[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 81 (Tuesday, June 12, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SIKHS REMEMBER ATTACK ON THE GOLDEN TEMPLE, THEIR MOST SACRED SHRINE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2001

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, in June 1984, the Indian government attacked 
the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion. 
Attacking the Golden Temple is the equivalent of attacking Mecca or the 
Vatican. It is a great affront to the Sikh Nation. As the Sikh martyr 
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed in the Golden Temple, said, 
``If the Indian government attacks the Golden Temple, it will lay the 
foundation of Khalistan,'' the name of the independent Sikh homeland 
which declared its independence on October 7, 1987.
  This attack included the desecration of the Sikh holy scriptures, the 
Guru Granth Sahib, which they shot with bullets. Young Sikh boys were 
murdered. How can a democratic country commit this atrocity?
  On June 2, Sikhs from around the East Coast demonstrated in protest 
of the Golden Temple massacre. Sikhs came from Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
Miami, and other places on the East Coast. They let it be known that 
the Sikhs still remember their martyrs and that the flame of freedom 
still burns in their hearts.
  This launched a wave of violence which has killed over 250,000 Sikhs 
since 1984. In a new report, India is quoted as admitting that it held 
over 52,000 Sikh political prisoners without charge or trial. India has 
also killed more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland and engaged in a 
wave of terror against them since Christmas 1998. Over 75,000 Kashmiri 
Muslims have died at the hands of the Indian government, as well as 
thousands of people from Assam, Manipur, and Tamil people, and Dalits 
(the dark-skinned ``untouchables.'')
  America should not accept this kind of activity from a country that 
calls itself democratic. We should cut off aid to India until it allows 
full human rights for every citizen within its borders and we should 
support self-determination for all the peoples and nations of South 
Asia, such as the people of Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagalim, and others.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the Council of Khalistan's very informative 
press release on the June 2 demonstration into the Record.

                  Sikhs Observe Khalistan Martyrs Day


      Indian Attack on Golden Temple Laid Foundation of Khalistan

       Washington, D.C., June 2, 2001.--Sikhs of the East Coast 
     gathered in Washington, D.C. today to observe Khalistan 
     Martyrs Day. This is the anniversary of the Indian 
     government's brutal military attack on the Golden Temple, the 
     Sikh Nation's holiest shrine, and 38 other Sikh temples 
     throughout Punjab. More than 20,000 Sikhs were killed in 
     those attacks, known as Operation Bluestar. These martyrs 
     laid down their lives to lay the foundation for Khalistan. On 
     October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation declared its homeland, 
     Khalistan, independent.
       ``We thank all the demonstrators who came to this important 
     protest,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council Khalistan. ``We must remind the Indian government 
     that Sikhs will never forget or forgive the Golden Temple 
     desecration and the sacrifice the Sikh martyrs made for our 
     freedom. These martyrs gave their lives so that the Sikh 
     Nation could live in freedom,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``We salute 
     them on Khalistan Martyrs' Day,'' he said. ``As Sant 
     Bhindranwale said, the Golden Temple attack laid the 
     foundation of Khalistan.''
       The Golden Temple attack launched a campaign of genocide 
     against the Sikhs that continues to this day. This genocide 
     belies India's claims that it is a democracy. The Golden 
     Temple attack made it clear that there is no place for Sikhs 
     in India.
       ``Without political power nations perish. We must always 
     remember these martyrs for their sacrifice,'' Dr. Aulakh 
     said. ``The best tribute to these martyrs would be the 
     liberation of the Sikh homeland Punjab, Khalistan, from the 
     occupying Indian forces,'' he said.
       Over 50,000 Sikh political prisoners are rotting in Indian 
     jails without charge or trial. Many have been in illegal 
     custody since 1984. Since 1984, India has engaged in a 
     campaign of ethnic cleansing in which thousands of Sikhs are 
     murdered by Indian police and security forces and secretly 
     cremated. The Indian Supreme Court described this campaign as 
     ``worse than a genocide.'' General Narinder Singh has said, 
     ``Punjab is a police state.'' U.S. Congressman Dana 
     Rohrabacher has said that for Sikhs, Kashmiri Muslims, and 
     other minorities ``India might as well be Nazi Germany.''
       A report issued last month by the Movement Against State 
     Repression (MASR) shows that India admitted that it held 
     52,268 political prisoners under the repressive ``Terrorist 
     and Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA). These prisoners 
     continue to be held under TADA even though it expired in 
     1995. Persons arrested under TADA are routinely re-arrested 
     upon their release. Cases were routinely registered against 
     Sikh activists under TADA in states other than Punjab to give 
     the police an excuse to continue holding them. The MASR 
     report quotes the Punjab Civil Magistracy as writing ``if we 
     add up the figures of the last few years the number of 
     innocent persons killed would run into lakhs [hundreds of 
     thousands.]'' There has been no list published of those who 
     were acquitted under TADA.
       In March 2000, while former President Clinton was visiting 
     India, the Indian government murdered 35 Sikhs in the village 
     of Chatti Singhpora in Kashmir and tried to blame the 
     massacre on alleged militants. Indian security forces have 
     murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, according to figures 
     compiled by the Punjab State Magistracy and human-rights 
     organizations. These figures were published in The Politics 
     of Genocide by Inderjit Singh Jaijee. India has also killed 
     over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, over 75,000 
     Kashmiris since 1988, and tens of thousands of Untouchables 
     as well as indigenous tribal peoples in Manipur, Assam and 
     elsewhere.
       The Indian government has also targeted Christians. They 
     have been victims of a campaign of terror that has been going 
     on since Christmas 1998. Churches have been burned, Christian 
     schools and prayer halls have been attacked, nuns have raped, 
     and priests have been killed. Missionary Graham Staines and 
     his two sons were burned alive while they slept in their jeep 
     by militant Hindu members of the RSS, the parent organization 
     of the ruling BJP. Now his widow is being expelled from 
     India.
       ``The Golden Temple massacre reminded us that if Sikhs are 
     going to live with honor and dignity, we must have a free, 
     sovereign, and independent Khalistan,'' Dr. Aulakh said.

     

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