[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E965-E968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   KHALISTAN SYMPOSIUM AT LONDON SCHOOL SHOWS KHALISTAN MOVEMENT IS 
                            GAINING MOMENTUM

                                 ______


                          HON. GARY A. CONDIT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 30, 1996

  Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, the Khalistan Society at the London School 
of Economics recently sponsored a seminar on the subject of freedom for 
the Sikh nation in an independent Khalistan. The keynote speaker was 
Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan, who has 
been vigilant in leading his people in the struggle for freedom. Other 
participants included British Member of Parliament Max Maddon and Mr. 
Rahman of Amnesty International. The Khalistan Society works to promote 
a free and independent Khalistan among the students and faculty of the 
London school. The London school is one of the world's most prestigious 
institutes, and this seminar is a significant step forward in the 
movement to liberate Khalistan.
  The Sikh nation has suffered greatly under Indian tyranny. The Indian 
regime has killed over 150,000 Sikhs since 1984, as well as tens of 
thousands of Kashmiri Muslims, Christians in Nagaland, and other 
peoples throughout the subcontinent. No Sikh has ever signed the Indian 
constitution. In the past few days, a Khalistani American was arrested 
in India and charged with possessing a gun and drugs, which there is 
good reason to believe were planted on him. This is a standard tactic 
of the Indian police. In February 1995, Sikh human rights activist 
Jaswant Singh Khalra released a report that showed that the Indian 
regime had abducted, tortured, murdered, and cremated more than 25,000 
Sikhs. For having released this report, Mr. Khalra was himself abducted 
by police while washing his car in front of his house on September 7, 
1995. Despite international protest, the Indian Government refuses to 
release Mr. Khalra. His whereabouts remain unknown. I call upon the new 
Indian Government to release Mr. Khalra and all the other Sikh 
political prisoners languishing in Indian jails, some under now-expired 
emergency laws.
  The Sikh nation has a tradition of self-rule. Sikhs ruled Punjab from 
1710 to 1716 and from 1765 to 1849. When America was fighting for its 
independence, the Sikh nation was

[[Page E966]]

ruling itself independently. Punjab was the last part of the 
subcontinent to fall to the British. During India's struggle for 
independence, overwhelming majorities of those killed and jailed were 
Sikhs. When India achieved its freedom, three nations were to receive 
power. The Muslims received Pakistan, the Hindus got India, and the 
Sikh leadership cast its lot with India on the promise that Sikh rights 
would be respected and no law affecting those rights would pass unless 
they consented to it. Of course, those promises have not been kept. The 
collapse of the corrupt Congress Party, which has ruled India since 
independence, provides an opportunity for a new direction in Indian 
politics. I hope that the new government will respect human rights and 
let the Sikhs and the other occupied peoples of the subcontinent live 
in freedom. The breakup of India is inevitable. The handwriting is on 
the wall. Only a free Khalistan will allow the Sikh Nation to live in 
peace, freedom, prosperity, and dignity.
  I am introducing Dr. Aulakh's speech to the seminar into the Record 
along with a press release issued by the Khalistan Society.

  Sikh National Identity and the Struggle for an Independent Khalistan

                      (By Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh)

