[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E411-E412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INDIA THREATENS WITNESS TO KHALRA ABDUCTION
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HON. GARY A. CONDIT
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 20, 1996
Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn a blatant abuse of
power by the Indian Government. I join many other Members of the House
who have spoken previously about the kidnapping of human rights
activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who languishes in illegal detention more
than 6 months after being taken from his home in Amritsar on September
6. Last year, 65 Members of the House wrote to Indian Prime Minister
Rao demanding Mr. Khalra's release. So far, we have been ignored. Mr.
Khalra must be released immediately.
The March 6-12, 1996, issue of World Sikh News reports that a key
witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Kirpal Singh Randhawa, secretary of
the Punjab Human Rights Organization, filed a complaint in India's
Supreme Court stating that ``police had threatened to eliminate him and
his family.'' It seems that the authorities will go to any length to
keep Mr. Randhawa from testifying about Mr. Khalra's abduction. Mr.
Randhawa also said that he feared that the Indian Government will file
a false legal case against him to prevent him from testifying. I will
be placing this article in the Record.
Such actions by the Indian Government are not unprecedented. In the
State Department's 1996 country report on human rights in India, it is
reported that ``the brother of Surinder Singh Fauji was held for a week
in incommunicado detention, apparently to persuade Fauji not to testify
on extrajudicial executions he witnessed in 1993.'' How can India call
itself a democracy when the police are so out of control?
Recently I received a chilling video documentary called
``Disappearances in Punjab.'' It details murder, torture, and rapes of
Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan. I am introducing into the Record, a press
release from the Council of Khalistan regarding this video.
In ``Disappearance in Punjab,'' a female officer from the Punjab
police is interviewed. Her testimony is frightening to anyone who cares
about basic human freedom. This police officer says that she saw
``atrocities--including those against women--that I cannot bear. Women
suffer much. Male officers torture them. They also rape detainees. Some
who had been picked up were in the interrogation center. Then I read
that they had been killed in an encounter. But I had seen them in
detention.'' The policewoman is asked, ``What was their condition in
custody?'' ``Their legs had been broken,'' she replies. ``Could they
have run away?,'' asks the interviewer. ``They could not even have
walked'' is her chilling reply.
This video, and the threat against Mr. Randhawa, prove that India's
claim to be a democracy is a complete fraud. Democracies respect human
rights. Democracies do not threaten to kill witnesses or falsely detain
their relatives. Democracies neither kidnap people nor arrest them for
publishing reports that embarrass the government, as in Mr. Khalra's
case. In short, democracies respect and practice freedom. India does
not. It is against this background that the Sikh Nation declared itself
independent on October 7, 1987. With that declaration, the independent
country of Khalistan was formed. The Council of Khalistan, which
brought these gruesome cases to my attention, was formed at that time
to serve as Khalistan's government in exile. India's response to the
Skh Nation's exercise of its sovereignty has been to step up the
repression, as these cases show. This repressive campaign of terror and
genocide by the Indian regime has caused the deaths of over 150,000
Sikhs since 1984. Thousands of other non-Hindus have also been killed
in Kshmier, Nagaland, and other areas struggling for human rights and
self-determination.
The United States Government does not have to sit idly by and let
India continue this brutal repression. There are two bills pending
which address this situation. They are H.R. 1425, the Human Rights in
India Act, which will seek to cut off United States development aid to
India until India observes basic human rights; and House Concurrent
Resolution 32, which seeks a plebiscite on independence in Khalistan
under international supervision so that the Sikh Nation can freely
choose its own future in free and fair vote, the way democracies make
decisions. I urge my colleagues to support both of these bills. It is
imperative that we assist the oppressed urge my colleagues to support
both of these bills. It is imperative that we assist the oppressed
Sikhs of Khalistan so that they too, can enjoy the glow of freedom, as
we do here in America.
[From the World Sikh News, Mar. 6,-12, 1996]
Khalra Case Threatened
Amritsar.--The secretary of Punjab Human Rights
Organization, Mr. Kirpal Singh Randhawa, who is a key witness
in the case pertaining to the alleged kidnapping of the human
rights activist Mr. Jaswant Singh Khalra, last week alleged
that police had threatened to eliminate him and his family.
In a complaint sent to Mr. Justice Kuldeep Singh of the
Supreme Court who is hearing the case, Mr. Randhawa alleged
that he had gone to Lopoke (Majitha) police station in
connection with another case of police highhandedness where
he was threatened of dire consequences by Mr. Jagdip Singh,
SHO, and ASI Mr. Gurpal Singh Bajwa. The police also
threatened Mr. Randhawa to withdraw security cover given to
him by orders of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Randhawa told the Supreme Court that he apprehended
danger to his life and his family or implication in a false
case.
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[Press Release From the Council of Khalistan, Mar. 14, 1996]
``Disappearances in Punjab''
video documentary exposes murder, torture and rape of sikhs by indian
police
Washington, DC, March 13.--A new video documentary entitled
``Disappearances in Punjab'' uncovers the truth about India's
decade of brutal oppression against the Sikhs of Punjab,
Khalistan. Produced by Ram Narayan Kumar, a Hindu human
rights activist and Lorenz Skerjanz of the University of
Vienna, the documentary shows ``disappearances'' and death in
police custody as common occurrences in the Sikh homeland.
