[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 29 (Thursday, March 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E364-E365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          EVIDENCE IN CHITHISINGPHORA FAKED, GOVERNMENT ADMITS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 14, 2002

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, back in March 2000, just before 
former President Clinton visited India, 35 Sikhs were massacred in the 
village of Chithistinghpora in Kashmir. At the time, many people 
accused the Indian government of this atrocity while the Indian 
government laid the blame on Pakistani-sponsored militants. A study by 
the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) and the Punjab Human 
Rights Organization (PHRO) showed that the Indian government's own 
forces had killed these innocent Sikhs, a conclusion confirmed by a 
study from the international Human Rights Organization (IHRO) and by an 
article in the New York Times Magazine by Barry Bearak. Yet the Indian 
government maintained the fiction that Pakistanis carried out the 
massacre. They killed five young Kashmiris, claiming they were 
responsible, then were force to admit that they were not. Then five 
other Kashmiris were arrested and charged with the crime.
  On March 8, Reuters news service reported that the chief minister of 
Kasmir, Farooq Abdullah, admitted that the evidence against these 
Kashmiris was faked. That's right, Mr. Speaker, the ``world's largest 
democracy'' faked evidence to falsely convict some Kashmiris of the 
massacre of these Sikhs in order to set these two minorities against 
each other. Fortunately, it has not worked. Last year, some Indian 
troops were caught red-handed trying to set fire to a Gurdwara and some 
Sikh homes in Kashmir and they were overwhelmed by Sikh and Muslim 
villagers.
  Remember also, Mr. Speaker, that the ruling BJP is part of a militant 
Hindu nationalist organization the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), 
which published a booklet last year on how to implicate minorities in 
false criminal cases.
  Given the government's admission of fraud in this case, how many 
other cases have they faked? They admit to holding 52,268 Sikhs as 
political prisoners, according to a MASR report. Amnesty International 
says that that tens of thousands of other minorities are also being 
held as political prisoners in ``the world's largest democracy.'' How 
many cases have been faked against these prisoners?
  Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that the evidence in the Chithistinghpora 
massacre was faked, and it is shameful that it needed to be. However, 
the people who carry out atrocities like this massacre are rarely if 
ever punished. Instead, the state either finds scapegoats like the five 
Kashmiris it is currently holding or it does nothing. It has found a 
scapegoat in the killing of Graham Staines, even though every report at 
the time reported that a mob of people chanting Hindu slogans burned 
Mr. Staines and his two sons. No one has been punished in the murder of 
former Akal Takht Jathedar Gurdev Singh Kaunke or in the kidnapping and 
murder of Jaswant Singh Khalar, who was killed in police custody.
  I call on the Indian government to punish those who tampered with the 
evidence in this case immediately. I also call on the United States to 
cut off aid with India until they allow people to enjoy basic human 
rights and a fair, impartial system of justice. We should also press 
for a free and fair plebiscite on independence for the people of 
Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and the other countries seeking their 
freedom. That is only way to protect their rights and end this kinf of 
abuse.


[[Page E365]]



             Kashmir Govt. Says Sikh Massacre Samples Faked

                          (By Ashok Pahalwan)

       Jammu, India (Reuters).--The state government of Kashmir 
     admitted on Friday that forensic samples taken in an attempt 
     to confirm the guilt of five young men blamed for a Sikh 
     massacre two years ago were faked. The killing of 36 Sikhs in 
     remote Chitisingpora village in the violence-racked state of 
     Jammu and Kashmir in March 2000 occurred hours before a visit 
     by U.S. President Bill Clinton to India and drew strong 
     condemnation from him. Indian newspapers have alleged that 
     soon after the massacre security forces picked up five 
     innocent youths, killed them in a stage-managed gun battle, 
     burned their bodies and then claimed they were ``foreign 
     militants'' responsible for the Sikhs' deaths. The bodies of 
     the five youths were exhumed and forensic samples taken only 
     after massive demonstrations in Kashmir by protesters. 
     Kashmir state chief minister Farooq Abdullah told the 
     legislature on Friday ``it appears fake samples were sent'' 
     to laboratories and apologized for ``the injustice done to 
     the people for which I feel ashamed''. ``We strongly suggest 
     those responsible for collecting and sending the samples had 
     something to hide,'' he added, promising an investigation 
     into the tampering. India had identified the five youths 
     blamed for the Sikh killings as belonging to the militant 
     separatist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
       Both groups denied responsibility and, with Pakistan, 
     blamed India for the massacre which they said was aimed at 
     discrediting the Kashmiri independence cause during Clinton's 
     visit. The laboratories to which the samples were sent to 
     establish the youths' identity said they were mislabeled and 
     showed serious discrepancies. Abdullah said a judge would 
     lead the probe, which would take two months. He also said 
     fresh test samples would be taken under the supervision of 
     police and doctors. The Times of India, one of the newspapers 
     which investigated reports that the samples had been 
     falsified, accused the state in an editorial on Friday of a 
     ``brazen'' cover-up. ``From knowingly foisting the charge of 
     terrorism on innocents to eliminating them in a fake 
     encounter . . . (it) is an example of the worst kind of state 
     high-handedness,'' it said in an editorial. More than 33,000 
     people have been killed since 1989 when Islamic guerrillas 
     seeking either independence or union with neighboring 
     Pakistan launched a revolt in Kashmir.
       Human rights groups have frequently accused Indian security 
     forces of abuses such as summary killings and torture. India 
     has always denied systematic human rights abuses and said 
     that any allegations are investigated and the guilty 
     punished.

     

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