[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E611-E612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SIKH INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______


                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 23, 1996

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Sikh nation 
on the 297th anniversary of its founding, Vaisakhi Day, which occurred 
this past April 13. We join in celebrating the heritage of these 
courageous people.
  On this Vaisakhi Day, the Sikh nation struggles to secure the 
blessings of liberty which we in America and most the Western World 
enjoy. Sikhs have long supported the idea of freedom for all people. As 
a free nation, it is our duty to help them live in freedom in their own 
country.
  The Sikh nation's heritage of freedom most recently manifested itself 
on October 7, 1987, when the Sikh nation declared the independence of 
the Sikh homeland, Khalistan. Sikhs had previously ruled themselves 
from 1710 through 1716 and again between the years of 1765 and 1849. 
When Britain left the subcontinent in 1947, the Sikh nation was one of 
only

[[Page E612]]

three nations granted power. The Hindu leaders of India assured the 
Sikhs that they would enjoy the glow of freedom and that no law 
affecting their rights would pass without the consent of the Sikh 
nation, and on that basis the Sikh leadership joined with india. But as 
soon as India achieved its independence, its repression of the Sikhs 
began.
  I am proud to have been among the members of this House who have 
helped to publicize these cases, such as the September 6 kidnapping of 
Jaswant Singh Khalra. Concerned Members of this House have helped bring 
to light reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch/Asia, and 
other human rights groups which provide a mountain of evidence of 
India's genocide and tyranny against the Sikhs and others. We will 
continue to raise our voices for the freedom of the Sikhs, the 
Kasmiris, the Nagas, the Assamese, the Manipuris, the Dalits, and 
others. Freedom is the universal birthright of all mankind. On Vaisakhi 
Day, let us join the Sikh nation in recommitting to the cause of 
freedom.
  I believe the Sikhs should have the right to and opportunity for 
self-determination, and they should be allowed to decide the question 
of independence in a free and fair vote. To help accomplish this goal, 
I hope my colleagues will cosponsor H.R. 1425, which will halt all 
United States developmental aid to India until the President certifies 
that India is respecting human rights. To further explain this need, I 
am inserting for the record a letter from Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, 
president of the Council of Khalistan. In celebration of Vaisakhi Day, 
I hope my colleagues will read his letter and will consponsor H.R. 
1425.

  Vaisakhi Day Message to the Sikh Nation on the Birthday of the Sikh 
                  Nation, Recommit to a Free Khalistan

