[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 10, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ABDUCTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 10, 1996

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. Speaker, September 6 marks the 1-year 
anniversary of the Indian Government's abduction of human rights 
advocate Jaswant Singh Khalra. As I have said in previous statements on 
the floor about this tragic case, Mr. Khalra was kidnaped after he 
exposed the widespread use of cremations by Indian authorities in 
Punjab to dispose of victims of extrajudicial killings.
  Recently, India's Central Bureau of Investigation was forced to admit 
in court that at least 1,000 such cremations had occurred in Punjab. 
The actual number is certainly many times higher than that. The United 
States State Department reported that between 1991-93, the Indian 
Government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police in Punjab for the 
killings of Sikhs.
  Before Mr. Khalra was abducted, he stated publicly, and with a great 
deal of courage, that the number of cremations of innocent Sikhs was 
probably as high as 25,000. He was picked up by authorities a short 
time after that statement and has not been seen since. That was 1 year 
ago.
  In the video, ``Disappearances in Punjab,'' a policewoman testifies 
that she saw prisoners in custody whose legs had been broken. These 
prisoners were reported to have been killed later in staged 
``encounters.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the Indian Government to release Jaswant 
Singh Khalra and own up to the crimes committed in Punjab. With the 
Indian Government's atrocious human rights record, it is no wonder that 
there is such a strong movement among the Sikh people for an 
independent nation of Khalistan.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that the pro-India lobby, and my friends in 
Congress who have opposed legislation to punish India for it brutal 
treatment of the Sikhs, the Kashmiris, and other minorities, will pay 
attention to what is happening over there, and will also call for the 
immediate release of Mr. Khalra.

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