[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DESECRATION OF GOLDEN TEMPLE SHOWS INDIAN DEMOCRACY IS A FRAUD

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 1997

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember a tragic chapter in 
history, India's 1984 desecration of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the 
highest shrine of the Sikh Nation. From June 3 through June 6 of that 
year, the Golden Temple and 38 other Sikh temples were subjected to the 
kind of military assault which would have stirred the world's outrage 
if it had occurred at the Vatican or Mecca. More than 20,000 Sikhs died 
at the hands of the Indian regime in these attacks. Yet the world 
hardly noticed.
  On this sad anniversary, the Indian regime maintains police 
surveillance at the Golden Temple for no purpose other than to harass 
Sikhs who seek to worship at their holiest shrine. The newly elected 
Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, promised during his 
campaign that he would remove this intrusive, authoritarian presence. 
That pledge has not been carried out. There could be no more 
appropriate way to observe the anniversary of the Golden Temple 
massacre than for Chief Minister Badal to reiterate his order to remove 
the security forces and fire any officials who defy this order. If he 
cannot or will not do so, then we will be forced to conclude that the 
Punjab elections were a sham and the new government has no power. This 
will show that India's repression of the Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan is 
just as tight as it ever was.
  In this context, the Sikh Nation's demand for freedom is more urgent 
than ever. As many of us have pointed out, the Sikh Nation declared its 
independence on October 7, 1987. They called their new country 
Khalistan. The United States should go on record in support of freedom 
for Khalistan. If India is truly the democracy it claims to be, it 
should hold a plebiscite in occupied Khalistan to let the Sikh Nation 
decide its own political future. It should also end its campaign of 
ethnic cleansing against the Sikhs and other peoples of South Asia, 
such as the Muslims of Kashmir, the Christians of Nagaland, the 
Assamese, Manipuris, Tamils, and the aboriginal people of South Asia, 
the Dalits--also known as the untouchables.
  If India is unwilling to do these few, simple things then it will 
prove once and for all that all of India's claims that it is the 
world's largest democracy are a cruel hoax. It will show the world that 
in reality, India is one of the world's most tyrannical police states.
  The United States can and should encourage India to take these steps 
for freedom in the subcontinent. We can raise our voice on behalf of 
freedom by declaring our support for an independent Khalistan, cutting 
off U.S. aid to India, and hitting this repressive regime with an 
embargo similar to the one that helped bring down apartheid in South 
Africa. By these modest measures, we can help end the repression in 
South Asia so that the subcontinent can have a new birth of freedom. 
That Is the best way to ensure peace, prosperity, and stability in this 
unhappy region. Let us honor the struggle of the Sikh Nation on this 
terrible anniversary by initiating these policies today.

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