[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

                                 ______


                          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.
                                                                    ____


      [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.''

                          ____________________