Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), the premier organization representing Kashmiri Hindus in the U.S., is pleased to announce a symposium, titled, “From Paradise to Ideological Battleground: A Symposium on the Kashmir Conflict”, to be held in the Northern California Bay Area on June 9, 2001 at Newark-Fremont Hilton. The purpose of the symposium is to inform and educate the interested audience on the latest events in Jammu and Kashmir State of India, and discuss possible avenues of conflict resolution. Jammu and Kashmir became an international issue in 1947 when Pakistan sponsored an invasion of the state, and India took the case of Pakistani aggression to the United Nations.

Fremont: INDO-AMERICAN COMMUNITY FEDERATION held a dinner reception for new Consul General of India on August 31, 2001. Nearly 175 prominent people from all over Northern California gathered at the house of Usha and Jeevan Zutshi to meet and greet the Consul General Mr. H. H. S. Viswanathan and bid farewell to Consul Abhjit Halder. In attendance were Mayor of Fremont Gus Morrison, Fremont City Manager Jan Perkins, Congressman Pete Stark District Director Jo Cazanave, Fremont Council member Bob Wasserman, Assembly member John Dutra District Director Gloria Ritchie, Board of Equalization member Johan Klehs Deputy Chief Anne Taylor, Democratic Central Committee Chair Yvette Brittain, Ex. Director of Ohlone college Foundation George Retamoza and Councilwoman Judy Zlatnik, Past chairman of Fremont Chamber of Commerce Timothy Reilly.

Fremont, Calif. – Although much of the “From Paradise to Ideological Battleground” symposium on Kashmir held here June 9 focused on lectures, discussions, and information, there was a chance for entertainment and fun as well. Organizers of the symposium put together a cultural night and banquet, featuring Congressman Mike Honda as the keynote speaker. The cultural segment highlighted Kashmiri heritage, and ways and means of preserving it. “We have to make all efforts to preserve our language, music and culture, said Mr. H.N.Nehru, the past President of Kashmiri Samiti in New Delhi, one of the oldest and most respected Kashmiri Pandit associations in India, according to convener Jeevan Zutshi.

During the past decade, this reporter has had the opportunity of covering numerous events reflective of the Pakistani and the Muslim-Kashmiri perspective on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. And keeping this in mind, when I heard that a major symposium on this bloody conflict was being held in Northern California on June 9th, staged by the KashmiriHindu Pandit minority, I decided to go to hear and report on what the other side is thinking these days. What I was interested in was a Kashmiri-Pandit point of view because come what may, one cannot disregard the fact that this community is a part and parcel of the Kashmir problem, and has the same legitimate right of self determination which is being denied the Kashmiri Muslim majority for quite some time now by the Government of India. And what one could also consider an added bonus at this event was the opportunity to hear both some current (elected) official and unofficial (think tank) views of the on this problem (notice that the word Dispute is being avoided here thus far) from the United States.

Possible avenues for the resolution of the Kashmir issue will be discussed at a symposium being held here next month, which will be attended, by experts and policy makers, including US Congressman Jim McDermott. The symposium, titled From Paradise to Ideological Battleground, is being held on June nine to inform and educate the mainstream American as well as the ethnic Indian communities about the latest developments in Jammu and Kashmir, symposium convener Jeevan Zutshi said. The Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), a leading organization representing Kashmiri pandits in the US, is organizing the symposium to give greater visibility to the Kashmir issue, he said. Right now many things are happening. There are lots of back door meetings that are taking place back in India as well as here, he said. “We want to make sure that Kashmiri pandits are also part of the decision-making process. That the Kashmiri pandits get a fair deal,” Zutshi added.

THE Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), a leading organization representing Kashmiri Pandits in the US, has organized a major symposium on what it called the proxy war being waged by Pakistan against India by sponsoring militant groups. “From Paradise to Ideological Battleground: A Symposium on the Kashmir Conflict,” will be held in the Northern California Bay Area on June 9 and will feature Congressional leaders, noted academics and policy wonks. Among those billed to attend are Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India, former US ambassador Teresita Schaffer, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS), Yossef Bodansky, director of the Republican Task Force on Terrorism in Congress, D.R. Sardesai, historian at the University of California and Raju Thomas of the department of political science, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Also billed to appear at the event, which is being co-sponsored by several local and national Indian American organizations, are the mayor of Fremont, Gus Morrison, and India’s Consul General in San Francisco R.M. Abhyankar.

London: A Symposium on March 24 and 25, 2001 titled International Seminar on KASHMIRI LANGUAGE AND CULTURE AND FIFTH MUSICAL FESTIVAL was held at Kashmir Bhawan, Luton, U.K. The symposium highlighted the culture and heritage of Kashmiris and ways and means of preserving it. The symposium was the brain child of Dr. S.N.Ganju, a veteran Kashmiri leader based in U.K. ‘We have to make all the efforts to preserve our language, music and cultural heritage and to achieve that, we must have a Kashmiri center in every city in the world,’ Said Dr. Ganju to a very large gathering of attendees. ‘We are spread out in all parts of the world and considering our small numbers, we have to make an extra effort to maintain a link and that purpose can best be served through these cultural centers.’ Dr.Roop Krishen Bhat of Northern Regional Language Center, India and prominent U.S based community leader Jeevan Zutshi were in attendance besides the delegates from U.K, Mrs. Krishna Bhan, Dr. Vijay Dhar, Dr.Jeevan Raval, Mr. Bansilal Kaul, Rattan Kotwal and Dr.Shiban Durani. Also in attendance was Nirja Pandit, an eminent Kashmiri singer from India who mesmerized a large audience with old and new kashmiri songs. The two days eventwas very successful and the musical extravaganza in the night of 24th provided lots of memories to the Kashmiris in Diaspora.

When we created TiE , one of our goals was wealth creation,” muses Bakul Joshi on a tony California Sunday afternoon at the Swami Narayan Mandir in Milpitas. “We wanted to create entrepreneurship. Now, we are learning about creating social entrepreneurship,” says Joshi, one of the leaders of The Indus Entrepreneurs, or TiE. He was participating in a shraddhanjali (condolence meeting) for the Gujarat earthquake victims organized by Swami Narayanis (and their association BAPS Care), TiE and over two dozen San Francisco Bay area organizations.

Som Chivukula in California For over a decade, Yossef Bodansky has been fiercely attacking Pakistan in his lectures and books, holding Islamabad responsible for escalating terror attacks in the region and for making itself a fountainhead of religious fundamentalism. He brought that message to more than 200 academics, community leaders and politicians who attended a daylong seminar in Fremont, California, recently. Organized by the IndoAmerican Kashmir Forum, the event was called ‘From Paradise to Ideological Battleground’. Unless Pakistan gives up its efforts to acquire Kashmir to makeup for Jinnah’s ‘lost heritage’,there will be no peace and stability in the region, Bodansky said. Getting Kashmir out of Indian hands had always meant for Pakistan a mission to achieve the unfulfilled task of Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Mercury News Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-dominated region, has become a deadly battleground between India and Islamic fundamentalists who want to take it over, Hira L. Fotedar, the vice-president of Eaton Technology in Michigan, said at a forum Saturday. The event was the Indo-American Kashmir Forum held at the Hilton Hotel in Newark. Once a Himalayan paradise, Kashmir has been torn by bloodshed since India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947.Both countries make claims to it and have fought wars over it. The conflict deepened in 1989, when Muslim Kashmiris fought to end Indian rule, and India waged a battle against them. Pakistan sent mujahedeen veterans of the Afghan-Soviet war to aid the separatists.