[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E153-E154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INDIAN GENOCIDE BETRAYS GANDHI'S PRINCIPLE OF NONVIOLENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 1998

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, will you please insert the following remarks 
as part of the Congressional Record's extension of remarks section.

       Indian Genocide Betrays Gandhi's Principle of Nonviolence

       Mr. Towns. Mr. Speaker, recently 22 of my colleagues and I 
     wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh 
     Badal, urging him to deliver on his campaign promise that he 
     would appoint an independent judicial commission of inquiry 
     to investigate the atrocities and genocide in Punjab. If 
     South Africa can have its Truth Commission, why can't the 
     truth about Indian genocide be brought to light?
       This letter is not the product of a small ideological 
     coterie. the signers come from both parties and they range 
     across the political spectrum. What we have in common is a 
     love of freedom and a belief that basic human rights must be 
     respected, especially in countries that call themselves 
     democratic.
       The Indian government wraps itself in the mantle of 
     Mohandas Gandhi, the spiritual leader of its independence 
     movement. It has spent a lot of money to erect statues of 
     Gandhi throughout the United States and around the world. Yet 
     the genocide against the Sikhs of Khalistan, the Christians 
     of Nagaland, the Dalits, the Muslims of Kashmir, the tribal 
     people of Manipur, and others continues. Since Mr. Badal's 
     government took power last year, at least 75 atrocities have 
     been reported in the newspapers or otherwise documented.
       In a democracy, especially one so overt in its dedication 
     to the nonviolent principles of Gandhi, such genocide and 
     ethnic cleansing should not be occurring. At the very least, 
     the government should be investigating the genocide and 
     bringing those responsible to justice. Instead, the Badal 
     government in Punjab boasts that it has not taken action to 
     punish any police officer. The central government in New 
     Delhi is no better. Apparently, building statues to 
     nonviolence is much easier than practicing it. No statue ever 
     saved the life of a victim of state terrorism or police 
     tyranny. What good did those Gandhi statutes do Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra, the human-rights activists the police kidnapped over 
     two years ago?
       It is time to make India start living up to the principles 
     it espouses. A judicial commission to investigate the 
     genocide is the first step that must be taken. This would 
     show the world that India is finally beginning to get serious 
     about respecting the

[[Page E154]]

     human rights of all people, not just upper-caste Brahmin 
     aristocrats. Letting Amnesty International and other human-
     rights monitors into the country would also signal India's 
     commitment to finding and punishing those who violate human 
     rights. If India will not take even these minimal steps, then 
     we must take strong action. It is time to impose tough 
     economic sanctions on the Indian regime, cut off aid to that 
     theocratic satrapy, and publicly support the freedom 
     movements in the many captive nations of South Asia. By these 
     steps we can help give the gift of freedom to all the people 
     of the subcontinent. That is much more valuable than any 
     statue.
       On behalf of my colleagues, I would like to enter our 
     letter to Chief Minister Badal into the Record.


                                     House of Representatives,

                                 Washington, DC, January 30, 1998.
     The Honorable Parkash Singh Badal,
     Chief Minister of Punjab, Chandigarh, Punjab, India.
       Dear Chief Minister Badal: On January 5, four human-rights 
     activists led by Colonel Partap Singh, President of the 
     Khalsa Raj Party, and co-signed by Justice Ajit Singh Bains 
     (Punjab Human Rights Organization), Inderjeet Singh Jaijee 
     and Major General Narinder Singh (Movement Against State 
     Repression) wrote a joint letter requesting that you fulfill 
     your campaign promise to appoint an independent commission to 
     investigate atrocities which have occurred in Punjab over the 
     last 14 years.
       The Central Bureau of Investigation, the Supreme Court of 
     India and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have 
     found that the Punjab police have engaged in a deliberate 
     policy of abduction, torture and illegal cremation of Sikh 
     youth on a massive scale. All have urged your Government and 
     the Government of India to facilitate a fully empowered and 
     impartial inquiry into these and other custodial deaths.
       We are also concerned that the police continue to engage in 
     acts of murder, rape and torture of Sikh youth. Over 75 cases 
     have been documented thus far. It is imperative that your 
     Government fulfills its pledge to appoint an independent 
     judicial inquiry to determine just who was killed and who was 
     responsible. It will send a signal to those elements in the 
     security forces that your Government will no longer tolerate 
     security elements that engage in lawless and brutal conduct.
       Just as we are witnessing in South Africa's Truth 
     Commission, it is time for the truth to come out in Punjab, 
     for better or for worse.
           Sincerely,
         Edolphus Towns, Dan Burton, Cynthia A. McKinney, Dana 
           Rohrabacher, Richard Pombo, Donald M. Payne, Collin C. 
           Peterson, William J. Jefferson, Jerry Solomon, Phil 
           Crane, George Miller, Gary Condit, Roscoe Bartlett, Tom 
           Coburn, John N. Hostettler, Sheila Jackson-Lee, J.C. 
           Watts, John T. Doolittle, Sam Farr, Esteban E. Torres, 
           Bernard Sanders, Wally Herger, Randy ``Duke'' 
           Cunningham.

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