[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E133-E134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 INDIA: CANDIDATE FOR A TERRORIST STATE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2002

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing to note that 
India's actions of late have had the effect of undermining our war 
against terrorism. India's massive military buildup has forced Pakistan 
to pull troops away from the Afghan border, creating a potential 
opportunity for Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders to escape.
  India claims that this act is in response to Pakistan's failure to 
turn over alleged terrorists to them, but Pakistan has been cracking 
down on terrorists and has jailed many of them so far. It will not turn 
over non-Indians to India, however. India also blames Pakistan for the 
attack on its parliament, even though India has a record of committing 
acts of terrorism in the guise of various minorities. Two independent 
investigations have proven that they did so in Chithisinghpora in March 
2000, when they murdered 35 sikhs. The book Soft Target asserts that 
the Indian government was responsible for shooting down an Air India 
airliner in 1985, killing 329 people. In addition, India created the 
militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which our government 
has labeled a ``terrorist organization,'' and put up its leaders in 
Delhi's finest hotel, according to India Today, India's leading 
newsmagazine. Internet journalist Justin Raimondo has reported that 
Defense Minister George Fernandes supplied money and arms to the LTTE. 
On January 2, columnist Tony Blankley, writing in the Washington Times, 
reported that the Indian government sponsors cross-border terrorism in 
the Pakistani province of Sindh.
  The time has come for India to release its political prisoners. 
According to the Movement Against State Repression (MASR), India 
admitted to holding 52,268 Sikhs as political prisoners in ``the 
world's largest democracy.'' In addition, according to Amnesty 
International, tens of thousands of other minorities are also being 
held in jail.
  India has also been guilty of terrorism against the minorities within 
its own borders. The newspaper Hitavada reported on November 1994 that 
the Indian government paid $1.5 billion to the late governor of Punjab, 
Surendra Nath, to foment terrorist activity in Kashmir and Punjab, 
Khalistan.
  If we are going to win the war on terrorism, we must eliminate it 
wherever it shows up. That includes countries that claim to be 
democratic. I call on the White House to urge India to end its support 
for terrorism. In addition, it is time to cut off U.S. aid to India and 
to declare our support for a free and fair plebiscite in Punjab, 
Khalistan, in Christian Nagaland, in Kashmir, and in the other minority 
nations under Indian occupation on the subject of independence.
  Mr. Speaker, on January 7, the Council of Khalistan published a press 
release urging that India be declared a terrorist state. I would like 
to place it into the Record at this time.

      [Press Release from the Council of Khalistan, Jan. 7, 2002]

      Declare India a Terrorist Nation--It Sponsors Domestic and 
                          International Terror


          India Must Free Over 52,000 Sikh Political Prisoners

       Washington, DC.--``The time has come to declare India a 
     terrorist nation,'' Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council of Khalistan, said today. The Council of Khalistan 
     leads the Sikh Nation's struggle for independence and is the 
     government pro tempore of Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, which 
     declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987. 
     ``India pays lip service to the war on terrorism, but it is a 
     terrorist nation itself,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``If America is 
     committed to eradicating terrorism everywhere, that must 
     include India, a major sponsor of international and domestic 
     terrorism,'' Dr. Aulakh said.
       Columnist Tony Blankley, writing in the Washington Times on 
     January 2, wrote that India sponsors cross-border terrorism 
     in the Pakistani province of Sindh. Internet journalist 
     Justin Raimondo recently reported that Indian Defense 
     Minister George Fernandes raised money for the militant 
     Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which the U.S. 
     government has labelled as a ``terrorist organization,'' and 
     provided arms for them. Journalist Tavleen Singh, writing in 
     India Today, India's premier newsmagazine, reported that the 
     Indian government created the LTTE and put up its leaders in 
     the finest hotel in Delhi.
       The Deccan Chronicle reported on December 14 that the 
     Indian government knew of the terrorist attack on its 
     Parliament, which killed 13 people, in advance and that the 
     government did nothing to stop it. No Members of Parliament 
     were killed in the attack, but the victims were lower-caste 
     people. This shows government involvement in the incident. 
     India seeks to use this attack as a pretext for a war against 
     Pakistan. Indian cabinet members have said that Pakistan 
     should be incorporated into India. ``Sikhs and Kashmiris will 
     be the main victims of war,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``This is part 
     of India's design. India is putting the stability of the 
     entire South Asian region at risk for its own hegemonic 
     ambitions,'' he said.
       ``We condemn terrorism in all forms, wherever it comes 
     from,'' he said. ``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 . . . 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. ``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.
       The book Soft Target, written by two respected Canadian 
     journalists, shows that the Indian government blew up its own 
     airliner in 1985 to provide a pretext for more repression 
     against Sikhns. 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. The Indian government has 
     murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984. Over 75,000 Kashmiri 
     Muslims have been killed since 1988. 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. 
     In August 1999, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said that 
     for Sikhs, Kashmiri Muslims, and other minorities ``India 
     might as well be Nazi Germany.''
       India has also repressed Christians. More than 200,000 
     Christians have been killed since 1947. 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 by firing their 
     weapons at it.
       ``Now is the time for Sikhs, Kashmiris, Nagas, and other 
     nations to claim their freedom,'' he said. ``Now is the time 
     for a Shantmai Morcha (peaceful agitation) for the 
     independence of Khalistan,'' he said. ``If India is truly the 
     democracy it claims, then it should allow a free and fair 
     vote on this issue,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Sikhs are a separate 
     nation and ruled Punjab up to 1849 when the British annexed 
     Punjab. The nations and

[[Page E134]]

     peoples of South Asia must have self-determination now.''

     

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