[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 43 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HAPPY 300TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE SIKH NATION

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                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 18, 1999

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
Council of Khalistan, has brought it to my attention that on April 13, 
the Sikhs will be celebrating their 300th anniversary. Sikhs have been 
significant contributors to America in several sectors of life, but 
their anniversary is significant for another reason. The Sikh Nation is 
currently one of several nations struggling to reclaim its freedom from 
Hindu India.
  It is an interesting coincidence that April 13, the Sikhs' 
anniversary, is also the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, the author of 
our Declaration of Independence. This symmetry of events highlights the 
Sikh Nation's desire to be free. It is time that the Sikhs enjoy the 
freedom that we enjoy here in America.
  In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote that all people 
``are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that 
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.'' In India, the 
government allows 70,000 Sikh political prisoners to rot in jail 
without charge or trial, some since 1984. They should be released on or 
before April 13 as a goodwill gesture. Instead, I fear that even more 
Sikhs will be endangered as ``democratic, secular'' India tries to 
maintain what it calls its ``territorial integrity.''
  In the spirit of Jefferson, let the 300th anniversary of the Sikh 
Nation be an occasion to do whatever we can to support the Sikhs and 
the other nations of South Asia in their struggle to live in the glow 
of freedom. By stopping U.S. aid to India (which is one of the top five 
recipient countries) until human rights are universally respected, by 
declaring our support for self-determination through a free and fair 
plebiscite, and by imposing the same sanctions on India that we would 
impose on any other religious oppressor, we can share the blessings of 
liberty with the people of South Asia. This is the best thing that we 
can do to celebrate this important occasion with the Sikh Nation.

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