[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E661-E662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            PUNJAB IS STILL A POLICE STATE UNDER AKALI RULE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 1998

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, we had hoped that the election of a new Sikh-
led government in Punjab would end the tyranny that has reigned there. 
Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Former Justice Ajit Singh 
Bains, chairman of the Punjab Human Rights Organization (PHRO), 
recently described Punjab as a police state. As the Council of 
Khalistan recently pointed out in a letter to Punjab police chief P.C. 
Dogra, Punjab remains a police state even under the rule of the Akali 
Dal.
  Since the Akali government took power in March last year, over 100 
atrocities have been documented, including murders, rapes, and many 
instances of torture by the Punjab police. The Akali government has not 
freed any of the Sikh prisoners held in illegal detention, some since 
1984, nor has it brought charges against even a single policeman. Even 
the Congress Party governments in Punjab and Delhi charged a few police 
officers who committed the most visible abuses. Yet despite a Supreme 
Court order that the police officers who kidnapped human-rights 
activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on September 6, 1995 be indicted, the 
Akali government proudly boasts that no action has been taken against 
any police officer.
  Earlier this month, members of the Khalra Committee had their tires 
slashed by the police during a court hearing. Mr. Khalra's wife, 
Paramjit Kaur Khalra, has been falsely charged with bribing a witness, 
who is now under police protection. Two other witnesses have also had 
their rights infringed. Kikkar Singh was falsely implicated in two 
cases, and PHRO Vice Chairman Kirpal Singh Randhawa recently wrote to 
the Chief Minister and the President of the World Sikh Council exposing 
a police conspiracy to eliminate him.
  In March, a 17-year-old Sikh girl named Hardip Kaur was gang-raped by 
four policemen. In February , two Sikh youths were arrested while 
riding their bicycles in front of a Gurdwara (a Sikh temple.) Also in 
February, a Sikh named Malkiat Singh died from torture by the police at 
the Ahmedgarh police station. Plainclothes police even occupy the 
Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines, which was the 
scene of a brutal desecration and massacre by the Indian military in 
June 1984.
  Even Justice J.S. Sekhon, a member of the government-appointed Punjab 
Human Rights Commission, expressed his concern about police behavior. 
He said that his commission has received 90 complaints about police 
misconduct. Some incidents have resulted in death. This does not sound 
like the way a democracy operates. Justice Bains is right. Punjab is a 
police state. I call upon the Punjab government to begin prosecuting 
police, to bring in independent human-rights monitors, to release all 
Sikh political prisoners, and to begin observing the basic rights of 
all human beings. If it will not, America should ban all trade with 
Punjab and demand an internationally-supervised plebiscite on 
independence for Punjab, Khalistan. These are the best steps we can 
take to insure that the rule of law and the glow of freedom finally 
come to the Sikh homeland.
  I am placing the Council of Khalistan's letter to Mr. Dogra into the 
Record.

    [Open Letter to Punjab DGP Dogra From Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, 
            President, Council of Khalistan, April 16, 1998]

            Punjab Is a Police State--End Police Abuses Now!

       Mr. Dogra: Recently Justice Ajit Snigh Bains, the chairman 
     of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, described Punjab as 
     a police state. He is right. Your police have murdered, 
     raped, tortured, and secretly cremated tens of thousands of 
     Sikhs since 1984.
       Last week the human-rights community in Punjab met with the 
     Chief Minister. They detailed numerous abuses of human rights 
     by the police. Your police slashed the tires of Khalra 
     Committee members. The Supreme Court ordered the indictment 
     of the police officers who kidnapped Jaswant Singh Khalra on 
     September 6, 1995, yet they are still at large. Mr. Khalra's 
     whereabouts remain unknown. Mr. Khalra published a report 
     exposing the police tactic of abducting Sikhs, torturing and 
     killing them, then declaring their bodies ``unidentified'' 
     and cremating them. For this, the late Tarn Taran police 
     chief, Ajit Sandhu, threatened that

