[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               SIX SIKH PRISONERS KILLED BY PRISON GUARDS

                                 ______


                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. CRANE, Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the 
U.S. Congress, the government of the United States, and the American 
people another tragic incident in a long list of human rights 
violations by the Indian government at the expense of the Sikh nation. 
According to Agence France Presse, Indian prison guards at the Pilibhut 
prison in Uttar Predesh murdered six Sikh prisoners and may have 
tortured as many as 30 others. All six were scheduled to be released, 
and four of the six were witnesses to another cold-blooded incident 
where 12 other Sikhs were pulled off a bus and shot in the head at 
point blank range by Indian police. While initial reports stated that 
the Sikhs were killed during an escape attempt, there is now evidence 
that the murders were premeditated, indicating that the Indian 
government wished to silence these witnesses.
  Such abuses should not be tolerated anywhere. For years, our 
Government has had access to numerous reports concerning India's 
brutality against the Sikhs. The Pilibhit prison murders are only the 
tip of the iceberg.
  The Sikh nation declared its independence on October 7, 1987, forming 
the separate country of Khalistan, and I believe it is time the United 
States takes action to support the independence of the Sikh nation. 
Congress should pressure India to end human rights abuses against Sikhs 
and allow international human rights organizations to conduct 
investigations and inspections without governmental interference. Our 
Government should encourage India to allow self-determination and free-
elections in Khalistan. If India will not grant these simple liberties 
to Sikhs, I believe we must consider more additional action, including 
a reduction in aid to India. The United States simply cannot sit idly 
by and allow these abuses to continue.
  So that the American people and other members of the Congress can see 
reports of these abuses themselves, I am submitting for the record the 
Council of Khalistan's news release regarding the prison murders, as 
well as Agence France Presse reports from November 10 and November 16.

             [From the Council of Khalistan, Nov. 29, 1994]

       Six Sikh Prisoners Tortured and Murdered By Prison Guards

       Washington, DC, November 29.--Indian guards at the Pilibhit 
     prison in the Indian state of Uttar Predesh tortured and 
     murdered six Sikh prisoners on November 8 just days before 
     they were to be released on bail, according to the Agence 
     France Presse. Another 30 Sikhs were tortured but did not 
     die. Four of the Sikhs killed witnessed the cold-blooded 
     murder of 12 Sikhs last years who were shot in the head at 
     point blank range by Indian police after being pulled off a 
     bus. Officials initially tried to cover up the prison 
     murders. An Agence France Presse wire service report on 
     November 10, said that the Sikhs were killed while attempting 
     a prison break. On November 16, however, the same wire 
     service revealed that signs of torture, like crushed 
     genitals, had been discovered on victims' corpses. The 
     murders had obviously been premeditated.
       ``It is clear that the prison guards wanted to kill those 
     Sikhs who witnessed the Pilibhit but massacres last year. 
     They wanted to silence them for good,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh 
     Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan. ``India did 
     not want to let them free at the risk that they would expose 
     its brutality against the Sikhs and help advance the struggle 
     for an independent Khalistan. But India's designs have 
     backfired. The government may control the flow of information 
     in India, but somehow the truth gets out. India is not being 
     exposed.''
       Well respected international human rights investigators 
     have fully documented India's pattern of cover-ups regarding 
     the murder of Sikhs as part of its effort to crush the 
     Khalistan movement. According to a 1993 Amnesty International 
     report, the modus operandi of Indian police is to deny any 
     wrong-doing concerning the murder of Sikhs and simply claim 
     ``that the victim `escaped' from custody or has been killed 
     in an `encounter.''' According to Dead Silence: The Legacy of 
     Abuses in Punjab, published jointly by Human Rights Watch/
     Asia and Physician for Human Rights, most Sikhs killed by the 
     Indian government ``were summarily executed in police custody 
     in staged `encounters.' These killings became so common, in 
     fact, that the term `encounter killing' became synonymous 
     with extrajudicial execution.
       Indian prison guards apparently attempted to follow the 
     same pattern of murder and denial at the Philibhit prison on 
     November 8. Original reports said that four Sikhs tried to 
     escape from the jail using their unfurled turbans as ladders. 
     Prison officials claimed that they had cut through iron bars 
     and stabbed and wounded three prison guards who had stopped 
     to challenge them. Local reports, however revealed the truth 
     that the Sikhs were murdered in cold blood.
       ``This is the kind of systemic brutality Sikhs have been 
     struggling against for years,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``The Sikh 
     nation declared independence from India on October 7, 1987 
     forming the separate country of Khalistan. Incidents like 
     this simply show the urgency of our demands. Sikhs will never 
     be assured of their right to life as long as we live under 
     India's brutal rule. I hope the world seriously looks at this 
     incident and understands that it is just the tip of the ice 
     berg. India's record of savage abuse against the Sikhs is a 
     mile long. The time has come for the world to send a message 
     to the Indian government that it will no longer stand for its 
     brutality against the Sikhs. The time has come for the 
     liberation of Khalistan.''
                                  ____


             [From the Agence France Presse, Nov. 10, 1994]

             Four Sikh Militants Die in Abortive Jail Break

       Four Sikh militants were killed by prison guards when they 
     tried to escape from a jail in northern India by using their 
     turbans to make a cloth ladder, press reports said here 
     Thursday.
       Twenty-eight people, including prison staff, were injured 
     in a brawl that followed the abortive jailbreak late Tuesday 
     night at the Pilbhit penitentiary in Uttar Pradesh state, the 
     Press Trust of India (PTI) said.
       Several Sikh separatist guerrillas from the northern 
     farming state of Punjab are lodged in the jail.
       The inmates cut through the iron bars of their barracks and 
     were trying to scale a wall using a ladder they had made out 
     of turban cloth when they were spotted by prison guards.
       The guards overpowered them using bamboo staves, PTI said, 
     adding that four prisoners were so seriously injured that 
     they died.
                                  ____


     Sikh Prisoners Tortured to Death in North Indian Prison: Daily

       New Delhi, November 16.--Six Sikh militants previously 
     reported to have died while trying to escape from a high-
     security prison in north India were actually tortured to 
     death for protesting corruption in jail, a daily alleged 
     Wednesday.
       The Telegraph said the six who were reported to have been 
     shot dead during a jailbreak in Pilibhit, in the state of 
     Uttar Pradesh, had in fact been killed by guards for raising 
     the issue of venal warders.
       ``Circumstantial evidence suggests the murders were 
     premeditated,'' it said, and cited witnesses who claimed the 
     prisoners had been tortured and their genitals crushed.
       Earliers reports said the six had been shot dead on 
     November 8 while trying to fashion a cloth ladder from their 
     turbans after cutting through iron bars in the barracks.
       ``Escape is ruled out by the presence of a 30-foot (nine-
     metre) wall encircling the prison,'' it said. The prisoners 
     ``had received their bail orders and were to be released very 
     soon.''

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