US lawmaker seeks India's help to improve ties with Pak

India can help mend the fractured relationship between United States and Pakistan,  believes a ranking member of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.

US Congressman Gregory Meeks, New York Democrat and a leading African American lawmaker, while speaking at the annual Congressional reception hosted by the National Federation of Indian American Associations on Capitol Hill, also lavished kudos on the Indian American community.

He declared that neither President Barack Obama nor he would have achieved what they have if not for the influence of Mahatma Gandhi on late civil rights icon Reverend Martin Luther King.
 
Meeks said, "Now we have to rely on India and on you, our Indian American friends here in America, to move forward, and as our relationship becomes strained with Pakistan, I know that yours has become better with Pakistan."
 
"So, therefore, we need India and you to work with us to make sure that the region and the world is a better place tomorrow, especially for our young people and women, because we have got so many great Indian women that's in our district that's getting educated, that's a moving force and doing things that can make the difference for all of us," he said.
 
Meeks reiterated, "We want tomorrow to get better for the young people than today and yesterday is and was for us," both in South Asia as well as in the United States.
 
The lawmaker, who represents New York's 6th District, which boasts of a significant Indian and South Asian American population, said the value of the Indian American community couldn't be lauded enough, "because you make America better."
 
"What America is, what America is about, people that's coming from all over the world to live under one roof -- to share ideas, to share cultures, to share understanding -- and the more people that we have that come to America, the greater America is," he said.
 
Meeks said, "And when we have individuals who come from such a historic background as India -- one of the oldest nations in the world, one of the greatest cultures in the world -- and when you bring that to America, America gets to learn from you and become indeed a better country."
 
He argued that neither President Obama, the first African American president of the United States, nor he, would ever have made the progress that they have if not for the influence of Mahatma Gandhi on civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King.
 
"I probably would not be standing here today, as a member of the United States House of Representatives, I would not have had the opportunity to do it, if it wasn't from the great tradition of a great Indian by the name of Mahatma Gandhi," Meeks said.