[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 125 (Monday, September 30, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1706-E1707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INDIA CANNOT GOVERN WITHOUT THE PEOPLE'S CONSENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 30, 2002

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, no government can govern without the 
consent of the governed. That is one of the founding principles of 
America.
  Earlier this year, my friend Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of 
the Council of Khalistan, issued a ``New Year's Message to the Sikh 
Nation.'' In it, he noted that India is governing the Sikhs of Punjab, 
Khalistan, the Christians of Nagaland, the Muslims of Kashmir, and many 
other minority nations without their consent.
  In the letter, the Council of Khalistan said that the elections 
earlier this year in Punjab

[[Page E1707]]

won't have any effect in terms of freeing the people, but merely change 
the facts of the oppressors. The letter noted that in the likely event 
of a war between India and Pakistan, it will be the Sikhs and the 
Kashmiris who will be the primary victims. He called on Sikhs not to 
fight for India. He reminded us that no Sikh representative ever signed 
India's constitution. How can India's constitution be binding on the 
Sikhs when they have never been a party to it?
  Dr. Aulakh wrote that India is not one country and is just a remnant 
of British colonialism. He wrote that its breakup is inevitable. On 
January 25, Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani admitted that when Kashmir 
leaves India, India will unravel. That is why India is so scared of the 
17 freedom movements within its borders. There is clear sentiment for 
freedom within India's borders, Mr. Speaker. We must do what we can to 
help that cause along.
  What can America do to help the cause of freedom in South Asia? For 
one thing, we can try to keep India and Pakistan at peace. 
Unfortunately, there has already been firing across the Line of Control 
in Kashmir. We should use our diplomatic power to stop the fighting 
before it becomes all-out war. Both sides have nuclear weapons, Mr. 
Speaker, and the Pakistani government has been quite helpful to us in 
the war on terror, at least until India's military maneuvers forced 
them to divert troops to the Indian-Pakinstani border.
  We should stop our aid to India to help stop the atrocities against 
Sikhs, Christians, Kashmiri Muslims, dark-skinned Dalit 
``untouchables,'' and others. We should also publicly declare our 
support for self-determination for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and 
all the minority nations and peoples seeking their freedom from India.
  Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan's open letter is very 
informative. I think my colleagues will be very well informed by 
reading it. Therefore, I would like to place it in the Record now.

