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.

India and the United States need to build a strong defence relationship on the lines of NATO, a leading US Congressman Frank Pallone has said. Pallone, who was here for a fundraising event hosted by local activist and Kashmiri leader, Jeevan Zutshi, said, “I believe it is very difficult to develop a true close relationship with another country, unless there is a defence relationship.””I honestly believe that we are going to see the day when there is going to be a formal defence treaty arrangement, maybe something like NATO. It could be a South Asian alliance, with India leading other countries of the region into some kind of formal military alliance with the United States,” Pallone, co-founder of India Caucus,

Fremont : It was a very special day here in Northern California, USA when all local Indian ‘groups’ put up a celebration of India’s independence day parade on Sunday, August 17, 2003. Kashmiri Pandits celebrated the independence day by having a float that was called “Kashmir Paradise on Earth”. It contained a kashmiri bride and bridegroom, a hukka-smoking man, a pandit ji blessing the crowd, and a bunch of teenagers and teen-at-heart singing and dancing Bombro-Bombro, seated in a shikara on a lotus decked lake, tastefully painted by volunteers. The boat had a swag of ‘hill’ (moss) hanging at its tail as well.

Sharon Davis, wife of Gov. Gray Davis, will deliver one of the keynote speeches at a Jan. 24 Fremont dinner that organizers say will celebrate the area’s diversity and send a message of peace and unity. About 500 people, including a number of elected officials, are expected to attend the second Unity Dinner at the Fremont Marriott Hotel. “With 140 languages spoken in Fremont, once a year, we are having this celebration to set the tone and bring together our diverse communities,” said Jeevan Zutshi, the organizer of the event”. “Compared to other places in the world, we are uncommonly united in Fremont where we know how important it is to understand different cultures.”

That’s the theory behind a proposed partnership between the United States and India to build universities that would teach meditation and peace-building strategies based on ancient practices and modern science. The primary backer of the project — which includes a 40,000-student university in India and an 8,000-student university in the United States — will detail his plan for the first time Friday night at the third annual Unity Dinner, sponsored by the Fremont-based IndoAmerican Community Federation.

FREMONT _ The Indo-American Community Federation will hold its second “Unity Dinner” in an effort to forge a strong bond and sense of understanding between the different ethnic, religious and cultural groups living in the Tri-City area. While the evening will feature Indian cultural performances, the Jan. 24 event is meant to bring the community together rather than just to highlight a particular group. “It will bring together not only the different religious groups from India but all the other diverse groups (living in the area),” said Jeevan Zutshi, founder of the federation. The idea to hold the dinner came after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Unity in diversity. What better a place to demonstrate this eternal motto than a place as diverse as the U.S, in a city as multicultural as Fremont? Indo-American Community Federation (IACF), a Fremont based non-profit organization, is hosting a “Unity Dinner” to send out the message that we all need to stand together as American. Especially in the wake of 9/11. “After Sept. 11 (2001) it has become all the more important to understand each other’s culture and unite the community, and also educate the mainstream about the culture, “says Jeevan Zutshi of IACF.

UNION CITY – No one who attended the conference “Global Terrorism and Kashmir in its International Context,” sponsored by the Indo-American Community Federation at James Logan High School, expected to find the answer to the long-term conflict between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir in one afternoon. The idea, according to organizer Jeevan Zutshi, was to continue the search for a solution to the conflict between the two countries, the effects of which are a rising death toll and tide of terrorism.The conference opened with comments from Congressman Pete Stark, who used his time to comment on the diversity of his constituency.

Kashmir issue is closer to a solution, said Lieutenant General (Retd.) Moti Dar, a Kashmir expert at the third international symposium organized by Indo-American Community Federation (IACF) and Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) held August 17 at the Logan High School conference room in Union City, California. Lieutenant General Moti Dar of the Indian Army has intimate knowledge and experience of India-Pakistan relations and his rationale is that increasing pressure on Pakistan to democratize bodes well for a solution.

ALAMEDA COUNTY LIBRARY and the INDO-AMERICAN COMMUNITY FEDERATION Present “Glimpses of India”