[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INDIA TRIES TO FALSELY IMPLICATE SIKHS IN MURDER OF CHRISTIAN 
                  MISSIONARY BY USING ALIAS ``SINGH''

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 29, 2000

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, the Tribune newspaper of India reported 
on February 9 that the Indian government has identified the killer of 
Christian missionary Graham Staines as Dara Singh, but his real name is 
Rabinder Kumar Paul. The use of ``Singh'' is a smear against the Sikhs 
designed to create the impression that Sikhs were somehow responsible 
for the Staines murder and put the Christians against the Sikhs, 
promoting India's divide-and-rule strategy against minorities.
  The facts do not support this. Staines, an Australian missionary, and 
his two young sons were burned to death in their jeep. They were 
surrounded by a mob of militant Hindus affiliated with the RSS, which 
is the parent organization of the ruling BJP. These fundamentalist 
Hindus chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god, while the Staines 
family's jeep burned. Yet India wants to create the impression that one 
person was responsible for this brutal murder and that he is a Sikh.
  Mr. Speaker, I am offended by this open manipulation of both 
Christians and Sikhs. Apparently, India is concerned about the support 
that leaders of the freedom movements of South Asia have showed for 
each other. So they have resorted to this divisive strategy to preserve 
their empire.
  The time has come for America, the beacon of freedom, to take strong 
measures to stop India from pursuing this campaign to turn one minority 
against another. First, we must cut off our aid to India. We must 
recognize its violations of religious liberty and impose appropriate 
sanctions. Then we must declare our support for free and fair 
plebiscites, under international supervision, on the question of 
independence for Punjab, Khalistan, for Kashmir, and for Nagaland.
  Pitting one group against the other to maintain a corrupt,brutal 
tyranny is not a democratic or a moral way to behave.

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