[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E474-E475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SPARE THE LIFE OF DEVINDER PAL SINGH BHULLAR

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 13, 2003

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, Devinder Singh Pal Bhullar faces 
the death penalty. He should be spared. His pending execution shows 
that the Indian constitution only protects the Hindu majority.
  Bhullar was accused of being involved in a 1993 bombing near the 
offices of the Youth Congress in Delhi. 20 people were killed in that 
blast and Congress leader M.S. Bitta lost a leg.
  This might be a justifiable sentence for such a crime except for a 
few small details. Mr. Bhullar was found ``not guilty'' by the 
presiding judge of a three-judge panel from India's Supreme Court. The 
judge directed that he be released. Apparently, that was not acceptable 
to the fundamentalist Hindu nationalist regime. So they tortured him to 
coerce him into signing a false confession which was subsequently 
retracted. Yet they are executing him on the basis of this forced 
confession.
  This is offensive to anyone with a sense of justice. Mr. Speaker. 
This is not the way a democratic country does things. It is how 
criminal cases are handled in such models of democracy as Red China and 
Iraq. Meanwhile, Sajjan Kumar and H.K.L. Bhagat, the officials 
responsible for inciting the murders of thousands of Sikhs in Delhi, 
have never been brought to justice.
  Unfortunately, this is typical of how India treats its minorities. 
Last year in Gujarat 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims were murdered by militant 
Hindu nationalists while police, under orders, stood by and did 
nothing. No one has been punished for this atrocity. Now police in 
Gujarat are demanding very intrusive information about Christians 
there. Meanwhile, two states have enacted laws prohibiting religious 
conversions--except to Hinduism, of course.
  Police have murdered over a quarter of a million Sikhs, over 200,000 
Christians in Nagaland, over 85,000 Muslims in Kashmir, and tens of 
thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalit ``untouchables,'' Manipuris, 
Tamils, and other minorities. Indian forces were caught red-handed in a 
village in Kashmir trying to set fire to the Sikh Gurdwara and some 
homes there. Two studies have shown that Indian forces carried out the 
massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora three years ago this month.
  Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were murdered by being 
burned to death in their jeep while the killers surrounded the jeep and 
chanted ``Victory to Hannuman.'' Missionary Joseph Cooper was severely 
beaten and had to spend a week in the hospital. Then he was expelled 
from the country for preaching. The widow of Mr. Staines was also 
expelled from India. Christian churches have been burned and schools 
and prayer halls have been violently attacked with impunity. There have 
been priests murdered and nuns raped.
  In 1995, Indian police picked up human-rights activist Jaswant Singh 
Khalra did a study of cremation grounds in Punjab which showed that 
thousands of Sikhs have been picked up, tortured, murdered, then 
declared ``unidentified'' and secretly cremated. For his efforts, 
Khalra was picked up by the police and murdered while in police 
custody. More than 52,000 Sikhs sit in jail as political prisoners 
without charge or trial.
  The time has come to stop our aid to India. We should also support 
the self-determination to which all peoples and nations are entitled. 
This is the only way to end atrocities such as these and to ensure 
peace, freedom, stability, and prosperity in South Asia.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's 
outstanding press release on the Bhullar case into the Record.

            Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar's Life Must Be Spared


              minorities eliminated, directly or by courts

       Washington, DC, Feb. 25, 2003.--The impending execution of 
     Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar shows that the Constitution of 
     India only protects the majority Hindu population, according 
     to Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of 
     Khalistan, which leads the Sikh struggle for independence 
     from India. Dr. Aulakh called on the President of India to 
     stop the execution. Bhullar was accused of a 1993 bomb blast 
     near the Youth Congress office in Delhi in which 20 people 
     were killed. Congress leader M.S. Bitta lost a leg in that 
     attack.
       The presiding Judge of a three-Judge bench in the Supreme 
     Court of India found Professor Bhullar, a political activist, 
     ``Not Guilty'' and directed that he be released. However, 
     Professor Bhullar was convicted based on a forced confession 
     obtained through torture, which was retracted. On that basis 
     India wants to impose capital punishment on Professor 
     Bhullar. Sajjan Kumar and H.K.L. Bhagat, who personally 
     incited the murder of thousands of Sikhs in Delhi, go off 
     scot-free without any punishment. Even by Indian standards, 
     this is an outrageous miscarriage of justice.
       ``The Bhullar case is merely the latest example of how 
     India eliminates minorities,'' said Dr. Aulakh. Indian police 
     arrested human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra after he 
     exposed their policy of mass cremation of Sikhs, in which 
     over 50,000 Sikhs have been picked up, tortured, and killed, 
     then their bodies are declared unidentified and secretly 
     cremated. Then Mr. Khalra was murdered in police custody. His 
     body was not given to his family. Similarly, the police 
     murdered former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh 
     Kaunke. His body was not handed over to his family.

[[Page E475]]

       Last spring the Indian police stood aside under orders 
     while militant Hindus murdered 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in 
     Gujarat. Australian missionary Graham Staines was murdered a 
     few years ago by VHP activists. Staines and his two young 
     sons were burned to death while they slept in their jeep. 
     Their killers surrounded the jeep and chanted ``Victory to 
     Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. After the murder, Staines' widow, 
     who was working with lepers, was expelled from India. No one 
     was ever punished for these atrocities. Nuns have been raped, 
     priests have been murdered, and Christian churches have been 
     burned by the fanatic, fundamentalist Hindu nationalist 
     militants.
       ``It is clear from these actions that India is not the 
     democracy it claims to be,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``Instead it is 
     a tyrannical Hindu theocracy where minorities die or 
     disappear,'' he said. ``There is a consistent pattern of 
     Indian government efforts to protect its tyrannical rule over 
     the minorities of South Asia.''
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 200,000 Christians since 1948, over 85,000 
     muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits (the aboriginal people of 
     the subcontinent), and others. More than 52,000 Sikhs are 
     being held as political prisoners. The Indian Supreme Court 
     called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than 
     a genocide.'' On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation declared 
     the independence of its homeland, Punjab, Khalistan. No Sikh 
     representative has ever signed the Indian constitution. The 
     Council of Khalistan is the government pro tempore of 
     Khalistan, the Sikh homeland. The Sikh Nation demands freedom 
     for its homeland, Khalistan.
       ``Only in a free and sovereign Khalistan will the Sikh 
     Nation prosper. In a democracy, the right to self-
     determination is the sine qua non and India should allow a 
     plebiscite for the freedom of the Sikh Nation and all the 
     nations of South Asia,'' Dr. Aulakh said.

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