[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1840-E1841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 INDIA ADMITS MASS CREMATIONS OF SIKHS

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                          HON. GARY A. CONDIT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, Indian newspapers reported last month that 
the Indian government has admitted to the mass cremation of Sikhs. 
India's Supreme Court heard the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] 
admit it has ``prima facie evidence'' that at least 984 Sikhs had been 
cremated after being declared unidentified.
  These cremations are just the beginning. Jaswant Singh Khalra, a 
human rights activist, reported that more than 25,000 young Sikh men 
had been kidnapped by the regime, tortured, and murdered, then declared 
their bodies unidentified and cremated them. After publishing this 
report, Mr. Khalra was kidnapped on September 6, 1995. Almost a year 
later, Mr. Khalra's whereabouts remain unknown.
  There is pattern of repression against the Sikhs in India shown with 
the kidnapping of Mr. Khalra, the airport beating of British-based

[[Page E1841]]

Khalistani leader Jagjit Singh Chohan, and the arrest of U.S. citizen 
Balbir Singh Dhillon on trumped-up charges.
  The Sikhs feel they have no place in Indian democracy. Therefore, the 
Sikhs declared their independence in 1987, calling their new country 
Khalistan. For the people of Khalistan, the U.S. must continue to 
demand a full accounting of the policy of mass cremations. 
Additionally, we must demand the whereabouts of Mr. Khalra and the 
release of Mr. Dhillon.

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