Twenty-first Century India

Hindustan Times reports:

The US Senate has condemned in the strongest terms the July 11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and expressed its support for the enhancement of strategic cooperation between the United States and India with the goal of combating terrorism and advancing peace and security.

A bipartisan resolution moved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, Richard Lugar, leading democrat Joseph Biden and 18 others expressed its solidarity with the government and people of India in fighting and defeating terrorism in all its forms.

The Senate also expressed its condolences to the families and friends of those individuals killed in the attacks and expressed its sympathies to those individuals who have been injured.

The resolution noted that the government of India has been engaged in joint efforts with the US government to combat terrorism and to ensure a safer and more secure world.

The United States and India, both multi-cultural, multi-religious democracies that abhor terrorism in all its forms, will continue to work steadfastly together to overcome terrorist ideology and establish peace and security, it said.

On the other hand, the terrorists responsible for these attacks seek to disrupt the free, democratic, and pluralistic lifestyle enjoyed by the people of India, it added.

Following is the text of the resolution:

Condemning in the strongest terms the July 11, 2006, terrorist attacks in India and expressing sympathy and support for the families of the deceased victims and wounded as well as steadfast support to the Government of India as it seeks to reassure and protect the people of India and to bring the perpetrators of this despicable act of terrorism to justice.

Whereas, on July 11, 2006, during evening rush hour, 7 major explosions occurred on commuter trains in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, killing as many as 200 and wounding more than 400 innocent people;

Whereas the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, has urged calm in the country and vowed to take all possible measures to maintain law and order and to defeat the forces of terrorism;

Whereas the Mumbai attacks occurred shortly after a series of grenade attacks took the lives of 8 innocent civilians and wounded 39 others in tourist areas of Srinagar, the capital city of Indian Kashmir;

Whereas the United States and India are both multi-cultural, multi-religious democracies that abhor terrorism in all its forms and will continue to work steadfastly together to overcome terrorist ideology and establish peace and security;

Whereas the people of India have long faced, with bravery and resolve, past acts of terrorism, including twin bombings at a train station and a temple in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi that killed 20 people in March 2006, a series of bombings in New Delhi, a day before the Hindu festival of Diwali that resulted in the death of more than 60 people in October 2005, 2 simultaneous car bombings in Mumbai that killed 52 people in August 2003, a bombing on a passenger train in Mumbai that killed 10 people in March 2003, an attack on a Hindu temple in the state of Gujarat that left 33 people dead in September 2002, an attack on India's parliament in New Delhi in December 2001 that left 14 people dead and precipitated a 5-month military stand off with neighbouring Pakistan, a series of bombings that struck the Mumbai stock exchange, killing 257 people and wounding more than 1,000 others, and countless attacks in Indian Kashmir that have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people over the last 16 years;

Whereas the terrorists responsible for these attacks seek to disrupt the free, democratic, and pluralistic lifestyle enjoyed by the people of India;

Whereas the Government of India has been engaged in joint efforts with the United States Government to combat terrorism and to ensure a safer and more secure world; and

Whereas the governments of countries throughout the world strongly condemned the attacks in Mumbai, including the United States Government and the Governments of Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and France: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) condemns in the strongest terms the July 11, 2006, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India;

(2) expresses its condolences to the families and friends of those individuals killed in the attacks and expresses its sympathies to those individuals who have been injured;

(3) expresses its solidarity with the government and people of India in fighting and defeating terrorism in all its forms; and

(4) expresses its support for the enhancement of strategic cooperation between the United States and India, with the goal of combating terrorism and advancing peace and security.