[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 132 (Wednesday, September 24, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WRITE TO STATE DEPARTMENT: WITHDRAW OFFENSIVE 
                            TERRORISM VIDEO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 2003

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have co-sponsored with the 
gentleman from Indiana a recent letter to the State Department asking 
them to withdraw the offensive video ``Terrorism: A War Without 
Borders,'' which characterized all Sikhs as terrorists. This is 
offensive and against America's principles. As a minority, I take 
special offense at this kind of characterization of any minority group.
  While the video may have had some usefulness in reminding Americans 
what they can do to help combat the threat of terrorism, its 
stereotyping of Sikhs as terrorists is unacceptable.
  Let me quote from the letter, Mr. Speaker: ``This video should be 
corrected or withdrawn immediately. The United States government should 
not be in the business of spreading inaccurate information, especially 
when that information is offensive to a hard-working, honorable people 
and serves only to promote the interests of a foreign regime.''
  The Sikhs are hard-working people who have been involved in every 
aspect of American life. One Sikh American, Dalip Singh Saund, even 
served in the U.S. Congress. Back in the subcontinent, they are one of 
many national groups, along with predominantly Christian Nagas, 
Kashmiris, and others struggling for their sovereignty and independence 
from India, which is run by militant Hindu nationalists bent on 
imposing Hinduism on all aspects of Indian life. The Sikh leadership 
has committed to carrying out this struggle by peaceful, democratic, 
nonviolent means. Yet it is for seeking their freedom at all that India 
labels them ``terrorists.'' In fact, shortly after India's independence 
Prime Minister Nehru issued a directive calling Sikhs a ``criminal 
class'' and ordering police to keep special track of them, despite the 
fact that the Sikhs, who were less than two percent of the population, 
gave the majority of the sacrifices in India's freedom struggle. I am 
very distressed to see the government of the United States repeating 
this offensive description.
  That is why withdrawing this video is so important, Mr. Speaker. 
There were more than 300 cases of hate crimes or actions against Sikhs 
in the wake of September 11, 2001. For the United States to give 
support in an official production of the government to the 
characterization of all Sikhs as terrorists merely encourages more of 
this kind of hate against loyal, hard-working, honest Americans. It 
also unfairly supports the position of a repressive regime that has 
murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since the Golden Temple attack of June 
1984, according to figures compiled by the Punjab State Magistracy and 
human rights groups, as well as over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland 
since 1947, over 85,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of 
thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and others. It 
encourages a government that admits to holding 52,268 Sikh political 
prisoners and holds tens of thousands of other minorities as political 
prisoners as well, according to Amnesty International.
  Mr. Speaker, we should not be endorsing the party line of such a 
repressive regime. Instead, we should be working to support freedom by 
stopping U.S. aid to India until all people there enjoy full and equal 
human rights and by supporting self-determination for the Sikhs of 
Khalistan, the Kashmiris, the Nagas, and everyone seeking freedom. That 
is the democratic way and it is the only way to bring real peace and 
freedom from terrorism to everyone in South Asia.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the letter from Members of 
Congress to Secretary Powell into the Record at this time for the 
information of my colleagues.


                                Congress of the United States,

                               Washington, DC, September 18, 2003.
     Hon. Colin Powell,
     Secretary of State,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Powell: As Members of the United States 
     Congress, we are very concerned about your Department's 
     video, ``War Without Borders.'' Your depiction of the Sikhs 
     is discriminatory, unfair, and offensive.
       The video is offensive to Sikhs around the world and to all 
     people who support nondiscrimination and freedom. The video 
     inaccurately broadly labels all of the world's 25 million 
     Sikhs--500,000 of whom live in the United States--as 
     terrorists. This is offensive and inaccurate.
       The video's description of the June 1984 Indian military 
     attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the most sacred of 
     Sikh shrines, misrepresents the circumstances of that 
     unfortunate incident. Every terrorist act cited in the video 
     is described as either the work of an individual or a group 
     of a certain nationality or a group, such as Al Qaeda or the 
     like, which honorably refrains from labelling an entire 
     people as terrorists. Yet with the Sikhs it takes a different 
     approach, referring to the terrorists merely as ``Sikhs,'' 
     thus implicitly creating the impression that all Sikhs are 
     terrorists. But there were no terrorists in the Golden Temple 
     complex. The book Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism 
     reprints letters showing conclusively that India planned this 
     attack in order to kill Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and 
     other Sikh leaders who spoke out for a sovereign Sikh state. 
     Labelling all Sikhs who support an independent, sovereign 
     Khalistan as terrorists is the propaganda line of the 
     repressive Indian regime. We share your desire to have good 
     relations with India, but good relations must not trump 
     truth.
       India is a repressive government. Over 250,000 Sikhs have 
     been murdered by the Indian government since the Golden 
     Temple attack, according to figures compiled by the Punjab 
     State Magistracy and human rights groups and reported in The 
     Politics of Genocide by lnderjit Singh Jaijee. According to a 
     report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR), the 
     Indian government admits to holding 52,268 political 
     prisoners under the brutal, repressive ``Terrorist and 
     Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA), which expired in 1995. In 
     addition, India has murdered over 200,000 Christians in 
     Nagaland since 1947, over 85,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, 
     and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, 
     Tamils, and others. An Indian Cabinet minister said that 
     everyone who lives in India must either be a Hindu or be 
     subservient to Hinduism.
       This video should be corrected or withdrawn immediately. 
     The United States government should not be in the business of 
     spreading inaccurate information, especially when that 
     information is offensive to a hard-working, honorable people 
     and serves only to promote the interests of a foreign regime.
           Sincerely,
     Dan Burton.
     Ed Towns.
     Wally Herger.

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