[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 18 (Thursday, February 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E144-E145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     TERRORIST INDIAN POLICE MURDER SIKHS, KASHMIRI RICKSHAW DRIVER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 8, 2001

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, recently a Kashmiri rickshaw 
driver was killed by Sikh police officers. In retaliation, five Sikhs 
were killed, and later, a sixth Sikh was murdered at a peaceful protest 
rally. These killings are tragic, and I know every member of the U.S. 
House of Representatives condemns these murders.
  I have recently met with representatives of several minority groups 
from within India who

[[Page E145]]

claim that these murders are part of the Indian government's deliberate 
strategy of setting minorities against each other for the purpose of 
keeping them within India and under the boot of Indian tyranny. 
According to these representatives, the Indian police have been 
recruiting members of the Black Cats, a notorious criminal terrorist 
gang in India, into the police force. They are apparently handing out 
these plum positions in the police force as a reward for the ``good 
work'' the Black Cats have done for the government. Tragically, this 
``good work'' consists mainly of killing Sikhs and other minorities. It 
is these Black Cats, often dressed as police, who often carry out these 
minority-targeted murders.
  Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, has 
put out a press release condemning these murders. He points out that 
the killings serve no one's interest but that of the Indian government. 
``When these things happen, just as in Chithi Singhpora, you have to 
ask the question: Who benefits?,'' Dr. Aulakh said. According to him, 
``In all these cases, the answer is the same: the Indian government. 
Neither the Sikh Nation nor the Kashmiris benefit in any way from the 
murders of Sikhs or Kashmiris.'' He noted that there were some threats 
to destroy a Muslim mosque in retaliation for the murders. It is the 
Indian government that has a record of attacking, desecrating, and 
destroying Christian, Sikh, and Muslim religious places. Dr. Aulakh 
urged both communities to keep their cool and not to be sucked into the 
Indian government's strategy. ``The Indian government has shown its 
disregard for basic human rights,'' said Dr. Aulakh.
  Mr. Speaker, the hard-working American taxpayers should not be taxed 
to support this kind of a government. American principles of freedom 
require that we help these people. We should stop all aid to India 
until it stops repressing its minorities and we should put the Congress 
on record demanding a free and fair plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan, in 
Kashmir, in predominantly Christian Nagaland, and anywhere else where 
people seek their freedom from India. These actions will go a long way 
towards bringing freedom to the subcontinent. I urge this Congress and 
President Bush to act now in support of freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the following press release from the Council of 
Khalistan's about this terrible incident; into the Record. I urge all 
my colleagues to read it carefully. It is very revealing about the true 
nature of Indian ``democracy.''

   Sikhs Condemn Killings in Kashmir, Appeal to Both Communities to 
   Exercise Restraint--Do Not Become Part of the Indian Government's 
   Divide and Rule Strategy--India Should Free Kashmir and Khalistan 
                      Instead of Murdering People

       Washington, D.C., February 6, 2001--The Council of 
     Khalistan today condemned this week's killings of five Sikhs 
     and the murder of a Muslim scooter driver by Indian Sikh 
     security force personnel in Kashmir. ``These killings are 
     reprehensible,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of 
     the Council of Khalistan, which leads the Sikh Nation's 
     struggle for independence. ``Neither Sikhs nor Muslims nor 
     any other people should be killed because of who they are,'' 
     he said. ``These killings only advance the Indian 
     government's divide and rule strategy,'' he said. ``I urge 
     both the Sikh community and the Muslim community not to get 
     worked up and commit more violence against each other,'' said 
     Dr. Aulakh.
       ``When these things happen, just as in Chithi Singhpora, 
     you have to ask the question: Who benefits?,'' Dr. Aulakh 
     said. ``In all these cases, the answer is the same: the 
     Indian government. Neither the Sikh Nation nor the Kashmiris 
     benefit in any way from the murders of Sikhs or Kashmiris.''
       Members of the violent Black Cats commandos have been 
     recruited into the police due to their ``good work''--killing 
     Sikhs and other minorities. These Indian agents have 
     infiltrated Sikh organizations and Muslim organizations. 
     ``They were the ones who threatened to destroy a mosque in 
     retaliation for the killings,'' Dr. Aulakh noted. ``No Sikh 
     would ever destroy anyone's religious places. But the 
     theocratic Hindu militant government of India has a record of 
     doing so,'' he said. He noted that the BJP destroyed the 
     Babri mosque and still plans to build a Hindu temple on the 
     spot. A mosque in Kashmir was also destroyed. Hindu militants 
     affiliated with the RSS, the parent organization of the 
     ruling BJP, have burned Christian churches. The Indian 
     government attacked the Golden Temple and 38 other Sikh 
     Gurdwaras in Punjab in June 1984.
       Tens of thousands of Sikh political prisoners are rotting 
     in Indian jails without charge or trial. India is in gross 
     violation of international law. The government of India has 
     murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 200,000 
     Christians since 1947, over 70,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 
     1988, and tens of thousands of Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, 
     Dalits (the aboriginal people of the subcontinent), and 
     others. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian 
     government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than a genocide.'' 
     Government-allied Hindu militants have murdered priests, and 
     raped nuns. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) described the 
     rapists as ``patriotic youth'' and called the nuns 
     ``Nantinational elements.'' Hindu radicals, members of the 
     Bajrang Dal, burned missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his 
     two sons, ages 10 and 8, to death while they surrounded the 
     victims and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god.
       ``India is not a democracy for Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, 
     and other minorities,'' said Dr. Aulakh. The rights 
     guaranteed in the Indian constitution are not enjoyed by non-
     Hindus, he said. ``Congressman Rohrabacher was right when he 
     said that for minorities `India might as well be Nazi 
     Germany.'' Police witnesses have confirmed that the police 
     tortured and murdered the former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, 
     Gurdev Singh Kaunke, and human-rights activist Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra.
       Sikhs ruled Punjab up to 1849 when the British conquered 
     the subcontinent. Sikhs were equal partners during the 
     transfer of power from the British. The Muslim leader Jinnah 
     got Pakistan for his people, the Hindu leaders got India, but 
     the Sikh leadership was fooled by the Hindu leadership 
     promising that Sikhs would have ``the glow of freedom'' in 
     Northwest India and the Sikhs took their share with India on 
     that promise.
       Sikhism was not even recognized in the Indian constitution 
     as a separate religion, while Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. 
     were recognized. Discrimination against the Sikh Nation took 
     place in every sphere. After the Golden Temple attack, the 
     Sikh Nation stepped up its struggle to achieve its God-given 
     right to be free. On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation 
     declared the independence of its homeland, Punjab, Khalistan. 
     No Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian 
     constitution. The Sikh Nation demands freedom for its 
     homeland, Khalistan.
       ``Democracies don't commit genocide,'' Dr. Aulakh said. 
     ``In a democracy, the right to self-determination is the sine 
     qua non and India should allow a plebiscite in Kashmir and 
     Punjab, Khalistan,'' he said. ``Only freedom will bring peace 
     and justice in South Asia.''

     

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