Kashmiri pandits find place on Clinton's agenda

United States President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will take up the plight of Kashmiri pandits with the Indian government during their forthcoming New Delhi visits.

This was revealed by Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth in Washington in reply to Democratic Congressmen Sherrod Brown and Frank Pallone.

"The humanitarian issue will find place in their respective agenda," he said.

Brown had, in a letter to Albright, voiced deep concern about the 'ongoing plight of Kashmiri pandits.'

Though the tour schedules have not been formally announced, indications are that Albright would be in India next month and Clinton in February or March.

Inderfurth said a delegation of pandits had met him last week and apprised him of the situation in India.

The delegation was sponsored by the Indo-American Kashmir Forum, a US-based lobby group set up by immigrant Kashmiri pandits to muster support for their community in India. The delegation had also asked for direct American aid for their cousins living in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi.

Pallone, who is co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans drew Inderfurth's attention to raising the issue with the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Earlier, Brown had placed on record of the committee a copy of his letter to Albright.

UNI