[[Page E662]]

     ``We made 25,000 disappear. It would not be hard to make one 
     more disappear.'' It has been two and a half years since Mr. 
     Khalra was kidnapped. When will your police take 
     responsibility?
       Kikkar Singh, who is a witness in the Khalra case, was 
     falsely implicated in two cases and remains in jail. Kirpal 
     Singh Randhawa, Vice-Chairman of the Punjab Human Rights 
     Organization, is a witness in the Khalra case. He wrote to 
     the Chief Minister and the President of the World Sikh 
     Council exposing a police conspiracy to eliminate him. These 
     illegal actions show the lengths that the police will go to 
     in the effort to cover up their own responsibility for the 
     reign of terror that has engulfed Punjab.
       Just in the last year, over 90 atrocities by police have 
     been documented in Punjab. Last month, a 17-year-old Sikh 
     girl named Hardip Kaur was waiting for a bus to take her to 
     her family's village. She was offered a ride by two police 
     officers, and this innocent young girl accepted. She was 
     taken to a house where these officers and two other police 
     officers gang-raped her all night. In February, Malkiat Singh 
     of the village of Bisgawa died from torture inflicted by the 
     Inspector and Sub-Inspector of the Ahmedgarh police station. 
     In February, two Sikh youths who were riding their bicycles 
     in front of a Gurdwara were picked up by your police and 
     stuffed into a police jeep. They are accused of being 
     militants, but the residents of their village say that these 
     charges are unfounded. These are just some of the most recent 
     incidents. How can a country that operates this way call 
     itself a ``democracy?''
       It is a well-known fact, reported by the U.S. State 
     Department, that police officers have received cash bounties 
     for killing innocent Sikhs. It was in pursuit of one of these 
     bounties that the police murdered a three-year-old child and 
     claimed that he was a ``terrorist.'' Do you consider that 
     acceptable police practice?
       Your police even continue to occupy the Golden Temple, the 
     holiest of Sikh shrines. It has been fourteen years since the 
     desecration and massacre known as Operation Bluestar. There 
     is no better illustration of the fact that there is no place 
     for Sikhs in India's ``secular democracy.''
       During a recent visit to Punjab and Chandigarh, Canadian 
     Revenue Minister Herb Dhaliwal said that only when the 
     problem of harassment of people and insecurity of property is 
     solved will outsiders be encouraged to invest in Punjab. He 
     called for democratic change. It is you and your police force 
     that can end the harassment and abuse of human rights. Only 
     then will the door be open for real democracy to function in 
     Punjab.
       Recently, Justice J.S. Sekhon, a member of the government-
     appointed Punjab Human Rights Commission, said that he is 
     worried about the inhuman behavior of the police. He noted 
     that the police have been torturing people in the police 
     stations and that the law does not allow this. Even though 
     militancy has yielded to peace in Punjab, he said, his 
     commission has received 90 complaints against the police. 
     Justice Sekhon said that the commission is taking a serious 
     view of these complaints, especially those that resulted in 
     death in police custody. He added that the police must be 
     more cooperative and humane towards people. What further 
     proof is needed? Punjab is a police state.
       As Justice Sekhon said, your police force has a long way to 
     go before it begins to resemble the law-enforcement arm of a 
     free state. As the Director General, you bear ultimate 
     responsibility for these crimes. Even your own allies are 
     exposing the reign of terror that you police have imposed on 
     the hardworking people of Punjab.
       Only when the fundamental rights of all people are observed 
     can any country call itself democratic and free. We Sikhs are 
     moving towards true democracy and freedom in our homeland, 
     you can either help in that process or hinder that process. 
     So far you have done the latter, I hope for the sake of your 
     own conscience, you begin to do the former.
       It is your responsibility to end the police tyranny in 
     Punjab, otherwise, history and the Sikhs will never forgive 
     you.
     Panth Da Sewadar,
     Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
       President, Council of Khalistan.

       

                          ____________________