       Ladies and gentlemen, students, fellow Sikhs: I want to 
     thank you for providing me this opportunity to come to the 
     London School of Economics and talk on issues facing the 
     struggle for an independent Khalistan.
       In 1984 I was working as a research scientist in Boston 
     studying the genetics of mycoplasmas, the reactivation of the 
     herpes virus and the biology of cancer and AIDS. Nineteen 
     eighty-four was also the year the Indian government attacked 
     the Golden Temple and 38 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab. 
     Twenty thousands Sikhs were killed. The Akal Takht was 
     destroyed. Nineteen eighty-four was also the year two Sikhs 
     assassinated Indira Gandhi for ordering the desecration of 
     the Golden Temple. In response, high-level politicians in the 
     ruling Congress (I) party fomented the massacre of Sikhs 
     throughout India. Crazed Hindu mobs slaughtered 40,000 Sikhs 
     and destroyed millions of dollars of Sikh property. Two years 
     later, in 1986, I left my job at Harvard Medical School and 
     dedicated myself to attaining freedom for the Sikh nation.
       Nineteen eighty-four marks a watershed year for the Sikh 
     nation. It was a year of rude awakening, a year Sikhs awoke 
     to the reality that as a nation we were no longer safe under 
     Indian rule. But during the past 12 years of my involvement 
     with the struggle for Sikh freedom, I have come to see very 
     distinctly that 1984 did not occur in a vacuum. Sikhs have 
     been agitating for some of their most fundamental rights as a 
     nation since the British pulled out of the subcontinent in 
     1947. Furthermore, it is plainly evident that nothing in Sikh 
     history suggests that Sikhs would be remotely satisfied under 
     the rule of a foreign power. Let me make it perfectly clear 
     that the Sikhs are an independent nation. This is our 
     identity. We were wrong to join India after partition in 
     1947. We were lied to; we were duped, we were manipulated and 
     we have paid dearly. Today we want our freedom, and this is 
     fully consistent with our national character.
       The first Sikh Guru Nanak, lived in the 15th century, a 
     time of immense turmoil. He witnessed the brutality of the 
     Mughal invaders who had swept down through Afghanistan into 
     the northern subcontinent, terrorizing the local populations. 
     According to the Sikh historian Harbans Singh, Guru Nanak's 
     voice offered ``the only strongly vocal protest in India 
     against the invasions of Barbar, founder of the Mughal 
     dynasty.'' Guru Nanak also spoke out against the social 
     evils of the caste system which promoted vast inequality 
     among fellow human beings. Guru Nanak recognized all 
     humanity as one and knew that the free life was the only 
     life worth living.
       The succeeding nine Gurus of the Sikh faith further 
     developed what Guru Nanak set into motion. When the tenth 
     Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, baptized the Sikhs into 
     nationhood in 1699, he specifically commanded all Sikhs to 
     stand up to tyranny no matter where it exists. Guru Gobind 
     Singh, too, knew the importance of maintaining one's freedom, 
     and he was certain to pass this legacy on to the Sikh nation. 
     Every morning Sikhs pray ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa: The Khalsa 
     Shall Rule.'' After the death of Guru Gobind Singh, Banda 
     Singh Bahadur swept through the Punjab, defeating the forces 
     of the Mughal rulers who had earlier outlawed the Sikhs, 
     placing a hefty bounty on severed Sikh heads. Banda Singh's 
     rule lasted from 1710 to 1716.
       Wars with the brutal Muhgals followed Banda Singh's rule. 
     The Sikhs fought valiantly against great odds. During the 
     lowest periods of those days, Sikhs rallied together to chant 
     ``Raj Karega Khalsa: The Khalsa Shall Rule.'' It wasn't until 
     1765 that the Sikhs reestablished their kingdom under the 
     Khalsa Misls, who were later consolidated by Maharajah Ranjit 
     Singh in 1799. Ranjit Singh's rule was characterized by an 
     enlightened form of government that recognized the equality 
     of all citizens regardless of religious affiliation or social 
     class standing. Indians today choose to forget that the 
     territories held by the Sikhs extended from the borders of 
     China and Tibet in the North to the deserts of Sindh in the 
     South and from Afghanistan in the North-West to the river 
     Ganga in the East. Indians also seem to forget that it was 
     the Sikhs who halted the foreign invasions from the North-
     West of the subcontinent that had been going on for thousands 
     of years.
       The point in all this history is to show that Sikhs have 
     forged for themselves an independent national identity. 
     According to the UN charter, a nation is marked by one or 
     more of the following characteristics: common descent, common 
     tradition, common heritage, common culture or common 
     language. The Sikhs qualify on all counts. Current attempts 
     to define Sikhs as less than a nation are thinly veiled 
     attempts to keep Sikhs from attaining their rightful place in 
     the international community.
