[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 96 (Thursday, July 21, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EXPOSES INDIAN HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES

                                 ______


                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 1994

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, repression in Indian-occupied 
Khalistan continues. On July 7, Amnesty International issued its annual 
human rights report. In it, Amnesty strongly censured India's ongoing 
denial of basic liberties in the Sikh homeland, Khalistan. The report 
belies India's claim that there is ``peace'' in Punjab, Khalistan. The 
only ``peace'' there is enforced by the barrels of guns wielded by half 
a million occupying troops.
  According to the report, ``in Punjab [Khalistan], officials continued 
to falsely attribute deaths under torture to `encounters' between armed 
militants or to `escapes'.''
  The report also states that ``in Punjab most `disappearances' were 
carried out by the police.'' A recent case in point is that of 
Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti, a lawyer practicing in the district court at 
Sangrur. On May 12, Mr. Bhatti was abducted from a bus by men in plain 
clothes in an unmarked van with no numbered plates, the usual method of 
the Indian police. Mr. Bhatti has not been seen since. Efforts by 
family members and friends to locate him have been unsuccessful. The 
attorneys at the Sangrur court have gone on strike to protest Mr. 
Bhatti's disappearance. Mr. Bhatti's ``crime'' was that he defended 
Sikh youths brought to trial on political charges. He is the fourth 
attorney to disappear. Twenty-eight more lawyers who are in imminent 
danger of disappearing just like Mr. Bhatti have filed a complaint. I 
am including that complaint and the names of these 28 attorneys in the 
Record.
  I have spoken previously about the case of Kanwar Singh Dhami, the 
Sikh activist whose wife was tortured and lost her unborn baby after 
Mr. Dhami refused to read a scripted ``surrender'' the regime had 
written for him. Unable to break Mr. Dhami any other way, the brutal 
Indian occupiers have now gone after his ex-wife, Surinder Kaur, 
seeking her testimony against Mr. Dhami. Mrs. Kaur is a language 
teacher in the government school in Dhamian Kalan in the district of 
Hoshairpur. She has been harrassed and pressured so much by the regime 
that she suffered a nervous breakdown.
  Gurdev Singh Kaonke, the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, or high trustee 
of the Sikh religion, was murdered by Indian police last January. The 
Indian regime alleges that Jathedar Kaonke ``escaped'' from police 
custody, yet he never returned home. Jathedar Kaonke died as the result 
of brutal torture by the Punjab police. Yet calls to clean up the 
Punjab police were rejected by Punjab's chief minister on the specious 
grounds that it would hamper ``anti-terrorist operations.'' The Amnesty 
report says that ``no prosecution for human rights violations took 
place in Punjab [Khalistan].'' The State Department reports that 
between 1991 and 1993, 41,000 cash bounties were paid to police 
officers for killing Sikhs.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the true face of Indian ``democracy.''
  Amnesty International also criticized India's National Human Rights 
Commission, which was created under heavy pressure from the U.S. 
Congress. The Commission's effectiveness is negated, the report says, 
by the fact that ``the Commission's mandate effectively excludes 
investigation of particularly widespread violence committed by army 
and paramilitary forces.''

  India is being exposed as one of the most oppressive regimes in the 
world. Its continuing pattern of torture has caused the world to sit up 
and take notice.
  On October 7, 1987, the free and proud Sikh nation declared itself 
the independent country of Khalistan. The leadership of the 21-million 
strong Sikh nation has declared their movement to be peaceful, 
democratic, and nonviolent. Yet India's brutal repression continues 
unabated.
  On July 4, Afghanistan recognized Khalistan's independence. This 
country has come to the conclusion that real liberty for the Sikh 
nation will be restored only when Khalistan is free. Under the current 
repression in India, Khalistan appears to be the last viable option for 
achieving true liberty for the Sikhs. America looks forward to 
celebrating the day when Sikhs have this freedom. It is time for India 
to recognize the inevitable and end its brutal occupation of Khalistan.

  Annexure--A. List of Lawyers of Punjab Who Are Vulnerable to Police 
                                 Wrath


                         chandigarh high court

       1. P.S. Hundal.
       2. A.S. Chahal.
       3. Ranjan Lakhanpal.
       4. Rajvinder Singh Bains.
       5. Balwant Singh Guliani.
       6. Navkiran Singh.
       7. Prof. Bhupinder Singh.
       8. Harbhajan Singh.
       9. Baldev Singh Brar.
       10. Daljit Singh Rajput.
       11. Ashok Chauhan.
       12. Arunjeev Singh Walia.
       13. Harshinder Singh.


                                patiala

       1. Jagmohan Singh Saini.
       2. Birjinder Singh Sodhi.


                                 ropar

       1. Santokh Singh Gill.
       2. Sarbjit Singh.


                                sangrur

       1. Gurjeevan Singh.


                                ludhiana

       1. G.S. Bal.


                               kapurthala

       1. Harjit Singh Sandhu.


                                 mansa

       1. Ajit Singh Bhangoo.


                               jalandhar

       1. Amarjit Singh Shergill.
       2. Balbir Singh Cheema.


                                 khanna

       1. Jagmohan Singh.


                            anand pur sahib

       1. Gajjan Singh.


                               hoshiarpur

       1. Harjinder Singh Dhami.


                                 kharar

       1. Anil Kaushik.


                                 nabha

       1. Nikka Singh.
       This list is inclusive not conclusive please.


                                         Council of Khalistan,

                                     Washington, DC, July 8, 1994.

           Amnesty Exposes Indian Tyranny Against Sikh Nation

       Washington, DC, July 8, 1994.--In its annual report 
     released yesterday, Amnesty International censured ongoing 
     human rights violations by the Indian government in the Sikh 
     homeland, Punjab, Khalistan. The report strongly disputes the 
     idea that there is ``peace'' in Punjab, Khalistan.
       The report said that ``in Punjab, most `disappearances' 
     were carried out by the police.'' This past December, Amnesty 
     published a special report, An Unnatural Fate: Disappearances 
     and Impunity in the Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir and 
     Punjab, which detailed 80 cases of `disappearances' in the 
     Sikh homeland, Punjab, Khalistan. According to journalists in 
     occupied Khalistan, ``for every case documented by a human 
     rights organization . . . there are thousands which go 
     unreported.''
       Yesterday's report also stated that deaths officially 
     attributed to police ``encounters'' with so-called 
     ``militants'' were mostly caused by police torture of Sikh 
     political detainees. Notably, the report cited the case of 
     Gurdey Singh Kaonke, the Jathedar of the Akal Takht or high 
     trustee of the Sikh religion, who was brutally murdered by 
     police in January after he allegedly ``escaped'' from police 
     custody. He never returned home.
       ``Today India is under an international microscope,'' said 
     Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of 
     Khalistan. ``Amnesty's report flies in the face of everything 
     the Indian government maintains about Khalistan. There is no 
     peace in the Sikh homeland. This report proves that there is 
     only peace enforced by the barrel of a gun.''
       Amnesty International also criticized India's National 
     Human Rights Commission, which human rights activists have 
     called an ``eyewash''. It said that the commission's 
     effectiveness is negated by the fact that ``the Commission's 
     mandate effectively excludes investigation of particularly 
     widespread violations committed by army and paramilitary 
     forces . . .''
       ``India cannot expect to spill the blood of Sikhs with 
     impunity,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``There is one human rights 
     standard, and India is being exposed as one of the most 
     bloodthirsty regimes in the world. The world community sees 
     the brutality India inflicts on the Sikh nation. Afghanistan 
     has just recognized Khalistan. Support for Khalistan is 
     growing.''

                          ____________________