[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 10, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1545]]


    THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE KIDNAPING OF JASWANT SINGH KHALRA

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. RANDY ``DUKE'' CUNNINGHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 10, 1996

  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 1-
year anniversary of the kidnaping of Jaswant Singh Khalra. As we 
observe the anniversary of that event, which occurred at 9:15 a.m. on 
September 6, 1995, we must draw attention that Mr. Khalra remains in 
custody and his whereabouts unknown.
  As Secretary of Human Rights Wing (Shiromani Akali Dal), Mr. Khalra 
had published a report showing that the Punjab police have arrested 
more than 25,000 young Sikh men, tortured and murdered them, and 
declared their cremated bodies unidentified. After this report was made 
published, Mr. Khalra was told by the Armitsar district police chief, 
``We have made 25,000 disappear. It would be easy to make one more 
disappear.''
  More recently, an article in the August 14-20 issue of World Sikh 
News quotes Ajit Sandhu, the district police chief implicated in the 
kidnaping of Mr. Khalra, as saying that ``I am proud of what I did. I 
did it for the nation. I did no wrong.'' Mr. Sandhu has labeled the 
charges of mass cremations a bundle of lies despite the Central Bureau 
of Investigations admission to the Indian Supreme Court that its 
preliminary investigation had turned up evidence that nearly 1,000 
young Sikhs had been cremated as Mr. Khalra's report described. This 
preliminary investigation is ongoing, and human rights activists in 
Punjab, Khalistan, say that the number may be as high as 30,000 or 
more.
  Mr. Khalra was exercising his fundamental right to speak out and 
expose atrocities committed by this government. As long as Mr. Khalra 
remains in detention, how can anyone in India feel secure exercising 
his or her democratic liberties? I ask my colleagues to recognize the 
continued human rights abuses by India and work to reduce aid to India 
until it protects the democratic rights of its people.

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