[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1999-E2000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HAPPY 11TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN

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                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 1998

  Mr. BURTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to observe and pay tribute on 
the occasion of the eleventh anniversary of the Council of Kahlistan. 
Wednesday, October 7th, marked eleven years since the Sikh people of 
Punjab declared their independence from India, naming their new country 
Khalistan. Immediately after this declaration, they appointed the

[[Page E2000]]

Council of Khalistan to lead their struggle for independence. Since 
then, under the leadership of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, the Council has 
conducted a peaceful, democratic, nonviolent effort for a free and 
sovereign Khalistan.
  I believe that the breakup of India is inevitable, despite the brutal 
campaign of state terrorism which is designed to hold it together by 
force. Even Sharad Pawar, the Leader of the Opposition in the Indian 
Parliament, recently said that if India does not get its house in order 
quickly, it could fall apart like the Soviet Union. He joins Nehru 
biographer Professor Stanley Wolpert, Columbia University Professor 
Ainslee Embree, and Dr. Jack Wheeler of the Freedom Research 
Foundation, who have all predicted India's breakup.
  India's desperation to keep its multinational state together is 
showing. Recently the Vishwa Hindu Prashad (VHP), a Hindu 
fundamentalist organization affiliated with the Fascist RSS, praised 
the rape of four Catholic nuns in the state of Madhya Pradesh, calling 
the rapists ``patriotic youth'' and calling for all foreign 
missionaries to be expelled from the country. The ruling BJP, which was 
elected on a Hindu Nationalist platform, is the political wing of the 
RSS. So much for Indian secularism! Clearly, there is no place for 
Christians in Indian democracy. There is no place for Sikhs, Muslims, 
aboriginal Dalits, Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, or other ethnic and 
religious minorities either.
  Recently, a large group of Sikh and Kashmiri protesters showed up at 
the United Nations headquarters to protest the visit of Indian Prime 
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. They chanted slogans of independence for 
their people, and they attempted to inform the public about India's 
human-rights violations. The flyer they circulated read, ``A 
religiously intolerant country can never be democratic.''
  Earlier this year in New Delhi, at the largest internal protest 
against Indian nuclear weapons tests, demonstrators carried signs that 
read, ``We are Sikhs, not Indians.'' This is a strong expression of the 
Sikh Nation's demand for freedom. Still India continues its efforts to 
keep the country together by force.
  India votes against the United States at the United Nations more 
often than any other country, except Cuba. It even publicly endorsed 
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. According to published reports, 
India has also provided the raw materials for nuclear development to 
Iran and other anti-American countries.
  The Congress should move immediately to support freedom and real 
stability in this troubled region. We must maintain the sanctions that 
have been put in place against India. In addition, we should cut off 
the aid that helped build India's nuclear weapons. My colleagues should 
also vote to support the Sikhs and Kashmiris in their struggle for 
freedom by demanding a free and fair plebiscite in those states, so 
that they themselves can determine their future in a democratic way. 
This is the only way to make sure that the breakup of India comes about 
peacefully like the former Soviet Union, not violently. Taken together, 
these steps will ensure that all the people and nations of South Asia 
can live in freedom, peace, prosperity, and dignity.
  I am placing the article on Sharad Pawar into the Record for the 
information of my colleagues.

                 [From the India-West, August 7, 1998]

                  India May Suffer Soviet Fate: Pawar

       Pune (PTI)--The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha 
     Sharad Pawar Aug. 2 expressed the fear that the country might 
     go the erstwhile Soviet Union way unless concerted efforts 
     are taken to strengthen its economy in the wake of 
     international reaction to its carrying out nuclear tests.
       Pawar was speaking at a function to release a book, 
     ``Hiroshima,'' by noted Marathi writer D.B. Kher on the after 
     effects of bomb explosion in Japan Aug. 6, 1945.
       Pawar said through the erstwhile USSR was a nuclear power 
     it collapsed, and added that India should not become over-
     confident after the Pokhran-II tests.
       He said India should also be very vigilant as the economy 
     of Pakistan was in the doldrums. It might take any dangerous 
     step out of frustration. ``We should not forget the fact that 
     Pakistan had a history of aggression against India and hence 
     we should be on guard,'' he said.

     

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