[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 15, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INDIA MUST STOP KILLING SIKHS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 15, 1997

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
wish the Sikh Nation a happy Vaisakhi Day. Vaisakhi Day is the birthday 
of the Sikh Nation, the anniversary of its founding by Guru Gobind 
Singh in 1699. The Sikhs have always been a tough, freedom-loving 
people, and I take this opportunity to salute them.
  However, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the Sikh Nation's love 
of freedom. From 1984 to 1992, according to the Punjab State 
Magistracy, which represents all the local judges in the state of 
Punjab, the Indian regime murdered more than 200,000 Sikhs. Since then, 
the Punjab Human Rights Organization reports that more than 50,000 have 
been murdered by the brutal Indian regime. That means that in excess of 
a quarter of a million freedom-loving Sikhs have been murdered since 
1984 by ``the world's largest democracy.''
  One recent case will illustrate the brutality of India's methods in 
occupied Khalistan. On March 15, a 26-year-old Sikh named Kashmir 
Singh, who was the publicity secretary of the Akali Dal--Amritsar--in 
the district of Hoshiarpur, was picked up in the middle of the night 
along with his father. The police threw them into a van. Somewhere down 
the road, Kashmir Singh's father was thrown from the van while it was 
still moving. Kashmir Singh was then tortured and murdered and his body 
was dumped at the Hoshiarpur district hospital at 4 in the morning for 
a post mortem.
  The police falsely claimed that Kashmir Singh was killed in an 
encounter with the police. This claim is so ridiculous that even the 
pro-Government newspaper the Indian Express could not accept it. The 
Indian Express described the murder of Kashmir Singh as a cold-blooded 
killing.
  Unfortunately, the murder of Kashmir Singh is not an isolated 
incident. It is part of a pattern of intimidation designed to put a 
fear psychosis in the minds of Sikhs both in Punjab, Khalistan and 
outside in order to scare them into dropping their demand for freedom. 
An ongoing incident which has been closely watched in this Congress is 
the case of Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was kidnaped by the police on 
September 6, 1995, after he published a report exposing the fact that 
over 25,000 young Sikh men have been abducted by the regime, tortured, 
and murdered, then their bodies have been declared unidentified and 
cremated. In many cases the family members have never been notified. 
The Punjab and Haryana High court described this policy as worse than a 
genocide.
  Eighteen months after Mr. Khalra was kidnaped, Khalra's whereabouts 
remain unknown. The Khalra case and his findings are discussed in 
detail in a video released last year called ``Disappearances in 
Punjab,'' produced by a Hindu human rights activist named Ram Narayan 
Kumar. Recently, Mr. Kumar was himself detained overnight at the Delhi 
airport when he attempted to fly to Austria to be with his wife. The 
regime even detained an American citizen, Balbir Singh Dhillon, for 9 
months on trumped-up charges, apparently because he advocates an 
independent Khalistan.
  Mr. Speaker, these are not the tactics of a democracy. The oppression 
of the Sikhs, the Muslims of Kashmir, the Christians of Nagaland, the 
black ``untouchables'' known as Dalits--the aboriginal people of the 
subcontinent, the Assamese, Manipuris, and others continues at a 
feverish pace.
  On October 7, 1987, the Sikhs declared their independence from India 
and named their independent country Khalistan. India has responded to 
the peaceful movement to liberate Khalistan by stepping up the 
repression.
  This kind of repression is not acceptable in any country. It 
especially offends us when that country proclaims its commitment to 
Democratic values. In that light, it is appropriate for the United 
States to take measures to bring democracy to all the people of South 
Asia. We should publicly declare our support for an internationally 
supervised plebiscite on the question of independence for Khalistan, 
similar to the periodic votes we hold in Puerto Rico. The United States 
should also cut off all aid to India. These actions will begin to bring 
freedom to the subcontinent.

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