[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 102 (Wednesday, September 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1403]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PRESIDENT MUST PRESS VAJPAYEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SELF-DETERMINATION

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 6, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, next week Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari 
Vajpayee is coming to visit the United States. He will meet with 
several American leaders, including President Clinton and perhaps both 
major-party Presidential candidates. When he meets with these leaders, 
they must bring up the issue of human rights and self-determination.
  India claims to be a democracy, but in truth there is no democracy in 
India. It is a militant Hindu fundamentalist state. Christians, ,Sikhs, 
Muslims, Dalits, and other minorities suffer severe oppression and 
atrocities at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists.
  Just last month, a priest in Gujarat was kidnapped, tortured, and 
paraded through town naked by militant Hindu nationalists. The Indian 
government has refused to register a complaint against the kidnappers. 
This is the latest act in a campaign of terror against Christians that 
has been going on since Christmas 1998. This campaign has seen the 
murders of priests, rape of nuns, Hindu militants burning a missionary 
and his two sons to death in their van, the destruction of schools and 
prayer halls, and other anti-Christian atrocities. Most of these 
activities have been carried out by allies of the government or people 
affiliated with organizations under the umbrella of the RSS, the parent 
organization of the ruling BJP, which was founded in support of 
Fascism.
  Recently, Bal Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena, a coalition partner 
of the ruling BJP, threatened to engulf the country in violence if he 
is held responsible for his part in hundreds of murders in 1992. In 
India, democracy apparently requires making coalitions with killers.
  The Christians are not the only minority that is being oppressed. 
When President Clinton visited India in March, 35 Sikhs were massacred 
in the village of Chithi Singhpora in Kashmir. The Indian government 
killed five Muslims, claiming that they were the individuals 
responsible for the killings. Later they were forced to admit that 
these Muslims were innocent. Now the Indian government has arrested two 
more people on the claim that they are responsible for the massacre. 
Yet two independent investigations have clearly established that the 
Indian government itself was responsible for the massacre. How can a 
democratic nation justify these actions?
  The Sikhs have declared their independence from India, forming the 
new country of Khalistan in 1987. The people of Kashmir were promised a 
plebiscite on their future in 1948, and India promised the United 
Nations that this referendum would be held as well. The people of 
predominantly Christian Nagalim seek their independence. There are 
several other freedom movements within India's borders. It seems to 
this Member that the best, fairest, and most democratic way to settle 
these issues is to conduct a free and fair plebiscite on the question 
of independence in these minority nations.
  In addition to our legitimate nuclear-proliferation concerns, it is 
important that as the world's only superpower, our leaders press the 
government of India to live up to the democratic standards they 
proclaim by allowing all people within their borders to enjoy basic 
human rights and self-determination. If they do not do so, we should 
cut off U.S. aid to India and put this Congress on record with a 
resolution in support of human rights, self-determination, and nuclear 
nonproliferation for all the people of South Asia.

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