       Dear Khalsa Ji: It is Vaisakhi Day again, the 297th 
     anniversary of the Sikh nation. We celebrate our Sikh 
     identify and the courage of the Sikh nation. On this 
     occasion, we must remember our heritage: Khalsa Bagi Yan 
     Badshah: Either the Khalsa is in rebellion or it is a ruler. 
     We have been enslaved by the brutal genocide of the Indian 
     tyrants for too long. It is time to renew our commitment to 
     free the Sikh nation by starting a shantmai morcha to 
     liberate Khalistan. Only a free Khalistan will insure that 
     the Sikh nation can live in freedom, security, peace, and 
     dignity.
       Elections are scheduled to be held on April 27th. Simranjit 
     Singh Mann has filed to challenge S.S. Barnala in Sangrur. We 
     are to feel deeply betrayed by the Akalis shameful eagerness 
     to fight elections under a government that has made every 
     effort to destroy us as a nation. The Akalis have been 
     fighting elections since 1950. What have they achieved? Are 
     we any closer to freedom because of their desire to cow-tow 
     to the Indian regime? It is clear that a nation-wide shantmai 
     morcha is the only way to liberate Khalistan. The sooner we 
     as a nation realize this, the sooner we will enjoy the fruits 
     of freedom so long denied us. I ask the Khalsa Panth to 
     remember that the Sikh nation won the Jaito morcha by 
     peaceful means. We also liberated the Gurdwaras in the 1920s 
     by peaceful means. Likewise, it is through peaceful means and 
     the grassroots involvement of the Sikh nation that we will 
     achieve freedom for Khalistan. The time is now to start a 
     shantmai morcha. We must boycott the Indian government. 
     Protest by the hundreds of thousands. Court arrest. Fill the 
     jails. We cannot allow the Indian regime to deny us our 
     sovereignty. Free Khalistan today?
       India's tyranny continues to be exposed, hastening the 
     inevitable breakup of India's bloody empire. The new video 
     documentary ``Disappearances in Punjab'' shows a Punjab 
     policewoman speaking about the brutality of the Indian 
     regime. She says, ``I joined out of patriotic sentiments, but 
     what I 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.'' 
     Here is a member of the Punjab police admitting that rape and 
     torture is common? She also reveals that victims' legs were 
     broken as part of the Indian regime's campaign of terror 
     against the Sikh nation. According to the documentary, the 
     Chief Medical Officer at Patti Hospiatl in Punjab, Khalistan 
     admits that he provided quick, fraudulent postmortum reports 
     to police so that the authorities could cremate the bodies of 
     their victims, destroying any evidence of state-sponsored 
     murder. ``My example set the precedent in Punjab,'' the Chief 
     Medical Officer says in the video. ``Five minutes a 
     postmortem, five minutes a postmortem.'' The modus operandi 
     of the India police is exposed? This video, produced by a 
     Hindu human rights activist, has blown the cover off India's 
     genocide against the Sikh nation.
       India has also been hit in print. On November 4, The 
     Pioneer ran an article by Iqbal Masud called ``The Bogus 
     Peace of Beant and Gill.'' Masud reports that ``the Beant-
     Gill duo committed mass incarceration and called it 
     `normalcy.' '' He also writes about the case of Sarabjit 
     Singh, who was brought in for an autopsy but found to be 
     alive. The regime then killed him and brought his body back 
     to the same hospital. ``When I read that,'' writes Masud, ``I 
     said, Welcome to Super Nazi State.''
       The U.S. Congress continues to speak out for freedom for 
     the Sikh nation. Recently, seven more statements were 
     inserted into the Congressional Record. Members of Congress 
     were vocal in their support for the liberation of Khalistan 
     and exposed India brutal history of human rights abuses 
     against the Sikhs. Members of Congress also strongly 
     supported two bills, H. Con. Res. 32 and H.R. 1425 which 
     would respectively recognize the Sikhs nation's right of 
     self-determination and cut off U.S. development aid to India 
     until human rights are observed. These Congressional 
     statements are covered in the April 5 issues of India Abroad, 
     News-India Times and Navjyoti, a Hindi language Indian 
     newspaper.
       Within Khalistan, human rights activist continue to raise 
     their voice about Indian repression. A group of human rights 
     activists have written to Indian President Sharma ``to point 
     out that the rule of law is yet to be restored to Punjab. 
     Examples like the disappearance of human rights activist S. 
     Jaswant Singh Khalra are continuing. There is an urgent need 
     to carry out a census under the supervision of UNO, on 
     illegal killings and disappearance as these may be over a 
     hundred thousand,'' these activists wrote. Amnesty 
     International has also issued two recent reports on Indian 
     repression. Amnesty points out that it is routine for people 
     to be arrested for their political views, that preventive 
     detention is widespread, torture ``remains endemic,'' and 
     ``disappearances'' are rampant. These are just a few examples 
     that show that awareness of India's repression of the Sikh 
     nation is rising.
       I urge all Sikhs to renew their commitment to the 
     liberation of Khalistan. A shantmai morcha is the only means 
     by which we can reclaim our sovereignty. Indian's state 
     terrorism will not deny the Sikh nation the freedom to which 
     we are entitled. If India could not suppress our struggle for 
     freedom by killing over 150,000 Sikhs, kidnapping and 
     murdering more than 25,000 young Sikh men, and holding over 
     70,000 Sikhs in detention under the expired TADA law, then 
     how does it think that more repression will end our movement? 
     Let us liberate Khalistan the way that India got its own 
     freedom. Peaceful resistance is the only way to liberate 
     Khalistan, and an independent Khalistan is the only way that 
     the Sikh nation can live in freedom, security, and dignity.
       On this Vaisakhi Day, the dawn of freedom in Khalistan is 
     closer than ever. We look forward to celebrating Vaisakhi Day 
     1999, the 300th birthday of the Sikh nation, in an 
     independent Khalistan where the glow of freedom shines 
     brightly, bringing peace and prosperity to the Sikh nation 
     and the South Asian subcontinent. On this Vaisakhi Day, let 
     us recommit ourselves to this goal. Khalistan Zindabad.
           Panth Da Sewadar,
                                          Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
     President, Council of Khalistan.

                          ____________________