[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 88 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1208-E1209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DECLARE INDIA A TERRORIST STATE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 11, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on June 28, the Washington Times published an 
excellent letter from our friend Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of 
the Council of Khalistan, calling for strong action to end religious 
persecution in India.
  The letter cited the recent incident in which a Hindu woman poured 
boiling oil on militant

[[Page E1209]]

Hindu fundamentalists who were attacking her tenant, a Catholic priest. 
The Hindu nationalists who carried out this attack are allies of the 
ruling BJP. It also refers to several other incidents, including the 
recent savage beating of some Christian missionaries, one so severely 
that he might lose his arms and legs.
  The letter also made reference to a letter send by 21 members of this 
House in which we asked the President to declare India a terrorist 
state because of its reign of terror against Christians which has been 
going in full force since Christmas 1998, as well as its oppression of 
Sikhs, Muslims, and other minorities. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it is 
not safe to be a minority in India.
  India should be declared a terrorist state, its aid should be 
stopped, and the Sikhs of Khalistan, the Muslims of Kashmir, the 
Christians of Nagaland, and the other minorities of the subcontinent 
should enjoy self-determination. It is the responsibility of the 
Congress to speak out in support of these things.
  I submit Dr. Aulakh's letter to the Washington Times for the Record.

               [From the Washington Times, June 28, 2000]

              Oppression of Christians Continues in India

                        (By Gurmit Singh Aulakh)

       We commend the Hindu woman who poured boiling oil on 
     militant Hindu fundamentalists who were attacking her tenant, 
     a Catholic priest (``Hindu woman protects Christian priest,'' 
     World, June 25). This is an act of religious tolerance, which 
     is very rare in India these days.
       Last week, a bipartisan group of 21 members of the U.S. 
     Congress wrote to President Clinton asking him to declare 
     India a terrorist state because of its oppression of 
     Christians and religious minorities. They took note of the 
     pattern of violence against Christians that has been going on 
     since Christmas 1998.
       Last month, four Christian missionaries who were 
     distributing Bibles and religious pamphlets were beaten 
     severely by militant Hindu fundamentalists. The beating was 
     so severe that one of the victims may lose his arms and legs. 
     In April, Hindu fundamentalists affiliated with the Rashtriya 
     Swayamsevak Sangh, a pro-fascist organization that is the 
     parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party 
     (BJP), attacked a Christian group and burned biblical 
     literature. In March, a Sikh family saved a group of nuns 
     whose convent had come under attack from Hindu 
     fundamentalists. On Easter, a group of nuns who were going to 
     Easter services were run down by Hindu fundamentalists on 
     motor scooters.
       Churches have been burned, prayer halls and Christian 
     schools have been destroyed, nuns have been raped, and 
     priests have been murdered by the militant Hindu nationalists 
     advocating ``Hindutva,'' a Hindu culture, society and nation. 
     Hindu fundamentalists chanting ``Victory to hannuman,'' a 
     Hindu god, burned missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, 
     ages 8 and 10, to death while they slept in their Jeep. The 
     Indian government, led by the Hindu nationalist BJP, has not 
     taken action to punish the persons responsible for any of 
     these atrocities.
       Christians are the primary targets of the militant Hindu 
     nationalists, but they are not the only ones who are 
     suffering. In March, 35 Sikhs were murdered in the village of 
     Chithi Singhpora in Kashmir. India promptly blamed Kashmiri 
     ``militants'' and killed five Kashmiris, claiming that they 
     were responsible. However, two independent investigations 
     have established clearly that the Indian government's 
     counterinsurgency forces carried out this massacre. India has 
     since admitted that the five Kashmiris the government killed 
     were innocent.
       The Sikhs who were murdered in Chithi Singhpora join more 
     than 250,000 Sikhs who have been murdered by the Indian 
     government, according to ``The Politics of Genocide,'' by 
     Inderjit Singh Jaijee. In addition, the Indian government has 
     killed more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland, more than 
     70,000 Kashmiri Muslims and tens of thousands of Assamese, 
     Manipuris, Tamils, Dalits (the dark-skinned ``untouchables,'' 
     the aboriginal people of South Asia) and others. Tens of 
     thousands of Sikhs are rotting in Indian jails as political 
     prisoners without charge or trial.
       This is nothing less than a campaign of terror designed to 
     wipe out minority peoples and nations from the Indian 
     subcontinent and achieve hegemony in South Asia. The United 
     States should declare India a terrorist state because of 
     these ongoing atrocities. It also should cut off American aid 
     and trade to India and openly declare its support for self-
     determination for the minority peoples and nations of South 
     Asia through an internationally supervised plebiscite on the 
     question of independence. If India wants to be seen as a 
     democratic nation and a major world power, it will stop its 
     reign of terror against its minorities and allow them to 
     exercise their democratic rights. Until then, America must 
     hold India's feet to the fire.

     

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