[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 146 (Tuesday, September 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1806-E1807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INDIA SHOULD RECOGNIZE FREE SIKH NATION OF KHALISTAN

                                 ______


                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 19, 1995

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the 
House a situation in India which is very troubling. This situation 
involves the treatment of the Sikh people living in India.
  Since 1984 over 120,000 Sikhs have been killed, and other ethnic 
groups have had thousands of their members killed as well. The recent 
abduction of Human Rights Wing leader Jaswant Singh Khalra is but the 
least incident of repression focused on the Sikh people.
  On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation declared its independence, 
forming the separate, independent country of Khalistan. At that time, 
Sikh severed all political connection with India, as we did with 
Britain in 1776. Sikhs were supposed to receive their own state in 
1947, but were deceived by Indian promises of freedom. They ruled 
Punjab during the 18th and 19th centuries. They have their own 
language, religion, and culture. Clearly, the Sikh claim to 
independence is a legitimate one.
  I am introducing into the Congressional Record a speech given on 
August 15, 1995 by Dr. Gurmit Sikh Aulakh, President of the Council of 
Khalistan, the Khalistani Government in exile, at a conference on self-
determination held at the Luther Institute. It lays out the case for 
Khalistan. I urge my colleagues to read it carefully and consider his 
claims for Sikh independence.
  I certainly support the Sikhs' claim for independence and a separate 
nation of Khalistan.
  The speech follows:

