[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FORMER MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ENDORSES FREEDOM FOR KHALISTAN--SOVEREIGNTY 
                          WILL END OPPRESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 4, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on December 8, the Tribune newspaper out of 
Chandigarh, Punjab reported that a former Member of Parliament, 
Simranjit Singh Mann, had endorsed sovereignty for the Sikh homeland, 
Khalistan. His endorsement is part of a rising tide that includes the 
Punjab government declaring its sovereignty when it ended its water 
agreements with the other states in India.
  I note that Mr. Mann said that the Sikhs are a separate nation and 
promised to lead a movement to liberate Khalistan. I hope that he keeps 
his promise. My friend Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
Council of Khalistan and an invaluable resource for information about 
South Asian affairs, has been saying the same things for several years. 
It seems that India's oppression that killed a quarter of a million 
Sikhs and keeps more than 52,000 of them as political prisoners has 
failed to dampen the desire and enthusiasm of the Sikhs for their own 
sovereign, independent country. I salute Mr. Mann's position. It is 
important for leaders in Punjab to speak out strongly for Khalistan. We 
can help from here, but the effort must be won in Punjab, Khalistan 
itself.
  Mr. Speaker, all peoples are entitled to live in freedom. The Sikhs 
of Punjab, Khalistan made their choice on October 7, 1987 when they 
declared their independence from India, calling their new country 
Khalistan. India, which proudly claims to be democratic, refuses even 
to hold a free and fair vote on the question, just as India has never 
kept its promise of 1948 to hold a plebiscite on the future of Kashmir. 
How can a country do these things and claim to be democratic? Self-
determination is the essence of democracy.
  A new Congress gives us a new opportunity to take a stand for freedom 
in South Asia and around the world. We should stop all U.S. aid to 
India until it allows full democratic rights and full human rights to 
all people living within its borders and we should strongly support a 
free and fair plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan, in Nagaland, in Kashmir, 
and wherever people seek their freedom on the question of independence. 
By promoting such a plebiscite, we promote democracy and human rights 
for all people in that troubled region.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Council of Khalistan's press 
release on Mr. Mann's remarks into the Record at this time.

                  Mann Reverts To Supporting Khalistan

       Washington, DC, December 10, 2004--Once again, former MP 
     Simranjit Singh Mann, leader of the Shiromani Alkali Dal 
     (Amritsar), has staked out a position in support of a 
     sovereign, independent Khalistan. Speaking in Ludhiana on 
     December 7 at a meeting of his party, Mann said that the SAD 
     (Amritsar) would launch a peaceful movement to achieve a 
     separate and sovereign Sikh state, according to the December 
     8 issue of The Tribune (Chandigarh.) Mann claimed that his 
     party had never given up this position.
       Mann reminded his party that Sikhs are a separate 
     nationality. He said that the foundation for an independent 
     Khalistan was laid by Guru Gobind Singh and furthered by Sant 
     Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and that this dream ``will be 
     materialized one day.'' Guru Gobind Singh gave sovereignty to 
     the Sikh Nation (``In grieb Sikhin ko deon patshahi.'') Sikhs 
     are a separate nation. Sikhs ruled Punjab up to 1849 when the 
     British conquered the subcontinent. Mann noted that it is in 
     the interests of all the people in the region to have a 
     buffer state between India and Pakistan to help ensure 
     lasting peace in South Asia, given the deep hostility between 
     ``Hindu civilization and Muslim civilization.''
       Mann's remarks show that the desire for Khalistan remains 
     strong in the Sikhs of Punjab, said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, 
     President of the Council of Khalistan, which leads the Sikh 
     struggle for independence. Dr. Aulakh also cited the actions 
     taken by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, such as declaring 
     Punjab's sovereignty in stopping all water agreements between 
     Punjab and other states, as moving toward this goal. On 
     October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation declared its independence 
     from India, naming its new country Khalistan. The Council of 
     Khalistan was established at that time to lead the peaceful, 
     democratic, nonviolent movement to liberate Khalistan from 
     Indian oppression.
       History shows that multinational states such as India are 
     doomed to failure. Countries like Austria-Hungary, India's 
     longtime friend the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, 
     and others prove this point. India is not one country; it is 
     a polyglot like those countries, thrown together for the 
     convenience of the British colonialists. It is doomed to 
     break up as they did. Recently, the Punjab Legislative 
     Assembly passed a bill annulling all water agreements with 
     the Indian government, preventing the government's daylight 
     robbery of Punjab river water. Punjab needs its river water 
     for its crops. In the bill, the Assembly explicitly stated 
     the sovereignty of Punjab.
       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, and others. The Indian 
     Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs 
     ``worse than a genocide.''
       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 arrested, 
     tortured, and murdered, then their bodies were declared 
     unidentified and secretly cremated. He was murdered in police 
     custody. His body was not given to his family.
       The police never released the body of former Jathedar of 
     the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh 
     Ghotna murdered him. Ghotna has never been brought to trial 
     for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. No one has been brought to 
     justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra.
       According to a report by the Movement Against State 
     Repression (MASR), 52,268 Slikhs are being held as political 
     prisoners in India without charge or trial. Some have been in 
     illegal custody since 1984! Tens of thousands of other 
     minorities are also being held as political prisoners, 
     according to Amnesty International. We demand the immediate 
     release of all these political prisoners.
       ``It is encouraging that Mr. Mann has comeback to demanding 
     Khalistan,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council of Khalistan. ``This is another step forward for the 
     movement to liberate our homeland from Indian oppression.''
       ``As Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal 
     Takht, said, `If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a 
     Sikh','' Dr. Aulakh noted. ``We must continue to press for 
     our God-given birthright of freedom,'' he said. ``Without 
     political power, religions cannot flourish and nations 
     perish. A sovereign Khalistan is essential for the survival 
     of the Sikh religion.''

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