[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 17, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E393-E394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ELECTIONS COMING IN PUNJAB OPPORTUNITY TO CLAIM FREEDOM
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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, elections have been scheduled in Punjab for
May 10. They are part of India's national elections. The Sikhs in
Punjab must seize this opportunity. Just changing the faces
accomplishes nothing. Replacing one set of oppressors with another is
not an exercise in democracy; it is merely proof of the need for
independence from the tyranny that is the reality of daily life in
Punjab.
[[Page E394]]
The Council of Khalistan recently put out an open letter to the Sikhs
in Punjab, Khalistan. They called for Sikhs to use these elections to
elect officeholders who are committed to freeing the Sikh homeland,
Khalistan.
Mr. Speaker, this is the only way to end the repression that has
killed over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, with more than 52,000 being held
as political prisoners. Some of the prisoners are army officers who
refused to participate in the brutal military attack on the seat of the
Sikh religion, the Golden Temple, in 1984. Others are simply those who
participated peacefully in the movement to liberate Khalistan.
India claims to be a democratic country. It also claims that there is
no support for Khalistan. Why not simply hold a vote on the issue, the
democratic way? Instead, this country that loudly proclaims that it is
secular and democratic imposes the most brutal repression on the Sikhs
and other minorities such as Christians in Nagaland and elsewhere,
Muslims in Kas-hmir and throughout the country, Tamils, Dalit
``Untouchables,'' Bodos, Assamese, Manipuris, and others.
I join with the Council of Khalistan in urging the Sikhs and all the
minorities suffering under Indian oppression to vote for honest
candidates committed to freedom for their people. This is the best
thing that they can do to free themselves from this brutal tyranny.
We can help by stopping American aid to India until all people's
basic human rights are respected and by declaring our support for a
free and fair plebiscite on the question of independence. These
measures will press India to begin living up to the democratic values
that they so loudly proclaim.
I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's message to the Sikh
Nation regarding the elections into the Record at this time.
Council of Khalistan,
Washington, DC, March 2, 2004.
Open Letter to the Sikh Nation
Punjab Elections Set for May 10 Opportunity for Sikh Nation to Claim
Freedom
Choose honest leadership committed to Sikh Freedom--Don't miss this
peaceful, democratic opportunity to liberate Khalistan
Dear Khalsa Ji: WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHEGURU JI KI
FATEH!
Elections in Punjab have been set for May 10. This is an
opportunity for Sikhs to install honest, dedicated
leadership. Choose only leaders who are committed to Khalsa
Raj. Only when Khalistan is free can Sikhs live in
prosperity, security, and dignity. Only when Khalistan is
free of Indian occupation can Punjab's farmers get a fair
price for their crops. Only when Khalistan is free will our
water stop being diverted to nonriparian states. We must do
everything that we can to free our homeland, Punjab,
Khalistan, from Indian occupation. These elections provide an
opportunity to reclaim our freedom democratically and
peacefully.
The Guru granted sovereignty to the Sikh Nation, saying
``In Grieb Silkhin Ko Deon Patshahi.'' The Sikh Nation must
achieve its independence to fulfill the mandate of the Guru.
We always remember it by reciting every morning and evening,
``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa.'' Now is the time to act on it. Do we
mean what we say every morning and evening? I urge Sikhs to
unite and take action to liberate our homeland, Punjab,
Khalistan.
Parkash Singh Badal disgraced the Sikh Nation by running
the most corrupt government in Punjab's history. His
government was so corrupt, they even came up with a new term
for bribery: ``fee for service.'' If you didn't pay the fee,
you didn't get the service. The Badal family was so adept at
receiving bribes that Mrs. Badal could tell how much money
was in a bag just by picking it up! We are pleased that Chief
Minister Amarinder Singh is prosecuting the Badal family for
its corruption. Clearly, the Akalis do not merit the Sikh
Nation's support.
Badal also broke his campaign promises of 1997. He promised
to release all the political prisoners. Yet according to the
Movement Against State Repression (MASR), the Indian regime
admitted to holding 52,268 Sikhs as political prisoners. They
are being held without charge or trial, some of them since
1984! How can a democratic state hold political prisoners? He
promised to punish police officials who have committed
atrocities against Sikhs since 1984. No such action was ever
taken. Where is the punishment of Swaran Singh Ghotna, who
murdered Jathedar Gurdev Singh Kaunke? Where is the
punishment of the police officers who kidnapped and murdered
Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra? He promised to appoint a
commission to study the human-rights violations against the
Sikhs. Yet when such a commission was formed by concerned
Sikhs, he used the power of government to shut it down and
deny it a meeting place.
