Rep. Benjamin Gilman, who chairs the House International Relations Committee, said, "India has been suffering for too many years from attacks by Muslim extremists who take refuge in Afghanistan and are supported by Pakistan." "The problems between India and Pakistan will never be resolved until China ends its dangerous effort to destablise India through its support for Pakistan and the narco-dictatorship in Burma (Myanmar)," he added.

Speaking at the annual legislative convention organised on Capitol Hill by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), Gilman also took the US state department to task for questioning India's rationale for testing nuclear weapons, which he said was fully justified on account of New Delhi's threat perceptions vis-a-vis Beijing.

"Our state department finds it difficult tounderstand India's concerns about China's regional intentions, its nuclear and ballistic weapon support for Pakistan and its close relationship with Burma," he said. "Most distressing has been the administration's denial that China, in violation of international agreements, transferred nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan."

About the insurgency in Kashmir, Gilman said: "This is a war, not between Islam and the United States, or Islam and India, but between a small but growing army of religious fanatics who want to undermine the West and the democracies in the region such as India and radicalise the Islamic world by overthrowing moderate Islamic governments."

Castigating the US administration for allegedly tolerating the Taliban in Afghanistan, Gilman accused the militia of being the "principal protectors of Osama bin Laden and those who continually cross into Kashmir and who kill innocent Indians." Bin Laden, a millionaire Saudi dissident, is suspected by the US of having masterminded the bombingsof its missions in Kenya and Tanzania last August.

Gilman alleged that "given their interest in agitation by Muslim extremists in the Indian territory of Kashmir, Pakistan has long countenanced and even supported Afghan terrorist training camps."

He alleged Islamabad provided "crucial diplomatic support for the Taliban regime, hoping it will be dependent on Pakistan after gaining control throughout Afghanistan and thus provide not only strategic depth in the region, but a corridor to the important energy reserves of Central Asia."

Reiterating his support for New Delhi's decision to conduct nuclear tests, Gilman said, "Although the government of India has taken the historic step of offering an olive branch to Pakistan, New Delhi continues to struggle with our state department that questions India's attempt to ensure that it can defend itself from nuclear attacks. Every nation has a right to ensure that it has an adequate defence and deterrence system."

Gilman said India's leaders "feel isolatedas other world leaders seek illusory trade benefits and develop, as our State Department has developed, strategic partnerships with Beijing."

Gilman's sentiments were echoed by another influential Republican legislator, Rep. Bill McCollum, who said, "I have never figured out for the life of me why some people in our administration seem to think that they have to snuggle up a little bit to China and they somehow distance themselves from India. That is not right." "The truth about the matter is," McCollum said, "our true friend and long-term ally in the entire Asian region is India and it's going to be for a long time o come. I cannot imagine a more strategic alliance to the United States, both from a standpoint of economics and politics."

The several other lawmakers who attended the function included both co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India, Rep. Gary Ackerman and Jim Greenwood. Ackerman said the State Department's tilt towards Pakistan and bias against India hadchanged of late, thanks to the intense lobbying of the Indian American community which had succeeded in making the "playing field more and more level."