       The Sikhs ruled Punjab until they were annexed by the 
     British in 1849 at the conclusion of the Anglo-Sikh Wars. The 
     Sikhs were the last nation on the Indian subcontinent to fall 
     to the British and the record shows that the British 
     recognized the Sikhs as a sovereign, independent nation. 
     Indeed, if not for the treason of a few highly place Dogras 
     who betrayed the Sikh nation by sabotaging the Sikh army in 
     return for British favors, the Punjab may never have fallen 
     into British hands. Sikhs were also the first nation on the 
     subcontinent to raise the cry of freedom from the British. It 
     was the Sikhs who suffered the overwhelming number of 
     casualties during the struggle to oust the British. Though 
     the Sikhs at the time comprised 1.6% of the population on the 
     subcontinent, 85% of those hanged by the British were Sikhs; 
     80% of those exiled were Sikhs; and 75% of those jailed were 
     Sikhs.
       In 1947, when the British pulled out of India, three 
     nations were recognized to receive the transfer of power: the 
     Muslims, the Hindus and the Sikhs. The Muslims took their 
     share in the newly created Pakistan; the Hindus took current-
     day India and the Sikhs opted to join their share with the 
     Hindus under solemn assurances by Jawarhar Lal Nehru and 
     Mohandas Gandhi that the Sikh nation would lead an 
     autonomous existence in the north. Gandhi personally 
     guaranteed that no law would be passed in the new India 
     that was unacceptable to the Sikh nation. In 1950, 
     however, when it came time to sign the constitution, Sikhs 
     found the document contrary to their interests as a 
     nation, making no allowances whatsoever for their free 
     existence. The Sikh delegates at the Constituent Assembly 
     refused to sign the document. To this day no Sikh has 
     signed the Indian constitution. Later the Sikh 
     representative Master Tara Singh was jailed by Nehru for 
     agitating for the implementation of promises made to the 
     Sikh nation. When asked why he would not honor the 
     commitments he made to the Sikhs, Nehru is reported to 
     have replied as follows: ``I shut my ears when someone 
     speaks to me about honoring the promises made to Sikhs 
     during the independence movement.'' Sadly, the history of 
     the Sikh nation since the ratification of the Indian 
     constitution is the story of Sikhs struggling for their 
     most basic rights as a free and independent nation.
       Which brings us around again to 1984. Earlier I mentioned 
     the Indian government's military assault on the Golden Temple 
     which took place in June of 1984. The Indian government has 
     offered a great deal of empty reasons why it attacked the 
     Golden Temple, but the plain truth of the matter is that 
     Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party simply wanted to show 
     Sikhs who was boss. Mrs. Gandhi simply did not want to hear 
     anymore about Sikh rights or the unfulfilled promises of 
     freedom. She was also afraid that sooner or later Sikhs would 
     simply take the freedom that they deserved and reclaim their 
     homeland. Therefore, she planned the assault of the Golden 
     Temple on the day of the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru, 
     Guru Arjan Dev--a day when she knew the temple complex would 
     be filled with observant pilgrims. She also coordinated the 
     assaults on 38 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab. Over 20,000 
     Sikhs were killed in June of 1984.
       Indira Gandhi and the government of India had envisioned 
     this military operation as a solution to their problems, a 
     way to get the Sikhs off their backs. But the strategy 
     backfired. Whatever complacency had fallen over the Sikhs was 
     lifted. The attack on the Golden Temple made Sikhs reflect on 
     their tradition. Sikhs recalled their tradition: ``Khalsa 
     Bagi Yan Badshah: Either the Sikhs are ruling or they are in 
     rebellion!'' On October 7, 1987 the Sikh nation formally 
     declared itself independent forming the separate country of 
     Khalistan. Sikhs have not given up their dream of reclaiming 
     their independence. We fully expect to achieve the liberation 
     of Khalistan by 1999, the 300th anniversary of the Sikh 
     nation.
       During the past 12 years, over 150,000 Sikhs have been 
     killed by Indian government forces. According to respected 
     human rights activists in Khalistan, the number of Sikhs who 
     have ``disappeared'' or who have been illegally killed in 
     extrajudicial murders may exceed 100,000. The extent of 
     India's campaign against the Sikhs is staggering. Also 
     staggering is the extent to which the Indian government will 
     go to cover-up its brutal campaign of genocide against the 
     Sikhs.
       Take the case of Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra. For years Sikhs have been alleging that Indian police 
     have been abducting Sikhs, torturing them, killing them and 
     then cremating their remains as ``unidentified bodies'' in 
     order to cover-up any evidence of police responsibility. Mr. 
     Khalra was the first to bring concrete evidence to these 
     allegations. He visited three

