[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            PUNJAB POLICE FOUND GUILTY OF HARASSING REPORTER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 1998

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, on April 22, Burning Punjab reported that 
two Punjab policemen were found guilty of harassing a Hindu journalist, 
Sanjiv Sharma, and three other members of his family. Police Sub-
Inspector Girdhara Singh and police officer Balhit Singh tortured 
Sanjiv Sharma, his father Chander Muni Lal, his friend Ranjiv Thakur (a 
Chandigarh car dealer), and lawyer Ajit Singh. The police in ``the 
world's largest democracy'' are harassing journalists, lawyers, private 
businessmen, and old men! This does not give me a great deal of 
confidence in the Punjab police.
  On September 21, 1996, Mr. Sharma had appeared at a hearing in 
Patiala. On their way home, they were intercepted at Bahadurgarh, 
according to Burning Punjab, by a police officer who brought them back 
to Patiala, where they were beaten. The four men filed a complaint with 
the high court, which ordered the district magistrate to investigate 
the matter. The investigation report called for criminal action against 
these two police officers.
  Unfortunately, this conduct is typical of the Punjab police. Here is 
a police force which kidnapped human-rights activist Jaswant Singh 
Khalra, which just last month raped 17-year-old Hardip Kaur, and which 
has murdered thousands of Sikhs and collected cash bounties for doing 
so. These are not the actions of a law-enforcement agency in a 
democratic state. They are the actions of a tyrannical occupying force. 
We must take strong action to stop this routine oppression.
  The United States must speak out for basic human rights in Punjab, 
Khalistan. We should impose strong sanctions on this corrupt regime and 
speak out in support of a free and fair plebiscite on the political 
status of Punjab, Khalistan. These measures will help to end the kind 
of tyrannical abuses that were inflicted on Sanjiv Sharma.

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