[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 120 (Thursday, September 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF KHALRA KIDNAPPING: FREE KHALRA NOW

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                          HON. EDOLPHOS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 5, 1996

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues that 
Friday, September 6, marks the anniversary of the kidnapping of human 
rights Jaswant Singh Khalra by the Punjab police. Mr. Khalra observes 
this anniversary still in custody, his whereabouts unknown. His wife 
states that he is in the custody of India's brutal Intelligence Bureau, 
one of the agencies involved in beating an elderly Sikh leader in need 
of emergency medical treatment. According to an eyewitness who shared a 
jail cell at Nangal Police Station with Mr. Khalra last October, Mr. 
Khalra had been beaten into unconsciousness at that time. One can only 
imagine the brutal torture he has suffered in the past year. I am 
inserting into the Record a press release on this gruesome anniversary 
from the Council of Khalistan.

       Mr. Khalra was general secretary of the Human Rights Wing 
     (Shiromani Akali Dal) at the time that he was kidnapped. In 
     that capacity, he published a report showing that the Indian 
     regime had kidnapped more than 25,000 young Sikh men. These 
     innocent Sikhs were then tortured and murdered by the police. 
     Their bodies were declared ``unidentified'' and cremated to 
     cover up police responsibility. After publishing this report, 
     Mr. Khalra was told by the Tarn Taran police chief, Ajit S. 
     Sandhu, ``We made 25,000 disappear. It would not be hard to 
     make one more disappear.''
       Just last month, however, the government confirmed the 
     policy of mass cremations. Its own Central Bureau of 
     Investigation (CBI) told the Indian Supreme Court that it had 
     ``prima facie evidence'' of at least 984 such cremations 
     based on its preliminary investigation. The Supreme Court 
     justices who heard the case called the mass cremation policy 
     ``worse than a genocide.''
       The investigation is ongoing, but no one has yet been 
     punished for these brutal acts. The Indian regime refuses to 
     punish Mr. Sandhu. Despite an indictment against Mr. Sandhu 
     and eight other police officers involved in kidnapping Mr. 
     Khalra, he has not yet been arrested. Instead, he gave an 
     interview to an Indian newspaper in which he said that he is 
     proud of his actions. Why is Mr. Sandhu still at large?
       If India is serious about the democratic values it so 
     loudly proclaims, it would be appropriate to observe the 
     anniversary of Mr. Khalra's kidnapping by releasing him, 
     ending the mass cremation policy, and arresting and trying 
     those responsible for these atrocities. Otherwise, the United 
     States, the nation that is truly the world's largest 
     democracy, should stop all aid to the Indian government and 
     institute an embargo against India so that American companies 
     cannot prop up this repressive tyranny with their dollars. It 
     is the only decent thing to do.

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