The Tri-City area is known for its broad diversity of cultural backgrounds and it is this fact that the Indo-American Community Federation (IACF) along with other ethnic organizations are aiming to leverage by facilitating and organizing a Unity Festival on October 15 and 16 at Ohlone College in Fremont.

FREMONT, Calif. – State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi told a gathering of Indian Americans here that he will take their advice on matters relating to their community should he become lieutenant governor. For this, he said, he will set up an Indian American Advisory Committee, with people “drawn from a broad spectrum” of the community serving on it. “That title of lieutenant governor has the best sound system in the state,” the veteran politician told those who attended a dinner reception hosted for him by community activist Jeevan Zutshi, and his wife, Usha, in their hillside home.

As the name suggests, “Unity Dinner 2005” organized by the Indo-American Community Federation was all about bringing various ethnic communities in the San Francisco Bay Area together for one night to celebrate the amalgamation of diverse cultures that has become a unique symbol of this region. The sell-out event was held at the Newark-Fremont Hilton Jan 21, and is the fourth annual dinner organized by the IACF.

Fremont has a widespread reputation for embracing its ethnic pluralism. Public officials are quick to note that more than 120 languages are spoken within the 92 square miles of the city. The city has an established Chinese-American community, a burgeoning Indo-American population, and an Afghan neighborhood that has garnered national recognition.

Indo-American Community Federation, kick-off, Unity Dinner 2004 You are invited to join us for dinner on Wednesday, December 10 starting at 7:30 p.m. at our home in Fremont Vineyard hills. Fremont City Manager Jan Perkins, Deputy City Manager Dave Millican, and Neighborhood Resource Manager Claudia Albano will meet to talk with us about the health of our Fremont community including the current economic climate and the challenges ahead. It will prove to be an interesting, and enlightening evening. This will also kick-off our Unity Dinner 2004 (unity in Diversity), third annual event of Indo-American Community Federation, to be held on Friday, January 23, 2004 in Fremont Marriott.

I wish to introduce you to the largest India Community Center in the country located in our own backyard here. The Center is the brain child of Godhwani brothers and the vision is to have a similar center in all major parts of North America. The Center is non-religious and non-political for the entire Indian Community. With 2500 members already in place within an effort of less than 8 months, I have no doubt about ICC being The Center for Indians in North America. There is something for everyone every day!

Congressman Frank Pallone recently hosted a hearing on Capitol Hill to apprise Congressional aides about the lot of Kashmiri Pandits. Despite his unstinting support for India on Capitol Hill, the New Jersey Democrat and founder and former co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans has never shied away from faulting New Delhi for its apathy towards Pandits who fled the Kashmir valley following terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Members of Congress have heard a graphic account of ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and moderate Muslims from Kashmir at the hands of Pakistan-backed Jihadis mostly sent across the Line of Control and some converted to their cause in the Valley. National Director of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum Jeevan Zutshi said at a conference sponsored by Congressman Frank Pallone, founder and former Co-Chairman of the India Caucus yesterday that in 1990, 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and moderate Muslims had to flee Kashmir for their lives to neighbouring parts of India.

Washington D.C: A leader of a Hindu Kashmiri group related to a conference here stories of violence and ethnic cleansing in Kashmir by Pakistan backed Jihadis, mostly sent across the Line of Control.In 1990, 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and moderate Muslims had to flee Kashmir to neighboring parts of India, and several have been forced to live in wretched camps in subhuman conditions, Jeevan Zutshi, national Director of Indo-American Kashmir Forum,told the Oct. 30 conference sponsored by Congressman Frank Pallone, and the Congressional Caucus on Indo-Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dedicated member of the Kashmiri-American community, Jeevan Zutshi, for his years of tireless work on behalf of Kashmir.In 1986, Mr. Zutshi began a Kashmiri Overseas Association Chapter in California and was elected as the Association’s national Vide-President in 1989. Mr. Zutshi was instrumental in helping to initiate and organize a series of fundraisers for Kashmiri refugees immediately following the exodus of 300,000 Pandits from Kashmir in 1990, the first of which was held in his hometown of Fremont, CA.