[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 22100-22101] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN HAS SUCCESSFUL CONVENTION ______ HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS of new york in the house of representatives Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly stated that India is the victim of cross-border terror. The Council of Khalistan under the leadership of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh wrote to Prime Minister Singh and reminded him that India has been sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Sindh, a province of Pakistan, as the Washington Times reported on January 2, 2002 and that it created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eclam, which our government has identified as a terrorist organization, according to Indian Today, which is the leading news magazine in India. It has also sponsored domestic terrorism against the minorities within its borders, including murdering a quarter of a million Sikhs and holding another 52,000 as political prisoners; killing Muslims by the tens of thousands in Kashmir, where more than 90,000 have been killed, Gujarat, where between 2,000 and 5,000 died in a massacre pre- planned by the government, and elsewhere; killing Christians throughout the country, including over 300,000 just in Nagaland; and mass killing many other minorities. Yet India proclaims itself the victim of terrorism and proclaims itself a democracy. Well, Mr. Speaker, it certainly doesn't act that way. The repression and terrorism must be stopped. We should end all aid and trade with India until such time as the repression ends and people enjoy the most basic human rights, and we should throw our full support behind self-determination in Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir, in Nagalim, and wherever people are trying to be free. In addition, we should designate India a terrorist state and impose the sanctions that that designation brings. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Council of Khalistan's open letter into the Record. It is a frightening record of Indian terrorism. Council of Khalistan, Washington, DC, October 10, 2006. Open Letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: India Is a Terrorist State, Not a Victim Dear Prime Minister Singh: On October 4, you said that India is it victim of crossborder terrorism. India is a terrorist state itself and should be subject to the penalties that are imposed on terrorist states. On January 2, 2002, the Washington Times reported that India is supporting cross-border terrorism in Sindh, a province of Pakistan, the very same kind of thing that Prime Minister Singh was claiming is victimizing India. In addition, India's leading newsmagazine, India Today, reported that the Indan government created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), identified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, and its leaders were put up by the Indian government in the finest hotel in Delhi, How can you blame Pakistan when India started cross-border terrorism with its own actions? The Indian government has committed terrorism against its own minorities. It has murdered over 250,000 Sikh infants, children, youth, men, women, and elderly since 1984, as well as more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 Mulims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and other minorities. A report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) states that 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners in India without charge or trial, mostly under a repressive law known as the ``Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA), which expired in 1995. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984! There has been no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and those who are still rotting in Indian jails, Tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. Tell the families of these innocent Sikhs and others that there is no terrorism in India. lndian police arrested human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra after he exposed their policy of mass cremation of Sikhs, in which over 50,000 Sikhs have been arrested, tortured, and murdered, then their bodies were declared unidentified and secretly cremated. Khalra was murdered in police custody. His body was not given to his family. [[Page 22101]] No one has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra. The only witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Rajiv Singh Randhawa, has been repeatedly harassed by the police, including having been arrested for trying to hand a note to then British Home Secretary Jack Straw. Last year, 35 Sikhs were charged and arrested in Punjab for making speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the Khalistani flag. How can making speeches and raising a flag be considered crimes in a democratic society? The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Talkht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him, He has never been tried for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government had paid over 41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs. The MASR report quotes the Punjab Civil Magistracy as writing ``if we add up the figures of the last few years the number of innocent persons killed would run into lakhs [hundreds of thousands.]'' The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than a genocide.'' Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with his two sons, ages 8 and 10, by a mob of militant, fundamentalist Hindu nationalists who set fire to the jeep, surrounded it, and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. Missionary Joseph Cooper was beaten so badly that he had to spend a week in an Indian hospital. Then the Indian government threw him out of the country. None of the people involved has been tried, The persons who have murdered priests, raped nuns, and burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried. Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire. Recently, militant Hindus from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva (a youth movement affiliated with the BJP and the Fascist RSS) attacked the Convent of Loreto and the school there. A spokesman for the BJP, Mr. H. Dikshit, demanded an investigation of the school! The murderers of 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in Gujarat have never been brought to trial. An Indian newspaper reported that the police were ordered not to get involved in that massacre, a frightening parallel to the Delhi massacre of Sikhs in 1984. The most important mosque in India, the Babri Mosque, was destroyed by militant Hindu fundamentalists who have never been held responsible for their actions. It is good that you have admitted the guilt of the Indian government for the Delhi massacres, in which over 20,000 Sikhs were killed, by apologizing for the massacres, but what good does it do the Sikh Nation? Where are the apologies for the Golden Temple attack, the destruction of the Akal Takht, and the desecration of Darbar Sahib, and the other atrocities? Where is the compensation for the victims' families? That operation was yet another act of Indian domestic terrorism. The Guru granted sovereignty to the Sikh Nation, saying ``In Grieb Sikhin Ko Deon Patshahi.'' We must remind ourselves of our heritage by raising slogans of ``Khalistan Zindabad'' and beginning a Shantmai Morcha to liberate our homeland, Khalistan. Whoever is honest and dedicated in leading that Shantmai Morcha deserves our support. Every rooming and evening we recite, ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa.'' Now is the time to act on it. Do we mean what we say every morning and evening? The flame of freedom continues to burn blightly in the heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. Recently, Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal announced that they are uniting for sovereignty for Khalistan. This was met with chants of ``Khalistan Zindabad.'' The Punjab Legislative Assembly proclaimed the sovereignty of Punjab when it cancelled the water agreements. Only by liberating Khalistan can we put an end to the repression and terrorism against the Sikh Nation by the Indian regime. Now is the time to rededicate ourselves to the liberation of Khalistan. Last year, Sikh farmers were expelled from Uttaranchal Pradesh and their land was seized. They were beaten up by the police. Their homes were bulldozed by paratroopers. Their homes in many cases were built using their life savings and by their own hands. We condemn this act of state terrorism by the government of Uttaranchal Pradesh. As you know, Sikhs are prohibited from buying land in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Now Uttaranchal Pradesh joins that list. Yet there are no restrictions on land ownership in Punjab by non-Sikhs. People from anywhere can buy land in Punjab, including people from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. India is trying to subvert Khalistan's independence by overrunning Punjab with non-Sikhs while keeping Sikhs from escaping the brutal repression in Punjab. It is incumbent on the Sikh diaspora to free Khalistan. We must redouble our efforts. That is the only way to keep these atrocities from continuing and to protect the Sikh Nation and the Sikh religion. The Akali Dal conspired with the Indian government in 1984 to invade the Golden Temple to murder Sant Bhindranwale and 20,000 other Sikhs during June 1984 in Punjab. Among those who conspired with the government, according to Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism, were Dr. Chohan, Ganga Singh Dhillon, and Didar Singh Bains It appears the Indian regime is even willing to arrest its own agents to suppress the movement for Khalistan! Now Badal and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh have been accusing each other of being tied in with ``terrorists.'' These leaders view support for Khalistan as terrorism, as the Indian government does. They have shown where their loyalties lie. How will these so- called Sikh leaders account for themselves? Remember the words of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Professor Darshan Singh: ``If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'' Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. Ever since independence, India has mistreated the Sikh Nation, starting with Patel's memo calling Sikhs ``a criminal tribe.'' What a shame for Home Minister Patel and the Indian government to issue this memorandum when the Sikh Nation gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India. There is no place for Sikhs in supposedly secular, supposedly democratic India. Our moment of freedom is closer than ever. Sikhs will continue to work to make certain that we shake ourselves loose from the yoke of Indian oppression and liberate our homeland, Khalistan, so that all Sikhs may live lives of prosperity, freedom, and dignity. Sincerely, Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President. ____________________