[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1846-E1847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           INDIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD STOP ITS STATE TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 18, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on September 27, a letter from the Council of 
Khalistan was published in the Washington Times. It details the 
propaganda spread by the Indian government to discredit its opponents.
  That propaganda is necessary for the Indian government to cover up 
the atrocities and state terrorism against Christians, Sikhs, and other 
minorities. Former Indian cabinet minister R.L. Bhatia admitted in 1995 
that the Indian government is spending ``large sums of money'' to 
spread this propaganda and influence affairs in the United States.
  Earlier this month, militant Hindu fundamentalists attacked the home 
of a priest. They beat him and his neighbor. The neighbor was beaten so 
badly that he died. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not unusual. 
It is just the latest in a series of atrocities carried out by 
organizations under the umbrella of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh 
(RSS), the parent organization of the ruling BJP. While Prime Minister 
Vajpayee was in New York during his recent visit to the U.S., he said, 
``I will always be a Swayamsewak.''
  Last week, former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar said that there is 
no difference between the ruling BJP and the supposedly secular 
Congress Party. Unfortunately, from the point of view of the minorities 
in India, it is true. There is no difference. Whoever is in power, the 
repression continues. India has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, 
over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, over 70,000 Kashmiri 
Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of Dalit ``untouchables'' and 
other minorities. Thousands of Sikhs and other minorities are in 
illegal detention without charge or trial simply because they are 
opposed to the government, or because they are members of a minority.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for India to stop its state terrorism against 
the minorities within its borders. We must stop American aid to India 
and declare our support for self-determination for the people of 
Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagalim, and the other nations seeking their 
freedom, in the form of a free and fair democratic plebiscite. These 
measures are the only ones we can take that will help to bring real 
freedom and democracy to the people of South Asia.
  I would like to submit the Council of Khalistan's letter into the 
Record for the information of my colleagues.

            [From The Washington Times, Wed. Sept. 27, 2000]

                No Militants in the Council of Khalistan

       Manpreet Singh Nibber's Sept. 16 letter, ``India human 
     rights criticism from unreliable source?'' is so full of 
     disinformation that he must be fronting for the Indian 
     Embassy in its effort to confuse the American people.
       Mr. Nibber, who is a member of the Punjab Welfare Council 
     of the USA, does not address any of the facts we brought up 
     in our last letter. Instead, he spreads Indian disinformation 
     about the Council of Khalistan and its origins. He knows 
     there are no ``militants'' involved in the council. We 
     consistently support the liberation of Khalistan, the Sikh 
     homeland that declared its independence from India on Oct. 7, 
     1987, by democratic, nonviolent means through the Sikh 
     tradition of ``Shantmai morcha,'' or peaceful agitation.
       The Indian Embassy has interfered in American elections, 
     calling for the re-election of former Sen. Larry Pressler and 
     attempting to damage the re-election campaign of Sen. Robert 
     Torricelli. A few years ago, the Indian Embassy was caught 
     giving illegal campaign donations to members of Congress 
     through an immigration lawyer named Lalit Gadhia, who pleaded 
     guilty to the scheme in federal court.
       There are many other Gadhias throughout this country. 
     Former Indian cabinet minister R.L. Bhatia admitted in a 1995 
     news conference that the Indian government is spending 
     ``large sums of money'' through the embassy to influence 
     American politics. But what is that money defending?
       On Sept. 8, militant Hindus attacked the home of a priest 
     and beat the priest and his servant. The servant was so 
     severely beaten that he died of the injuries. On Aug. 25, 
     news stories reported that militant Hindu nationalists 
     kidnapped and tortured a priest in Gujarat, then paraded him 
     naked through town. This attack was part of a wave of terror 
     against Christians since Christmas 1998.
       Incidents have included the murder of priests, the rape of 
     nuns and the burning to death of a missionary and his two 
     sons in their van by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak 
     Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya 
     Janata Party. Schools and prayer halls have been attacked and 
     destroyed. The individuals who raped the nuns were described 
     by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a militant organization within 
     the RSS, as ``patriotic youth.'' The RSS was founded in 
     support of fascism.
       In March, 35 Sikhs were murdered in the village of Chithi 
     Singhpora in Kashmir. Two extensive independent 
     investigations, one conducted by the Movement Against State 
     Repression and the Punjab Human Rights Organization and 
     another conducted by the Ludhiana-based International Human 
     Rights Organization, proved that the Indian government was 
     responsible for this massacre.
       The Indian government has murdered more than 250,000 Sikhs 
     since 1984, according to figures published in Inderjit Signh 
     Jaijee's

[[Page E1847]]

     ``The Politics of Genocide.'' India also has killed more than 
     200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 70,000 
     Kashmiri Muslims since 1988 and tens of thousands of other 
     minorities. Amnesty International reports that thousands of 
     political prisoners are being held without charge or trial in 
     ``the world's largest democracy.''
       India is hostile to the United States. It votes against 
     America at the United Nations more often than any country 
     except Cuba.
       In May 1999, the Indian Express reported that Indian 
     Defense Minister George Fernandes led a meeting with Cuba, 
     China, Iraq, Serbia, Russia and Libya to construct a security 
     alliance ``to stop the U.S.''
       India openly supported the Soviet Union's invasion of 
     Afghanistan. Its nuclear weapons test started the nuclear 
     arms race in South Asia. It refuses to allow the Sikhs, 
     Kashmiris, Christians and other minority nations seeking 
     their freedom to decide their political future in a free and 
     fair vote, the democratic way.
       America must not accept this kind of brutality and tyranny 
     from a government that claims to be democratic. We must cut 
     off aid and trade to India and support a free and fair 
     plebiscite to ensure human rights and self-determination for 
     Khalistan, Christian Nagalim, Kashmir and all the minority 
     nations and peoples living under Indian rule.

     

                          ____________________