[[Page E967]]

     municipal cremation grounds in Amritsar District and counted 
     up the bodies listed as ``unidentified.'' His findings are 
     astounding. Police have murdered and cremated 6,017 Sikhs in 
     Amritsar District alone. Over 25,000 were killed in the same 
     way throughout the rest of Khalistan.
       For having publicized his findings, Mr. Khalra was himself 
     abducted by police on September 6th in front of his home in 
     the presence of witnesses. Prior to his abduction, the 
     Superintendent of Police threatened Mr. Khalra at a press 
     conference saying ``We made 25,000 disappear. It would not be 
     hard to make one more disappear.'' On October 19, 1995, 
     sixty-five Members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to 
     Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao demanding Mr. Khalra's 
     release. To this date his whereabouts remain unknown.
       The Sikhs are not the only nation suffering under the boot 
     of Indian repression. The Muslims of Kashmir claim that 
     Indian has murdered over 43,000 Kashmiris since 1988. The 
     Christians of Nagaland claim that India has killed over 
     200,000 Nagas since 1950. This level of oppression points to 
     a profound decay eating away at the foundation of India. 
     According Rajinder Puri of the Times of India, the Indian 
     government is ``a rotten, corrupt, repressive and anti-people 
     system.'' The only way the government of Indian can hold the 
     country together is by oppression--by brute force, fear and 
     intimidation. If this sounds a bit like the former Soviet 
     Union, the comparison is an apt one. And like the Soviet 
     Union, India is destined to disintegrate.
       Let me make it clear that India is not a democracy. It is a 
     conglomerate of nations held together by the nexus of 
     oppression. The Sikhs want out. The Kashmiris want out. 
     Nagaland wants out. There's trouble in Assam. There's trouble 
     in Tamil Nadu. The millions of the so-called ``black 
     untouchables'' are some of the most oppressed people on the 
     face of the earth. People are starving to death while India 
     spends billions of its World Bank money on developing nuclear 
     weapons and repressing freedom movements. The Indian 
     political system is the most corrupt in the world. One third 
     of Prime Minister Rao's ministry has been indicted on 
     corruption charges and has been forced to resign. If Hindus 
     aren't killing Sikhs, they are killing Muslims. Mosques are 
     being destroyed. Children are being exploited as sex slaves. 
     Wives are set up in flames if they fail to bring large enough 
     dowries. Last year a five year old untouchable girl was 
     blinded by her school teacher when she drank from a pitcher 
     reserved for upper caste Hindus only. In December the 
     Chandigarh Tribune reported that a Sikh man was killed by 
     Indian police when they tied his legs to two jeeps driving 
     off in opposite directions, tearing him in half. I remember 
     the report about police torturing a little Sikh girl by 
     covering her in molasses and pouring ants on her. Please tell 
     me, why on earth would Sikhs want to live in a country like 
     this?
       India is not only bad for the people held under its rule. 
     India has also proven itself an irresponsible member of the 
     international community. India refuses to sign the 
     Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban 
     Treaty. India has persistently claimed that its nuclear 
     research is for peaceful purposes only, but leading nuclear 
     experts have confirmed that India is secretly building an 
     atomic powered submarine. (See Washington Times, Dec. 9, 
     1994). India has also test launched the Prithvi II ballistic 
     missile and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, both of which 
     are capable of delivering nuclear warheads. India has been 
     detected smuggling heavy water, a substance needed to 
     manufacture plutonium, out of European countries in violation 
     of international regulations. According to the British 
     documentary, ``Nuclear India,'' the government of India 
     spends 25% of its research and development budget on nuclear 
     research and only 2% on education.
       From 1986 to 1991, India was the world's largest importer 
     of major weapons and remains one of the largest today. In 
     1994, reports emerged that India was preparing to arm Iran. 
     India persistently votes against the United States and the 
     West in the United Nations. In fact, just recently when the 
     United States sponsored a resolution to bring China under the 
     scrutiny of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, India sided 
     with China to block the move. India is also smuggling CFC 
     gas into the United States, which has been banned since 
     January 1st. According to the U.S. Custom Service, CFC gas 
     smuggling has become its number two problem behind illegal 
     drugs--and India is one of the primary culprits! Add to 
     this list a long history of intellectual property theft on 
     the part of Indian manufactures--especially in the field 
     of pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the Washington Times reported 
     on May 3, that the United States has placed India on its 
     trade watch list. It certainly appears that India is doing 
     its level best to distance itself from the decent behavior 
     of legitimate countries in the community of nations.
       James Brady, the former U.S. Secretary of State, has called 
     the Indian subcontinent the most dangerous place in the 
     world. War is nearly always imminent. The stockpiling of arms 
     and nuclear weapons is a daily occurrence. Contrast this 
     reality with the vision of a free Khalistan in a newly 
     liberated South Asia, free from the bullying domination of 