Indian state terrorism against the Sikhs, the video shows, is
part of its policy to violently crush the demand for Sikh
independence--a policy widely supported by the government and
Indian society at large. According to Dr. Satish Jain,
Professor of Economics at Jawarharlal Nehru University,
``There is a large section of [India] which approves of State
atrocities. And, I think, the weakness of the Indian nation,
the weakness of Indian society, really lies in this
attitude.''
According to ``Disappearances in Punjab,'' the deceased
Chief Minister Beant Singh spearheaded a government-backed
campaign to crush all voices of dissent in Punjab regarding
the demand for an independent Khalistan. Under Beant Singh
and police chief K.P.S. Gill, tens of thousands of Sikhs were
murdered. Reports of human rights violations became
widespread. According to the Amnesty International report,
Determining the Fate of the Disappeared in Punjab, ``. . .
the Punjab police have been allowed to commit human rights
violations with impunity in the state.'' Indian journalist
Iqbal Masud, called India's claims of having restored
normalcy to Punjab a ``bogus peace.'' ``The
[[Page E412]]
Beant-Gill duo,'' writes Masud, ``committed mass
incarceration and disappearances and called it `normalcy' ''
(The Pioneer, Nov. 4, 1995).
Through a series of interviews with respected human rights
activists, intellectuals, Punjab police officers, and eye
witnesses, ``Disappearances in Punjab'' reveals the extent to
which the so-called ``world's largest democracy'' has used
brutal oppression to silence the voice of dissent in
Khalistan. For over a decade, Sikhs have claimed that the
Indian police have followed a modus operandi in which they
abduct Sikhs, torture them and then kill them claiming that
the victim was killed in an ``armed encounter'' with the
police. In the following excerpt, a female police officer
confirms these allegations.
Woman: ``I work for the Punjab police. I joined out of
patriotic sentiments, but what I saw, atrocities--including
those against women--that I cannot bear. Woman suffer much.
Male officers torture them. They also rape detainees. Some,
who have been picked up, were in the interrogation center.
Then I read that they had been killed in an encounter. But I
had seen them in detention.''
Interviewer: What was their condition in custody?
Woman: Their legs had been broken.
Interviewer: Could they have run away?
Woman: They could not even have walked.
Interviewer: Are you afraid disclosing this?
Woman: No. I do not fear telling the truth.
The Chief Medical Officer at Patti Hospital sheds similar
light on the tactics of police in Punjab. He recalled the
time when police officers brought the body of Sarabjit Singh
into his hospital to acquire a postmortem report. However,
there was a problem: Sarabjit Singh was still alive. Upon
learning of this, the police officers took Sarabjit away and
returned his body later when he was actually dead! During his
interview, the Chief Medical Officer offered some startling
information on how he assisted police in giving them the
postmortem reports they legally needed to cremate the bodies
of their victims:
I ordered that the [postmortem] lists be prepared. The
lists must say where the deaths have taken place. Also,
mention the time of death and say ``death due to firearms.''
My boss said that postmortems should take time. I told him to
do whatever he wanted. My example set the precedent in
Punjab. Five minutes a portmortem, five minutes a postmortem.
After obtaining their postmortem reports, police cremate
their Sikhs victims as ``unidentified bodies'' at municipal
cremation grounds. An attendant at the cremation ground in
Patti commented on the alarming rise such cremations:
Unclaimed bodies have continuously been burnt here.
Previously, it used to happen once in awhile. In the last
four-five years, it has been common. They only cremate. . . .
No one cares to take away the remains.
``Disappearances in Punjab'' also explores the case of Sikh
human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra. According to the
findings of Mr. Khalra, police have killed and cremated over
25,000 Sikhs in the manner described above. Mr. Khalra
arrived at this number by visiting municipal cremation
grounds and tallying up the number ``unidentified bodies''
recorded on their registers. During a press conference
announcing these findings, the Amritsar district police chief
publicly threatened Mr. Khalra saying ``We have made 25,000
disappear. It would be easy to make one more disappear.'' The
police chief followed through on his threat. Mr. Khalra was
abducted by Indian police in front of his home in the
presence of witnesses at 9:15 AM on September 6, 1995.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations
have taken up his case. On October 19, 1995, sixty-five
Members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to Indian Prime
Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao demanding Khalra's release. India
has yet to respond. Mr. Khalra's whereabouts remains unknown.
Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of
Khalistan, praises ``Disappearances in Punjab'' as a
milestone in the movement for Sikh freedom. ``This is a rare
case in which the truth about Indian atrocities against the
Sikhs has managed to find its way out of India. It shows that
India is not the democracy it claims to be, but rather a
repressive tyranny where the right of minorities are brutally
violated. Now the world can see what the Sikhs have been
enduring for over ten years. India has killed over 150,000
Sikhs and the time for an independent Khalistan is long
overdue. After word of this video gets out to the
international community, India will no longer be able to deny
its policy of genocide against the Sikhs. Khalistan will be
liberated.''
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