[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E554-E555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SIKH NATION CELEBRATES ITS 297TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______


                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 17, 1996

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on April 13, 1996 the Sikh nation celebrated 
its 297th birthday. Sikhs call this day Vaisaakhi Day. It was on 
Vaisaakhi Day in 1699 that the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, 
baptized the Sikhs into nationhood. Sikhs refer to their nation as the 
Khalsa Panth.
  Since becoming a nation, Sikhs have experienced periods of great 
prosperity and periods of immense, brutal repression. Sikhs ruled 
Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again from 1765 to 1849, establishing an 
enlightened form of government that recognized the equality of all 
citizens regardless of religious affiliation or social class standing. 
Sikhs have also persevered through periods of immeasurable oppression 
from Mogul invaders who desecrated the holiest of Sikh shrines, the 
Golden Temple in Amristar and who slaughtered Sikhs who refused to deny 
their faith. Throughout their entire history Sikhs have persisted in 
the command given to them by Guru Gobind Singh to stand up against 
tyranny and oppression no matter where it exist.
  Today Sikhs find themselves again standing up against tyranny and 
oppression. This time the oppressor is the Government of India. Indian 
forces have murdered over 150,000 Sikhs since 1984. In June 1984 the 
Golden Temple was again desecrated, this time by the Indian military. 
In that assault, over 20,000 Sikhs were killed. In November 1984, over 
40,000 Sikhs throughout India were killed by mobs instigated to murder 
Sikhs by leading members of the ruling Congress (I) party. According to 
prominent human rights activists in the Sikh homeland, the number of 
Sikhs who have been ``disappeared'' or illegally killed in ``fake 
encounters'' may be over 100,000. One Sikh human rights activist, 
Jaswant Singh Khalra, was abducted by Indian police on September 7, 
1995 after he released a report showing that the Indian regime has 
abducted, tortured, murdered and cremated over 25,000 Sikhs. On October 
19, 1995, 65 Members of the Congress sent a letter to Indian Prime 
Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao demanding

[[Page E555]]

Khalra's release. Mr. Khalra's whereabouts remain unknown, 7 months 
after his abduction.
  India desperately wants the world to believe that the Punjab is a 
tranquil place and that Sikhs eagerly want to remain part of India. I 
want my colleagues in the U.S. Congress to know that the only peace in 
Punjab is the silence of a nation suffocating in the stranglehold of 
Indian repression. Every Sikh who has been bold enough to stand up and 
advocate the freedom of Khalistan through peaceful means has felt the 
immediate sting of Indian brutality. In January 1995, Simranjit Singh 
Mann asked a crowd of 50,000 Sikhs if they supported the independence 
of Khalistan through peaceful means. All 50,000 Sikhs raised their 
hands in support. Mr. Mann was then arrested by Indian police for 
asking this question despite the fact that in 1992 the Punjab and 
Haryana High Courts in India ruled that waging a peaceful struggle for 
self-determination is no offense. The hypocrisy of the Indian 
Government is evident. It is clear to Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike that 
India simply wants to prevent the Sikhs from enjoying their right of 
freedom.
  In the face of this kind of repression, Sikhs are reminded of their 
duty to stand up against tyranny wherever it exists. On October 7, 
1987, the Sikh nation declared itself independent from India forming 
the separate country of Khalistan. This Vaisaakhi Day, Sikhs are 
emboldened to carry on their struggle for freedom in the face of 
immense brutality, because to be a Sikh means either to live free of 
tyranny or to persistently struggle against it.
  I call on my colleagues in the Congress to join me in supporting the 
Sikhs nation's struggle for freedom. As Americans it is our duty to do 
so, because like Americans, the Sikhs are a freedom-loving people 
struggling to break the chains of tyranny. Sikhs want to live in peace 
and be allowed to develop to their fullest potential. Sikh and American 
ideals parallel one another to a great degree, and it is my firm 
conviction that an independent Khalistan would be America's strongest 
ally in South Asia. Khalistan would form a buffer nation between India 
and Pakistan, thus reducing the potential for armed conflict between 
the two countries. Khalistan would also agree to the nuclear 
nonproliferation efforts currently being made by the United States and 
the international community in South Asia. And unlike India which 
depends on IMF loans and U.S. assistance to feed its people, while 
secretly spending billions on developing nuclear weapons and crushing 
freedom movements, an independent Khalistan would develop itself along 
the lines of a South Korea or a Taiwan, cultivating economic self-
sustainability.
  For America, the Sikh vision of an independent Khalistan is an 
attractive alternative to the current state of affairs in South Asia--a 
vision of economic development, nuclear nonproliferation and regional 
stability. Today, however, Sikhs are reeling under the boot of Indian 
state repression. I call on my colleagues to support the independence 
of Khalistan and help the Sikh nation obtain the freedom it so rightly 
deserves.

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