                                         Council of Khalistan,

                                  Washington, DC, January 3, 2002.
       Khalsa Ji: Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh!
       Happy New Year to you and your family and friends. May 2002 
     be the best year you have ever had.
       At the dawn of a new year, freedom for Khalistan is closer 
     than ever. India is showing its instability. The Indian 
     government is so desperate that it was caught red-handed 
     murdering. Sikh girls in Kashmir. Just as it did in 
     Chithisinghpora, the regime is committing terrorist acts to 
     try to set minority nations against one another in pursuit of 
     India's ongoing drive for hegemony in South Asia. On May 27, 
     several Indian soldiers were caught red-handed trying to set 
     fire to a Gurdwara and some Sikh homes in Kashmir. Sikh and 
     Muslim residents of the village overwhelmed the troops and 
     stopped them from carrying out this atrocity. Now India has 
     set up another terrorist incident that has cost the lives of 
     at least three Sikh girls.
       India has massed large numbers of troops and warheads on 
     the border. Unfortunately, the upcoming war will result in 
     the deaths of many Sikhs, Kashmiris, and other minorities, 
     exactly the result the Indian government wants. I urge Sikhs 
     not to support India. Punjab and Kashmir will be the main 
     battlegrounds. Sikhs will be killed in the upcoming war more 
     than any other people will, as they have in every war in the 
     past. It is Sikhs who will suffer the most, and that 
     suffering would be made worse by shedding Sikh blood for the 
     oppressors of the Sikh Nation. We do not have a choice of 
     peace or war. The Sikh Nation has a right to choose peace, 
     and that choice requires the independence of Khalistan. To 
     save Sikh lives, do not fight with the Hindu slavemasters. 
     Instead, work to liberate Khalistan.
       This is an ideal opportunity to begin a Shantmai Morcha and 
     form a Khalsa Raj Party to achieve independence for Khalistan 
     and to liberate the other countries seeking their freedom 
     from Indian occupation. Take advantage of this opportunity. 
     Fight to free Khalistan. Remember the words of former Akal 
     Takht Jathedar Professor Darshan Singh: ``If a Sikh is not 
     Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'' Self-determination is the 
     right of all people and nations.
       India is not one nation. It has 18 official languages. The 
     Sikh Nation's sentiment for Khalistan is clear. Pro-Khalistan 
     handbills were handed out at the Golden Temple on June 7 
     during the commemoration of Gallughara Divas and Sant 
     Bhindranwale's martyrdom. Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, the head of 
     the Bharat Kisan Union, has called for self-determination for 
     the Sikhs. The flame of freedom burns bright in the hearts of 
     the Sikhs.
       India wants to wipe out minority nations so that they 
     cannot ask for their freedom. To achieve that objective, the 
     Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, 
     over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 
     75,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Dalits (dark-skinned ``Untouchables,'' the aboriginal people 
     of South Asia), Tamils, Bodos, Assamese, Manipuris, and 
     others.
       The Deccan Chronicle reported that the Indian government 
     knew of the attack on Parliament, which killed 13 people, in 
     advance and did nothing. The Indian army carried out the 
     attack to provide a pretext for an attack on Pakistan and 
     Kashmir. It hopes to use the killings of young Sikh girls to 
     get Sikh to fight against Kashmiris.
       India has a long record of terrorism. In November 1994, the 
     Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government 
     paid the late governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, 
     approximately $1.5 billion to organize and support covert 
     state terrorism in Punjab, Khalistan, and in Kashmir. The 
     book Soft Target, written by two very respected journalists 
     from the Toronto Star and the Toronto Globe and Mail, 
     conclusively establishes that the Indian government blew up 
     its own airliner in 1985, killing 329 innocent people. 
     According to India Today, the Indian government created the 
     Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and put up LTTE 
     leaders in New Delhi's finest hotel. According to journalist 
     Justin Raimondo of www.antiwar.com, George Fernandes, now the 
     Defense Minister, even raised funds for the LTTE. The LTTE 
     were created to stoop a U.S. broadcast tower in Sri Lanka. 
     The Indian government turned on the LTTE because the LTTE 
     nows seeks an independent country for Tamils.
       A report issued in April by the Movement Against State 
     Repression (MASR) shows that India admitted that it held 
     52,268 political prisoners under the totalitarian ``Terrorist 
     and Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA), which 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 [lsqb]hundreds 
     of thousands.[rsqb]'' As General Narinder Singh has said, 
     ``Punjab is a police state.''
       These Sikh political prisoners and the tens of thousands of 
     other political prisoners held in India must be released 
     immediately. Even before their release, the political 
     prisoners should also be given the Khalsa Raj Party 
     nomination for the seats in the Legislative Assembly, the 
     SGPC, and when the parliamentary elections come up, for 
     Parliament. The Sikh Nation will vote for these Sikh 
     political prisoners, as they are the heroes of the Sikh 
     Nation. No government can govern without the consent of the 
     governed. The present Akali leadership of Badal, Tohra, Mann 
     and others are the agents of the Indian government and are 
     under their control. Do not trust them. Remember, Badal 
     promised during the last election campaign that he would 
     release Sikh political prisoners, punish guilty police 
     officials who committed atrocities against the Sikh, and from 
     a commission to investigate atrocities committed against the 
     Sikhs since 1984.
       In 1947, when India was divided, the cunning and deceitful 
     Hindu leadership promised that Sikhs would have the glow of 
     freedom in Punjab and that no law affecting Sikh rights would 
     be passed without Sikh consent. As soon as the transfer of 
     power had occurred and India was free, those promises were 
     broken. Instead, India began its effort to wipe out the Sikh 
     people, the Sikh Nation, and the Sikh religion. The Sikh 
     Nation must regain its sovereignty to survive.
       Sikh gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India 
     from the British. At that time, they were only 1.6 percent of 
     the population. Sikhs are the ones who suffered the most 
     after the freedom and partition of India. The Khalsa Panth 
     can do it again to free itself from the slavery of Hindu 
     India.
       A free Khalistan will bring prosperity to the people of 
     Punjab farmers will be able to sell their produce at high 
     prices in the international market and buy cheaper 
     fertilizers, insecticides, and seeds. Farm produce will not 
     lie in the market for weeks without buyers as it did during 
     the sale of the rice crop last year.
       We must have a full, free, and fair plebiscite on the 
     status of Khalistan and we must launch a Shantmai Morcha to 
     liberate our homeland. Let us take this opportunity to bring 
     freedom to our homeland and all the countries of South Asia.
           Panth Da Sewadar,
                                          Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
                                                        President,
                                             Council of Khalistan.

     

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