About 150 influential Indian-Americans have formed a lobby group in Washington, and will meet members of the new Obama administration to demand more action in relation to the Mumbai terror attacks.
The community leaders, from various parts of the country, are holding a meeting this week to “impress upon them the need for Pakistan to bring the 26/11 conspirators to justice”. The attacks last November killed over 170 people, including six Americans.
The leaders represent the Indian American Task Force (IATF), which was established by several community organisations to lobby at the Capitol. Its members include groups such as the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association and the US India Political Action Committee.
“We are here not simply to highlight terrorism directed against innocent civilians in India, but also because we believe that these developments in India represent a clear security challenge to the US itself,” said Mukesh Advani, a San Francisco-based co-ordinator with the IATF.
Noting that this is not the first time terrorists originating from Pakistan have killed foreigners in India, including Jews, Advani said they believed it is in America’s own national security interests to ensure the elimination of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, the apparent source of the Mumbai attacks.
“We are not against Pakistan or the people of Pakistan,” said Ram Narayanan, a New York member of the IATF. “In fact, we are pleased that Pakistan now has a democratically elected civilian government and we are seeking ways to help Pakistan’s civilian government to eradicate terrorism from its soil.
“The IATF is seeking peaceful means through grass-roots lobby work and dissemination of information to work with US lawmakers to find practical solutions to the volatile situation in south Asia following the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Our goal is to ensure that the interests of the United States and India are protected in the ongoing war against terrorism.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani-American groups have announced that they would oppose the move by Indian-Americans to lobby the Obama team.
