[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2359-E2360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TERRORIST ATTACK ON INDIAN PARLIAMENT CONDEMNED--ATTACK IS INEVITABLE 
                   CONSEQUENCE OF REPRESSION IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 19, 2001

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues and all decent 
people of the world in condemning the terrorist attack on the Indian 
Parliament. I extend my sympathies to the victims and their families. 
Terrorism is never acceptable. We are currently at war against 
terrorism, as we should be.
  However, India is a country that has practiced terrorism against the 
peoples living within its borders. It has a pattern of terrorism. 
Remember that two government officials there were quoted last year as 
saying that Pakistan should be absorbed into India. It is clear that 
India seeks hegemony over all the peoples and nations of South Asia.
  In May, Indian troops were overwhelmed by villagers, both Sikhs and 
Muslims, while they were trying to set fire to a Sikh Gurdwara and some 
Sikh houses in Kashmir. Independent investigations by the International 
Human Rights Organization and jointly by the Punjab Human Rights 
Organization and the Movement Against State Repression have 
conclusively shown that the Indian government carried out the massacre 
of 35 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora in March 2000 while former President 
Clinton was visiting India. Its police broke up a Christian religious 
festival with gunfire. According to the excellent book Soft Target, 
written by two respected Toronto reporters, the Indian government blew 
up its own airliner in 1985, killing 329 innocent people. According to 
a report in the Hitavada newspaper, India paid the late Governor of 
Punjab, Surendra Nath, $1.5 billion to create terrorism in Punjab, 
Khalistan and in Kashmir.
  We must work to stop terrorism wherever it occurs. India's terrorism 
is no exception. We should stop our aid to India until it stops its 
repression of the Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, and other minorities, and 
we should declare our public support for self-determination for all the 
people of South Asia in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on the 
question of independence.
  A report published this past May by the Movement Against State 
Repression showed that the Indian government admitted that 52,268 Sikh 
political prisoners are rotting in Indian jails without charge or 
trial. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984. The Indian 
government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, according to the 
Politics of Genocide by Inderjit Singh Jaijee. Over 75,000 Kashmiri 
Muslims and over 200,000 Christians have been killed.
  Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan has published an excellent 
press release on this attack. I would like to share it with my 
colleagues by inserting it into the Record now.

       [From the Council of Khalistan, Dec. 14, 2001]

Council Of Khalistan Condemns All Terrorism--Terrorist Attack on Indian 
              Parliament Is a Product of Indian Repression

                (By Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Tenth Master)

       India Must End Its Repression Instead of Blaming Pakistan--
     Newspaper Says Indian Government Knew of Attack in Advance
       Washington, DC--The Council of Khalistan today condemned 
     the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, but called on 
     the Indian government to join the fight against terrorism 
     worldwide and to end its own terrorism against minorities.
       ``We condemn terrorism in all forms, wherever it comes 
     from,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council of Khalistan, the government pro tempore of 
     Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, which declared its independence 
     from India on October 7, 1987. ``We strongly condemn this 
     terrorist action and we condemn the Indian government's 
     terrorism that gave rise to this act,'' he said. ``When you 
     repress people long enough, they strike back. India's 
     repression of minorities made this incident inevitable.''
       The Deccan Chronicle reported today that the Indian 
     government knew of the attack in advance and did nothing to 
     stop it. This shows government involvement in the incident. 
     yet the Indian government has blamed Pakistan for the 
     attacks. India will use this incident as an excuse for more 
     repression of the minorities, such as the Sikhs of Khalistan, 
     the Muslims of Kashmir, the Christians of Nagaland, and 
     others.
       ``India must stop blaming Pakistan for everything that goes 
     wrong in India and end its own terrorism against the Sikhs, 
     Christians, Muslims, and other minorities,'' said Dr. Aulakh. 
     ``It is time for India to release more than 52,000 Sikh 
     political prisoners and the tens of thousands of other 
     political prisoners and end its repression,'' Dr. Aulakh 
     said. The book ``Soft Target,'' written by two Canadian 
     journalists, proves that the Indian government blew up its 
     own airliner in 1985 to generate more repression against 
     Sikhs. In November 1994, the newspaper Hitavada reported that 
     the government paid the late governor of Punjab, Surendra 
     Nath, $1.5 billion to generate terrorist activity in Punjab 
     and Kashmir.
       ``I salute Pakistani President Musharraf for risking his 
     political life by supporting America and the world in its 
     fight against terrorism. It is time for India to get on 
     board,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``I call on India to join the fight 
     against terrorism and I call on the Sikh leadership in Punjab 
     to stop making coalitions with the Indian government and work 
     for freedom for the Sikhs and the other minority nations of 
     South Asia,'' he said. ``There is a very good reason that 
     there are 17 freedom movements within India's current 
     borders.''
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984. According to a report in May by the Movement Against 
     State Repression, India admitted that 52,268 Sikh political 
     prisoners are rotting in Indian jails without charge or 
     trial. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984. Over 
     200,000 Christians have been killed since 1947 and over 
     75,000 Kashmiri Muslims have been killed since 1988. The 
     Indian Supreme Court described the situation in Punjab as 
     ``worse

[[Page E2360]]

     than a genocide.'' In May, Indian troops were caught red-
     handed trying to set fire to a Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) and 
     some Sikh houses in Kashmir. Two independent investigations 
     have proven that the Indian government carried out the March 
     2000 massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora. U.S. 
     Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has said that for Sikhs, 
     Kashmiri Muslims, and other minorities ``India might as well 
     be Nazi Germany.''
       India has also repressed Christians. Two leaders of the 
     ruling BJP said that everyone who lives in India must either 
     be a Hindu or be subservient to Hinduism. Priests have been 
     murdered, nuns have been raped, churches have been burned, 
     Christian schools and prayer halls have been destroyed, and 
     no one has been punished for these acts. Militant Hindu 
     fundamentalists allied with the RSS, the pro-Fascist parent 
     organization of the ruling BJP, burned missionary Graham 
     Staines and his two young sons to death. In 1997, police 
     broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.
       ``Nations that do not have political power vanish,'' Dr. 
     Aulakh said. ``Sikhs are a separate nation and ruled Punjab 
     up to 1849 when the British annexed Punjab. The nations and 
     people of South Asia must have self-determination now.''

     

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