       Ladies and gentlemen--I am very happy to be here today and 
     to be given the opportunity to speak to you today on the 
     topic of self-determination. Ironically, today is India's 
     Independence Day. And since India continues to suppress Sikh 
     independence while celebrating its own, I led a demonstration 
     of Sikhs in front of the India ambassador's residence today 
     to express our disapproval. So, forgive me if my voice is not 
     100 percent.
       For the past decade I've been intimately involved with the 
     issue of self-determination. As President of the Council of 
     Khalistan, I have been charged with working in the 
     international community to secure the independence of the 
     Sikh nation from the brutal oppression of the government of 
     India. In the minds of many Westerners, India is a land of 
     peace and spiritual tranquility--the land where problems are 
     solved not through violence but through civil disobedience. 
     The experience of the Sikhs--to say nothing of the Muslims of 
     Kashmir, the Christians of Nagaland, the Assamese, Manipuris 
     and the Dalits--has been quite the opposite.
       Let me provide you with a few figures. Since 1984, the 
     Indian regime has murdered more than 120,000 Sikhs. Since 
     1947 India has killed over 150,000 Christians in Nagaland. 
     The Muslims of Kashmir claim a death toll of 43,000 at the 
     hands of Indian forces. Tens of thousands of Assamese and 
     Manipuris have also been killed. The Dalits--the so-called 
     ``black untouchables'' of India--are perhaps the most 
     oppressed people on the face of the earth. Just last week 
     newspapers and wire services carried the story of a five-
     year-old Dalit girl who was beaten and blinded by her teacher 
     after she drank from a pitcher reserved for the upper castes.
       Press reports state that 70,000 Sikhs are being held in 
     detention by the Indian regime at the present time. The State 
     Department reported that between 1991 and 1993, the regime 
     paid more than 41,000 cash bounties to policemen for the 
     murder of Sikhs. Human Rights Watch issued a report in 1994 
     which quoted a Punjab police officer as saying that ``4,000 
     to 5,000'' Sikhs were tortured at his police station during 
     his five-year tenure. There are over 200 such police 
     stations/torture centers in Punjab. Indeed, the Sikh homeland 
     can rightfully claim the title of the torture capital of the 
     world.
       Why is there such oppression against the Sikhs and other 
     minority nations in India? The answer brings us back to the 
     issue before us today: self-determination. All the nations 
     and peoples suppressed by the Indian regime have in one way 
     or another attempted to exert their independence either 
     politically or culturally. In the case of the Sikhs, we have 
     demanded outright sovereignty and separation from India, 
     having declared our independence on October 7, 1987, 
     forming the separate country of Khalistan.
       The International community upholds the right of self-
     determination for all nations. Here in America, the political 
     system is predicated on the principle that when any 
     government no longer protects the life, liberty and security 
     of the people it rules, it is the people's right to rid 
     themselves of that government. The principle that the consent 
     of the governed underlies all legitimate government is 
     fundamental to the American idea. These two principles are 
     being exported around the world. But in too many places 
     today, these principles are being widely violated. One such 
     country is India.
       The government of India has attempted to rob the Sikhs of 
     our nationhood at every turn. It should be known that the 
     Sikh nation ruled all of Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again 
     from 1765 to 1849. Our reign extended well into present-day 
     Pakistan and Kashmir, stopping at the Khyber Pass.
       In the mid-19th century, British power and influence 
     expanded on the subcontinent, but the Sikhs were the last 
     nation to fall. We were also the first to raise the cry for 
     independence. During the struggle to oust Britain from the 
     subcontinent, 85 percent of those hanged by the British were 
     Sikhs; 80 percent of those exiled were Sikhs; and 75 percent 
     of those jailed were Sikhs. And at that time, the Sikhs 
     constituted less than 2 percent of the population of the 
     subcontinent. The Sikh nation's contributions to the freedom 
     of the subcontinent cannot be underestimated.
       When the British first arrived on the subcontinent, they 
     dealt with the Sikhs as a separate nation, fighting a series 
     of three wars with the Sikhs. When the British left the 
     subcontinent, they again dealt with the Sikhs as a separate, 
     distinct, sovereign nation. Thus during its withdrawal, the 
     British transferred power to three nation-groups, the 
     Muslims, the Hindus and the Sikhs. The Muslims took Pakistan 
     on the basis of religion. The Hindus took India, and the 
     Sikhs took their own homeland, opting to join with the Hindus 
     on the solemn assurances of Indian leaders like Jawarhar Lal 
     Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi that no laws unacceptable to the 
     Sikhs would be passed by the Indian Congress. I quote Nehru 
     who said to the Sikhs: ``The Congress assures the Sikhs that 
     no solution in any future constitution [of India] will be 
     acceptable to the Congress which does not give the Sikhs full 
     satisfaction. I also quote Mahatma Gandhi who told the Sikhs 
     the following: ``Take my word that if ever the Congress or I 
     betray you, you will be justified to draw the sword as taught 
     by Guru Gobind [Singh].''
       Implicit in these assurances is the recognition of that the 
     Sikhs as a nation possess the right of self determination. 
     Indeed, Nehru and Gandhi were not ordering the Sikhs to join 
     their grand vision of an India encompassing the entire 
     subcontinent. In fact they possessed no such power over the 
     sovereign Sikh nation. Rather they were attempting to woo the 
     Sikhs as a nation to join their union, something at which 
     they failed with the Muslims. In retrospect, the Sikhs made 
     the wrong decision; but having made that decision, we never 
     forfeited our right to self determination.
       Indeed, Sikh history under Indian rule is a history of 
     constant agitation for our most basic rights as a nation, and 
     India has betrayed its promises to the Sikhs at every turn. 
     In 1950, when India ratified its constitution, the Sikh 
     representatives at the Constituent Assembly refused to 
     sign the constitution because it was inimical to Sikh 
     interests, contrary to what both Mahatma Gandhi and 
     Jawarhar Lal Nehru promised. Since then Sikhs have been 
     struggling to reclaim their nationhood
       In June 1984, India's attempt to suppress the Sikh nation 
     reached a climax. The Indian army launched a military assault 
     on the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines. Over 
     20,000 Sikhs were killed. The Akal Takht, which houses the 
     original writings of the Sikh gurus was destroyed. Thirty 
     eight other Sikh temples throughout the Sikh homeland were 
     also attacked. Make no mistake about it, the reason India 
     likes to attack important temples is because it symbolically 
     reinforces the government's total domination over a given 
     people. To put it another way, India wanted to show the Sikhs 
     who was the boss.
       This is India's way--complete denial of self determination, 
     even if it means military action. The Sikhs, therefore, 
     appeal to the international community to support their right 
     to freedom as a sovereign nation. Despite its constitution, 
     India has proven itself anti-democratic. Despite its image as 
     the home of spiritual tranquility, India has proven itself 
     one of the worst violators of human rights in the world. The 
     time has come for the world to demand that India honor the 
     freedom of the Sikh nation and other nations that struggle 
     against its repressive policies.
       On February 22, 1995 the U.S. Congress took a step in this 
     direction when 30 Members of the House introduced House 
     Congressional Resolution 32, which expresses the Congress's 
     opinion that ``the Sikh nation should be allowed to exercise 
     the right of self-determination in their homeland, Punjab 
     Khalistan.''

[[Page E1807]]

       I encourage similar action throughout the international 
     community. A cursory look will tell the casual observer that 
     India is not one nation. Rather it is a conglomeration of 
     many nations thrown together for administrative purposes by 
     the British. With 18 official languages, India is doomed to 
     disintegrate just as the former Soviet Union did. Freedom for 
     Khalistan and all the nations living under Indian occupation 
     is inevitable. The Sikh Nation's demand for an independent 
     Khalistan is irrevocable, irreversible, and nonnegotiable. We 
     have been denied our right of self-determination too long. 
     India's lip service to the principle holds no water. The time 
     is now for the international community to pressure India with 
     economic sanctions to honor the freedom of Khalistan. The 
     time is now for the Indian government to sit down with the 
     Sikh leadership and formally recognize the clear boundaries 
     which separate Khalistan from India. Sikhs have motto that 
     says, ``Khalsa Bagi Yan Badshah: Either the Sikhs rule 
     themselves or they are in rebellion.'' The Sikh nation will 
     not rest until freedom is ours. It is our tradition. We are 
     secure in our right to self-determination, and we will allow 
     no foreign power to determine our fate,
       Thank you.

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