August 25, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 26

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 24: An Indian peace activist said on Sunday she believed that the Kashmir dispute could be resolved peacefully because people on both sides of the India-Pakistan border wanted peace.

“The slogan being used against the violence (in Kashmir) is: Goli Naheen, Boli Chahyeh (dialogue, not bullets),” Nirmala Deshpande, one of the disciples of Mahatma Gandhi, told a meeting in Washington

In a community reception hosted by the Non-Resident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India Ms Deshpande said that the Peace movement in the Kashmir Valley had received significant support from all sections of the population, including the youth.

On her several visits to Pakistan, she said, she received strong support from the people of that country for her efforts to bring peace between India and Pakistan.

Other Indian speakers said that not all Indian Americans were pro-Hindutva. Participants said that the silent majority of the Indian Americans was very troubled by the damage the Hindutva forces were causing in India to the social fabric.

Speaking about the religious violence that took place in the Indian state of Gujarat last year, Ms Deshpande charged that the Gujarat government was responsible for the death and devastation of thousands of innocent people.

She told the predominantly Indian audience that fear and hurt among the religious minorities in India still prevail. She said she was afraid that the victims of the Gujarat violence would not get justice if the tactics of the present government continued.

Ms Deshpande said that many Indian Americans who were sending money to various religious groups in India were unaware that their contributions were used for fomenting religious hatred.

Ms Deshpande, who was hosted in Washington by the Policy Institute for Religion and State and the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America, also met with officials at the State Department, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the staff members of the influential India Caucus on the Capitol Hill.