NRI groups ask US to turn heat on Pakistan



A newly formed task force set up by seven leading Indian-American groups has demanded that the focus of the United States military aid to Islamabad should be on resources needed to fight terrorists rather than enhancing the capacity of Pakistani forces.

A briefing paper, prepared for distribution among lawmakers, also urges them to demand verifiable proof from Pakistan that it has dismantled the terror training camps.

The paper calls for handing over suspects responsible for financing and sponsoring Mumbai strikes to India and asks the lawmakers to ensure that the Pakistan military and intelligence are controlled by the civilian government.

The task force has been created to come up with the community's response to deadly terrorist attacks and to formulate short and long term plans to project Indian viewpoint and educate various American audiences.

Announcing the formation of the task force, Ram Narayanan, one of the two coordinators of US-India Friendship Forum said they plan to develop strategy over next few weeks.

"The important thing to keep in mind is that practically the entire American-Indian community has come together in an unprecedented manner in the wake of terrorist attacks in Mumbai," he said.

The representatives of the seven bodies are seeking meeting with transition team of US President-elect Barack Obama as also senators during January to explain the dangers of letting terrorists activities go unchallenged in Pakistan.

The organization which have together are Asian American Hotel Owners Association, Association of Indians in America, Indian-American Friendship Forum, Indian American Forum for Political Education, Indian-American Political Action Committee, National Federation of Indian-American Associations and US-India Political Action Committee.