[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 15, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INDIA SHOULD OPEN BORDER AT WAGAH FOR TRADE, TRAVEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 2004

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain 
Amarinder Singh has called for an opening of the border between India 
and Pakistan at Wagah, about halfway between Amritsar, Punjab, and 
Lahore, Pakistan. Such an opening would help the farmers of Punjab to 
get higher prices for their produce than the less-than-subsistence 
prices the Indian government pays them. It would also make it much 
easier for Sikhs to make religious pilgrimages to the birthplace of the 
first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak, in Nankana Sahib, which is also in 
Pakistan.
  Chief Minister Singh is right. The border should be opened. This 
would be a significant step towards peace in the region. It would 
greatly reduce the need for India and Pakistan to expend exorbitant 
resources on their military rivalry. Instead, the cross-border contacts 
would strengthen the emerging relationship between the two countries.
  Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to call on both the 
governments of India and Pakistan to open this border. Let the people, 
money, and ideas flow freely.
  By opening the border at Wagah, India would be able to begin to end 
its repression that has claimed the lives of over 250,000 Sikhs since 
1984, over 300,000 Christians since 1976, over 89,000 Kashmiri Muslims 
since 1988, and tens of thousands of other minority people.
  This repression must end if India is to be taken seriously as a 
member of the international community. We should cut off India's aid 
and trade until such time as it respects human rights. Opening the 
border at Wagah would be a first step. We should also go on record in 
support of all people in South Asia enjoying the basic democratic right 
to self determination.
  Mr. Speaker, I am inserting the press release from the Council of 
Khalistan into the Record at this time.

                    [From the Council of Khalistan]

                      Open Wagah Border for Trade

       Washington, DC, September 10, 2004.--Dr. Gurmit Singh 
     Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, today endorsed 
     the demand of Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of 
     Punjab, to open the border at Wagah, about halfway between 
     Amritsar and Lahore. This would allow direct trade between 
     Punjab and Pakistan.
       ``The distance between Amritsar and Lahore is only about 35 
     miles, less than the distance between Washington and 
     Baltimore in the United States,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Why not 
     allow trade between these neighbors?,'' he asked. ``Chief 
     Minister Amarinder Singh is to be praised for asking to open 
     this border,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``His stand will help keep 
     the fires of freedom lit in the Sikh Nation,'' he added. 
     ``This is more than all his Akali and Congress predecessors 
     have done for the people of Punjab,'' Dr. Aulakh noted.
       ``We fully support opening this border,'' he said. ``This 
     is the wise thing for Punjab and the Sikh Nation,'' he added. 
     ``It is another step forward for the freedom and self-
     determination of the Sikh Nation. It will help secure the 
     prosperity of the Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan.''
       ``Opening trade through the border at Wagah will bring 
     peace in the subcontinent,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``This will 
     enable the farmers of Punjab to get higher prices for their 
     products and help Pakistan to overcome its shortages,'' he 
     said. ``If India truly cares about the well-being of the 
     people, it must open the border at Wagah immediately'' Dr. 
     Aulakh also called for bus service across the border so that 
     visitors can more easily visit the birthplace of Guru Nanak, 
     the first Sikh Guru, at Nankana Sahib. ``We are the same 
     people. The same language is spoken on both sides of the 
     border. Opening this border benefits everybody and it is much 
     better to open the border than to spend all this time and 
     money constantly preparing for war,'' he said.
       Khalistan is the independent Sikh homeland declared on 
     October 7, 1987. It has been under Indian occupation since 
     then. When India became independent, Sikhs were equal 
     partners in the transfer of power and were to receive their 
     own state, but the weak and ignorant Sikh leaders of the time 
     were tricked into staying with India on the promise that they 
     would have ``the glow of freedom'' and no law affecting the 
     Sikhs would pass without their consent. Sikhs ruled an 
     independent and sovereign Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again 
     from 1765 to 1849 and were recognized by most of the 
     countries of the world at that time. No Sikh representative 
     has ever signed the Indian constitution. The Council of 
     Khalistan is the government pro tempore of Khalistan, the 
     Sikh homeland.
       ``If India will not open this border, it is clear that 
     there is no place for Sikhs in India,'' said Dr. Aulakh. 
     ``Sardar Atinder Pal Singh's question of 14 years ago is 
     still the question facing the Sikh Nation: Why don't we 
     liberate Khalistan? As Professor Darshan Singh, a former 
     Jathedar, said, 'If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a 
     Sikh','' Dr. Aulakh noted.
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948, over 89,000 
     Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits (the aboriginal people of 
     the subcontinent), and others. The Indian Supreme Court 
     called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than 
     a genocide.'' According to a report by the Movement Against 
     State Repression (MASR), 52,268 Sikhs are being held as 
     political prisoners in India without charge or trial. Some 
     have been in illegal custody since 1984!
       ``We must move forward with the cause of Sikh freedom,'' 
     Dr. Aulakh said. ``Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh 
     Nation prosper and get justice,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``India 
     should act like a democracy and allow a plebiscite on 
     independence for Khalistan and all the nations of South 
     Asia,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``We must free Khalistan now.''

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