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Bhai Ackerman Hails Growing India-Israel Ties

Arthur J Pais

Praising Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's administration for "its bold efforts at strengthening India's relations with the state of Israel," Congressman Gary Ackerman said last week the growing links between the two nations boded well for world peace.

"Strong India-Israel relations is very critical to ensuring peace and stability in a part of the world that is characterized by instability, fundamentalist religious bigotry, hatred toward the West and its values and murder and mayhem spawned by acts of cross-border terrorism," he added.

"As many of you are aware Israel, just like India, is a special place for me," Ackerman said at an Indian American dinner gala to raise funds for him on September 17 in Atlanta. Ackerman, a New York Democrat, spoke at the $ 500 per person fund-raiser on the eve of a major Jewish religious holiday.

"Both are ancient civilizations and have much in common politically and economically, and share strong democratic beliefs, traditions and values."

In his first appearance before a southern Indian American group after he became the co-chairman of India Co-Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans and Member of the House International Relations Committee last year, Ackerman welcomed the change in Washington's mindset on India, urged the Indian American community to be more vocal and active not only on Indo-American issues but in mainstream politics too.

"India is one among those rare nations where people of Jewish faith have never been persecuted. In fact, Jews who sought refuge in India were welcomed with open arms and given a place of pride in the society," Ackerman, who said he considered himself to be an honorary Indian American, added. "And as such, you all should consider me as your bhai -- your brother," he said.

"Jewish people, both in the US and Israel, are fascinated by the rich and varied traditions of India, its religious, linguistic, cultural diversify," said Ackerman, who began his speech with a namaste and ended with a Jai Hind."

Community leaders Anil Agnihotri and Krishna Srinivasa organized the event.

Ackerman, who is serving his ninth term in the US House of Representatives, said he was also aware that many Indian American leaders played "a sustained and positive role in lobbying the various governments in New Delhi to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel."

He also referred to the visit to Israel by National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, and an expected visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to India. Ackerman said, "This is a development that the Indian American community should promote, because there is much that New Delhi and Jerusalem can accomplish in a variety of areas. We in the US should encourage and applaud this positive development."

Ackerman hailed the "signs of a new maturity" in US relations with India in the post-Kargil period and the acknowledgement in Washington that Pakistan had made the mistake crossing into Indian territory and in fomenting terrorism.

"The US and India as the torch bearers of democratic values have a moral duty to fight -- and fight hard -- to put an end to cross-border terrorism and acts of religious hate and bigotry," he continued.

Asserting that India is one of the biggest victims of terrorism, he said, "the abhorrent phenomena in Jammu and Kashmir has to be combated most decisively by all civilized societies and governments."

"Those who abet and sponsor this blood-curling menace of global banditry and allow their territory to be breeding grounds for terrorism must be put on notice. They must be told in no uncertain terms that unless they put an end to cross-border terrorism, they will be put on the List of Nations that Promote Terrorism."

Ackerman applauded the Clinton administration for "taking an even-handed approach to the Kashmir issue and once again reiterated that there is absolutely no grounds for appointing any sort of a special envoy for Kashmir." He added, "Kashmir is a bilateral problem and must be resolved by India and Pakistan within the framework of the Simla agreement."

Without naming Pakistan, he warned "any nation that abets, supports or sponsors terrorism against another sovereign country must remember that it itself may become a victim.

"That is what I am afraid may be the fate that awaits the nation that is promoting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. That country is no longer seen by many as a state that sponsors terrorism, but as a state that is on the brink of being sponsored and controlled by terrorists.

"It has to wake up and wake up now before the monster of terrorism devours it."

Ackerman hailed India for starting a dialogue with the US on combating terrorism. "Our state department's acting co-ordinator for counter-terrorism, Michael Sheehan, is in New Delhi to give further momentum to the dialogue," he continued. "This dialogue is the first step in the right direction."

Ackerman who was recently selected to be US congressional delegate to the new United Nations General Assembly session, declared: " I intend to make the issue of cross-border terrorism the most important concern of mine and work toward finding solutions to counter this pernicious problem.

While the Indian American community has worked hard to improve relations between New Delhi and Washington, Ackerman said it should not be complacent. On the other hand, it should try to understand why the relations between the two nations suffer from time to time.

"One of the problems that bedevils US-India relations is a lack of understanding of India's cultural and civilizational compulsions by American policy makers," he said.

"This is a serious deficiency and it must be remedied quickly. For if we fail to understand the cultural underpinnings of a nation in the proper context, we end up making erroneous judgments."

Civilizational values are yet another driving force that determines to a large extent why an ancient nation such as India behaves the way it does, he said. "We don't seem to make an effort to understand these rather invisible forces at work. We, very often, mistakenly tend to believe that all nations, especially democracies, behave much like ourselves. The fact is that they don't," Ackerman said.

"Our erroneous belief that democracies such as India think and act as we do is partly based on own arrogance and partly on our ignorance -- ignorance of the cultural differences and civilizational pride of India."

Ackerman said he and a handful of his colleagues understand Indian sensibilities. "But overall, such understanding of India on the Hill is lacking," he said.

"In fact, I won't be wrong in saying that India and its intentions are much misunderstood. Therefore, our job is cut out for us. Let us therefore resolve this evening that in a spirit of unity, you, the Indian American community, and I and the Caucus will work together to accomplish our common objectives to remove the misperceptions about India and its peoples."

Despite the misunderstandings and arrogance in Washington, he said the pro-Indian American forces scored three big victories in Congress in just the past few weeks.

"I am proud to have played a leading role in orchestrating this string of legislative victories as our issues were whole-heartedly joined by several members of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans," he said.

"First, we ensured that Pakistan understood that aggression is totally unacceptable. With regard to Kargil, I authored a substitute amendment that passed the House International Relations Committee aimed to cut off multilateral aid to Pakistan unless it withdrew from Indian soil.

"Second, in a skirmish on the House floor, we beat back an overt attack on India. We soundly defeated the Goodling amendment, which was directed against India because of New Delhi's alleged voting record at the UN. The attempt to curb military assistance to India was defeated when we exposed the representative from Pennsylvania's concealed attempt to associate India with rogue states." Goodling's amendment would have put India afoot with Libya, Cuba and North Korea.

"And finally, just before the August recess, in a major battle turned rout, we overwhelmed the perennial India-bashing measure -- the infamous Dan Burton Amendment that aims to cut off development aid to India. The opposition that we mustered to his measure on the House floor was so strong and sustained that the Indiana law-maker withdrew his measure citing a 'technical error' in drafting his amendment, thus avoiding a major embarrassment to his position."

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