[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 119 (Thursday, September 19, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ``WE HAVE NO ORDERS TO SAVE YOU''

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 19, 2002

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the organization Human Rights Watch has 
issued a report on the violence earlier this year in Gujarat, India, 
entitled ``We Have No Orders To Save You.'' About 5,000 Muslims were 
killed in these riots, according to the newspaper ``The Hindu.'' News 
reports quoted a police official as saying that he was ordered not to 
intervene to stop the violence and save lives. Another published report 
said that the government of India pre-planned these riots. The report 
from Human Rights Watch confirms this.
  The riot was allegedly a response to the attack on a trainload of 
Hindus in Godhra. However, in the report, Human Rights Watch writes, 
``Human Rights Watch's findings, and those of numerous Indian human 
rights and civil liberties organizations, and most of the Indian press 
indicate that the attacks on Muslims throughout the state were planned, 
well in advance of the Godhra incident, and organized with extensive 
police participation and in close cooperation with officials of the 
Bharatiya Janata party (Indian Peoples Party, BJP) state government.'' 
The BJP, which is the political arm of the pro-Fascist Rashtriya 
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), also controls the central government in Delhi.
  ``The attacks on Muslims are part of a concerted campaign of Hindu 
nationalist organizations to promote and exploit communal tensions to 
further the BJP's rule,'' Human Rights Watch wrote, calling it ``a 
movement that is supported at the local level by militant groups that 
operate with impunity and under the patronage of the state.''
  This report makes it clear that the Indian government supports 
terrorist groups that are murdering minorities all over India. India 
Today, India's largest newsmagazine, reported that the Indian 
government created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which 
the U.S. government has labeled a ``terrorist organization.'' It has 
supported cross-border terrorism in Sindh, a province of Pakistan, 
according to the Washington Times. The book ``Soft Target'' shows that 
India shot down its own airliner to blame the Sikhs. It paid out over 
41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. According to 
the ``Hitavvada'' newspaper, India paid the late governor of Punjab, 
Surendra Nath, $1.5 billion to foment terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir.
  Unfortunately, this violence is all too reminiscent of previous 
incidents that took place before the BJP took power. In 1997, police 
gunfire broke up a Christian religious festival. And the violence in 
Gujarat was strangely reminiscent of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in 
Delhi which cost 20,000 Sikhs their lives. It seems that in India, no 
matter who is in power, it is not safe to be a minority.
  Mr. Speaker, we must act. America can't just sit and watch this 
terrorism and repression unfold. India has already been put on the 
watch list of countries that violate religious freedom. We must cut off 
aid and trade with India until human rights are enjoyed by all, and we 
must support self-determination for all peoples and nations in South 
Asia. Then perhaps there will no longer be need for reports like the 
one recently issued by Human Rights Watch. Instead, everyone in the 
subcontinent will be able to have real democracy, freedom, stability, 
prosperity, and peace.

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