     the Indian government. A free Khalistan would serve as 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 non-proliferation 
     efforts currently being made by the international community, 
     thus promoting a nuclear free 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 will cultivate economic self-
     sustainability. Indeed, Khalistan is uniquely situated for 
     economic prosperity. Currently, Sikhs are responsible for 26% 
     of the Indian GNP. The Sikh work ethic is legendary in South 
     Asia. Our doctors, scientists, scholars, financiers and 
     engineers are among the best in the world. Agriculturally, 
     Khalistan could sustain itself with just a fraction of its 
     yield, exporting the rest. Currently, Sikhs supply 73% of 
     India's wheat reserve and 48% of its rice reserve. Remember 
     that Sikhs make up only 2% of the total population in India. 
     A free Khalistan has the foundation for a long overdue South 
     Asian success story.
       Unfortunately, the past 12 years of brutality at the hands 
     of the Indian government has pushed the movement for a free 
     Khalistan almost entirely underground. Those Sikhs who are 
     brave enough to stand up and vocally advocate Sikh freedom 
     are shot down without a second thought. Through the terror 
     tactics promoted by former Chief Minister Beant Singh and 
     former Chief of Police K.P.S. Gill, the Indian government has 
     instilled a fear psychosis on the population of Puniab. 
     According to Indian journalist, Iqbal Masud, ``The Beant-Gill 
     duo committed mass incarceration and disappearance and called 
     it `normalcy.''' Sikhs want the world to know, however, that 
     the only ``normalcy'' in Punjab is the silence of a nation 
     suffocating under the strangle hold of Indian repression.
       It is the Sikhs outside of Khalistan who can truly raise 
     the voice of Sikh freedom without fear of brutal retaliation. 
     On April 27, over 15,000 Sikhs in New York City did just this 
     when they shouted the Jathedar of the Akal Takht of a 
     speaker's podium when he refused to raise the slogan of 
     ``Khalistan Zindabad.'' The current Jathedar of the Akal 
     Takht has refused to fullfil the duty of his office by 
     starting a mass-movement for Sikh freedom. The Sikhs in New 
     York showed their displeasure for his kind of weak leadership 
     and assuaged any doubts that the grassroots of the Sikh 
     nation stands firmly in support of Sikh independence.
       Working in the international community, the Council of 
     Khalistan has had tremendous success in bringing to light the 
     brutality of the Indian government. Due to our efforts, two 
     bills are currently pending in the United States Congress. 
     House Concurrent Resolution 32 seeks to formally recognize 
     the Sikh nation's right of self-determination. House 
     Resolution 1425--``The Human Rights in India Act''--seeks 
     to cut U.S. aid to India if the government of India 
     continues its campaign of brutality against the Sikhs and 
     other nations and people held under Indian repression.
       The Council of Khalistan has also managed to get 51 Members 
     of the U.S. Congress to send a letter to the U.S. State 
     Department demanding that the visa of Mr. K.P.S. Gill be 
     denied if he attempts to enter the United States as part of 
     the Indian field hockey team during the Summer Olympics. I 
     ask you, if 51 Members of the U.S. Congress can stand up 
     against the greatest murderer of Sikhs in the modern era, 
     what is preventing the Jathedar of the Akal Takht and the 
     members of the Akali Dal from doing the same?
       The current Sikh leaders in Punjab are uniformly corrupt. 
     The Akali Dal leadership has long ago surrendered to the 
     Government of India. In 1992, 96% of the Sikh population in 
     Punjab boycotted the elections under the Indian constitution. 
     This was a clear mandate for Khalistan. Look at the situation 
     today. The Akali Dal has obviously failed miserably in 
     delivering on that mandate. Just last week Akali politicians 
     participated in elections under the Indian constitution as if 
     the past 12 years had never happened. This crisis in 
     leadership is what makes Sikhs outside of Khalistan so 
     important. It is the job of Sikhs in the West to stand up and 
     tell the Indian government that Sikhs do not want elections. 
     The only thing Sikhs want is independence. If a plebiscite 
     were held in Khalistan today, over 95% of the Sikh population 
     would vote for independence.
       The current political situation in India will give the 
     Sikhs a perfect opportunity to seize freedom. It is clear 
     that the Congress party is greatly weakened by rampant 
     corruption. No single party will emerge dominant from last 
     week's elections. A weak coalition will be formed. In the 
     past, Sikhs were able to seize control of the Punjab during 
     weak governments in Delhi. We can do it again. It will take 
     courage and sacrifice, but the only way we will liberate the 
     Sikh nation is by launching a nationwide shantmai morcha--a 
     peaceful mass-movement for the liberation of Khalistan. We 
     need to protest by the hundreds of thousands; fill the jails; 
     boycott the Indian government completely and form a Khalsa 
     Raj party for the freedom of Khalistan.
       Our work is cut out for us, but the Sikh nation is a proud 
     and fiercely independent nation. Our history has forged in us 
     an unconquerable desire for freedom. We possess a well-
     founded and deeply imbedded national identity. We are a 
     strong nation with a long tradition of resistance to tyranny. 
     We are a freedom loving people and we want to live in peace 
     so that we may develop to our fullest potential. We will 
     never be deterred from the