The Congress Party is no better. It is the party that
invaded and desecrated the Golden Temple and 125 other Sikh
Gurdwaras throughout Punjab in June 1984 to murder Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and 20,000 other Sikhs, including
General Shabeg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh, and over 100 Sikh
religious students ages 8-13 who were taken out into the
courtyard and shot. If Sikhs will not even protect the
sanctity of the Golden Temple, how can the Sikh Nation
survive as a nation? No conscientious Sikh can support the
Congress Party. It is the enemy of the Sikh Nation.
Sikhs must speak for, work for, and vote for candidates
committed to freeing our homeland, Punjab, Khalistan, from
Indian occupation. Let us take this opportunity to put people
in office who will work for Sikh freedom and will work to
give the Sikh Nation a free and fair plebiscite on freedom
for Khalistan.
Sarbjit Singh, the son of Sikh martyr Beant Singh, has been
given a ticket in a reserved constituency in Bhatinda by
the Akali Dal (Amritsar.) He deserves the support of Sikh
voters, but Sikhs should not support Simranjit Singh Mann,
who changes his colors on Khalistan almost daily. Mann is
under the control of the Indian government, as shown by
his letter to the Chief Justice of India, which is
reprinted in the book Chakravyuh: Web of Indian
Secularism, by Professor Gurtej Singh. Mann has been in
Parliament for the past few years. What has he done to
advance the cause of Sikh freedom? Has he even made a
single speech on behalf of freeing our homeland?
We call on distinguished Sikh leaders such as Justice Ajit
Singh Bains, General Narinder Singh, Professor Gurdarshan
Singh Dhillon, Professor Gurtej Singh, former MP Atinder Pal
Singh, and others to run themselves or find candidates who
reflect their views. And we call on them to give a ticket to
deserving, educated political prisoners. This will help to
get the political prisoners freed and will help to put people
in Parliament who are committed to Sikh freedom and
sovereignty.
Remember the words of Professor Darshan Singh, former
Jathedar of the Akal Takht: ``If a Sikh is not a Khalistani,
he is not a Sikh.'' The time to achieve our independence is
now. India is not one country. It is a polyglot empire thrown
together under one roof for the administrative convenience of
the British colonialists. It has 18 official languages.
History shows that such countries are doomed to fall apart.
India will collapse just like the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
the Soviet Union, and other multinational states such as
Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since
1984, according to figures compiled by the Punjab State
Magistracy and human rights groups and published in Inderjit
Singh Jaijee's excellent book, The Politics of Genocide.
India has killed over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland since
1947 and murdered priests, raped nuns, burned churches, and
destroyed Christian schools and prayer halls. They expelled
missionary Joseph Cooper from the country after militant
Hindu nationalists beat him up so badly that he had to be in
the hospital for a week. Missionary Graham Staines and his
two young sons were burned to death while sleeping in their
jeep by a mob of militant Hindus chanting ``Victory to
Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. Since they were allied with the pro-
Fascist RSS, the parent organization of the ruling BJP, they
were able to commit this atrocity with impunity. Muslims were
massacred in Gujarat while the police were under orders to
stand aside and let the massacre occur, a frightening
parallel to the 1984 Delhi massacres of Sikhs. A policeman
told an Indian newspaper that the Gujarat massacre was
planned in advance by the government.
India is a fundamentalist Hindu theocracy, not secular or
democratic at all. Remember what Narinder Singh, a spokesman
for the Golden Temple, told America's National Public Radio
in 1997: ``The Indian government, they are always boasting
that they are democratic, that they are secular. They have
nothing to do with a secularism, nothing to do with a
democracy. They just kill Sikhs just to please the
majority.'' On December 5, President Bush told me ``I am
aware of the Sikh and Kashmiri problem.''
Soon Kashmir will be free from Indian occupation. Now
America is involved in it. As L.K. Advani predicted, ``When
Kashmir goes, India goes.'' We agree with him and we urge the
Indian government to hold a free and fair plebiscite on the
question of independence and to sit down with representatives
of the Sikh Nation to negotiate the boundaries of a
sovereign, independent Khalistan. Sikhs must use the upcoming
elections to elect representatives who will make certain that
India does that. Sikhs must claim their birthright by
liberating Khalistan. Only by freeing Khalistan will we put
an end to this corruption and restore control of Punjab and
its assets to the people, to whom it rightfully belongs. A
sovereign, independent Khalistan is a must for the survival
of the Sikh Nation and will provide an optimal environment
for the Sikh Nation to progress to its optimum potential
politically, religiously, and economically. Let us take this
opportunity to free Khalistan.
Panth Da Sewadar,
Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
President, Council of Khalistan.
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