Category: World Affairs Topics: Government And Politics, Kashmir Views: 1036
1036
Kashmiri-Americans Express Concerns to Wives of Gore, Lieberman
A delegation of Kashmiri Americans met with Tipper Gore and Hadessa Lieberman in Chicago this weekend during the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention.
Both Vice President Al Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush declined to attend the conference which ran Friday, September 1 through Monday, September 4, because of campaign obligations.
In their place, the Democratic candidates sent, Hadassah Lieberman and Tipper Gore to attend a closed-door meeting with a handful of leaders from the ISNA umbrella organisation of more than 100 Muslim groups and some Chicago community leaders late Sunday.
A delegation of Kashmiri Americans were also in the meeting, including Dr. Ghulam Nabi Mir, Mrs. Sara Mir, Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Ms. Najeeba Syeed, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, and Mrs. Ning-Ying Chang.
The meeting was arranged in recognition of "the importance of [maintaining] information channels to the families of the presidential and vice presidential candidates" on the plight of Muslims in Kashmir said Fai.
He likened the mass killings and human rights violations in Kashmir inflicted by 700,000 Indian military and paramilitary troops to the Holocaust.
Mir told Mrs. Lieberman and Mrs. Gore that the people of Kashmir want what every American enjoys--human rights, democratic values, peace and justice. Mir also suggested that U.S. intervention in the conflict could see similar results as was achieved in Bosnia and Kosovo.
