.  It is a well  known  fact that Pakistan is using terrorism as a tool to achieve its foreign policy objective.  At the movement, Pakistani society is the most radicalized society.

Even though Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaj  Sharif ostensibly wants to mend  relationship  with India, Pakistan Intelligence Agency ISI is reported to have opened two new centers to train a large number of youngsters  in terrorism on the other side of Jaisalmir.

“Both, USA and India are natural allies.  Because of our mutual understanding and regard for each other, a new era in Indo-American relationship  has dawned.  Time has come to take this relationship from a  mere friendship to strategically  meaningful  relationship”, asserted Mr. Sewhani.