[[Page E968]]

     path of freedom, and Khalistan will be ours. Sikhs are 
     looking forward to 1999, the 300th anniversary of the Sikh 
     nation. On that day Sikhs will proudly hoist the Sikh flag 
     high above the Golden Temple and thank Guru for the long 
     awaited blessing of freedom in a sovereign, independent 
     Khalistan.
                                                                    ____


  Inaugural Meeting of the Khalistan Society: Speakers Expose Indian 
       State Repression, Support Self-Determination for Khalistan

       London.--The movement for Punjab's national independence 
     received a historic boost today, as the Khalistan Society 
     launched its Inaugural meeting here at The London School of 
     Economics. Three invited speakers, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, 
     President, Council of Khalistan, Mr. Max Madden, British 
     Member of Parliament, and Mr. Asad Rehman, a representative 
     of London based Amnesty International, stressed the moral 
     imperative to hold India accountable for extensive and 
     continuing human rights violations against the Sikh people 
     and other minorities in India. They also urged the massive 
     British Asian community to mobilize its resources to protect 
     the rights of those fighting for freedom in India-occupied 
     Punjab.
       Mr. Max Madden told audience members of his trip to Punjab 
     in 1991, when he visited Sikh villages and a Punjabi jail, 
     speaking to literally hundreds of people who had suffered 
     human rights abuses by Indian police forces. ``I met a father 
     whose 12 year old daughter was abducted by policemen, raped 
     repeatedly, and eventually killed. Policemen warned the 
     father that were he to pursue a case against the officers 
     involved, his 7 year old daughter would face the same fate.'' 
     He recalled meeting Mr. K.P.S. Gill, former Punjab Chief of 
     Police, who he described as ``the epitome of evil.'' Mr. 
     Madden reiterated the right of the people of Punjab to self-
     determination, and congratulated The Khalistan Society for 
     its efforts to highlight human rights violations against the 
     Sikhs in Punjab. He told the audience, ``Because of my human 
     rights activities, the Indian High Commission refuses to 
     grant me a visa to visit India.''
       Mr. Asad Rehman stressed the need to put human rights on 
     the agenda of governments in South Asia. He detailed the 
     violent and anti-democratic tactics used by India to crush 
     political dissent, and drew comparisons between such tactics 
     used in occupied Punjab and other parts of India. He stressed 
     the importance of peaceful self-determination in Punjab, 
     stating, ``Everyone must have the right to express their 
     political beliefs freely, whatever they may be, without fear 
     of imprisonment, torture or death.''
       Dr. Gurmit S. Aulakh strongly denounced the Indian 
     government for its continuing policy of state repression 
     against Sikhs in Punjab, Muslims in Kashmir, and Christians 
     in Nagaland. He spoke of the case of Mr. Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra, a Sikh human rights activist in Punjab who has 
     recently ``disappeared'' and is feared to be dead. Dr. Aulakh 
     detailed the history of the Sikh struggle for freedom, and 
     articulated his vision of a Khalistani state. ``Khalistan 
     will be a buffer state between India and Pakistan, and will 
     sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaties, thereby increasing 
     regional peace and security. We will also operate on a `one 
     man, one vote' policy. In a free Khalistan, there will be no 
     human rights violations, and minorities will be treated 
     equally.''

                          ____________________