[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
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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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