[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E71-E72]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN ISSUES NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE, CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE 
                           FOR SIKH HOMELAND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently the Council of Khalistan issued a 
new year's message to the Sikh Nation. It is worth reading. My 
colleagues and the people should find it very informative. In the 
letter, the Council of Khalistan called again for the liberation of 
Khalistan. They noted the progress that has been made towards that goal 
in 2004 and the rising support among the political leadership in 
Punjab. They commended those leaders who have moved the Sikh homeland 
closer to freedom and criticized those who have supported India's 
brutal occupation of Khalistan in which

[[Page E72]]

over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered and over 52,000 held as political 
prisoners without charge or trial, illegally. Some have been held since 
1984.
  In addition, more than 89,000 Kashmiri Muslims, over 300,000 
Christians in Nagaland, Muslims and Christians throughout India, and 
other minorities such as Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, 
and others are also being treated to brutal oppression by the Indian 
government. According to Amnesty International, tens of thousands of 
these minorities are being held as political prisoners.
  Freedom is the birthright of everyone and self-determination is the 
cornerstone and essence of democracy. Yet India, which proclaims itself 
democratic and secular, will not allow the free expression of the 
democratic will of the people of Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and the 
other areas seeking their freedom. Instead, it continues to hold them 
in subjugation by brutal force. India promised to hold a plebiscite on 
the status of Kashmir in 1948. It has never done so. Instead, it kills 
in massive numbers to hold onto its empire. But history tells us that 
multinational, polyglot empires such as India are doomed to fall apart.
  America is a beacon of freedom for the world. That is why so many 
people come from around the world to America. How often America has 
sent its troops to fight for freedom. Sometimes we may have made errors 
in judgment or strategy, but the intent is always to promote freedom. 
Can we not at least take peaceful, moderate measures to promote freedom 
in South Asia?
  Mr. Speaker, we must stand for freedom. We must do what we can. We 
should stop all aid to India, except direct aid to tsunami victims, 
until such time as all the political prisoners are released. We must 
stop the aid until democratic values prevail all through India and 
everyone within its borders can freely exercise his or her rights 
without fear of reprisals from the government. We must demand a free 
and fair plebiscite on the political status of Khalistan, Kashmir, 
Nagaland, and all those lands seeking their freedom from India. That 
will help bring freedom, peace, and stability to the subcontinent.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's new 
year message into the Record at this time.

May Guru Bless the Khalsa Panth in 2005 With Freedom, Happiness, Unity, 
and Prosperity--Freedom Lies in the Heart of the Sikh Nation; No Force 
                            Can Suppress It

                      (By Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh)

       Happy New Year to you and your family and the Khalsa Panth. 
     May 2005 be your best year ever. I wish you health, joy, and 
     prosperity in the new year.
       The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the 
     heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. All the 
     political leaders in Punjab are recognizing it. Punjab's 
     Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, was declared a hero 
     of the Sikh Nation for asserting Punjab's sovereignty and 
     preserving Punjab's natural resource, its river water, for 
     the use of Punjab farmers by cancelling Punjab's water 
     agreements. As recently as December 7, former Member of 
     Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann again reverted to public 
     support of Khalistan. He pledged that his party will lead a 
     peaceful movement to liberate Khalistan. Obviously, Mr. Mann 
     is aware of the rising support of our cause. Mann joins 
     Sardar Atinder Pal Singh, Sardar D.S. Gill of the 
     International Human Rights Organization, and other Sikh 
     leaders in Punjab in supporting freedom for Khalistan openly. 
     Jagjit Singh, President of Dal Khalsa, was quoted in the 
     Deccan Herald as saying that ``the Indian government can 
     never suppress the movement. Sikh aspirations can only be met 
     when they have a separate state.'' There is no other choice 
     for the Sikh nation but a sovereign, independent Khalistan. 
     Every Sikh leader must come out openly for Khalistan. We 
     salute those Sikh leaders in Punjab who have done so and urge 
     more Sikh leaders to join the cause.
       Any organization that sincerely supports Khalistan deserves 
     the support of the Sikh Nation. However, the Sikh Nation 
     needs leadership that is honest, sincere, consistent, and 
     dedicated to the cause of Sikh freedom. Leaders like Dr. 
     Jagjit Singh Chohan, Harchand Singh Longowal, Didar Bains, 
     Ganga Singh Dhillon, the Akali Dal leadership, and others who 
     were complicit in the attack on the Golden Temple cannot be 
     trusted by the Sikh Nation. The evidence against them is 
     clear in Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism. The Sikh 
     Nation cannot believe that these leaders will not betray the 
     cause of Khalistan, just as they betrayed the Sikh Nation in 
     1984. We must be careful if we are to continue to move the 
     cause of freedom for Khalistan forward in 2005 as we did in 
     2004.
       The Akali Dal conspired with the Indian government in 1984 
     to invade the Golden Temple to murder Sant Bhindranwale and 
     20,000 other Sikhs during June 1984 in Punjab. If Sikhs will 
     not even protect the sanctity of the Golden Temple, how can 
     the Sikh Nation survive as a nation?
       The Akali Dal has lost all its credibility. The Badal 
     government was so corrupt openly and no Akali leader would 
     come forward and tell Badal and his wife to stop this 
     unparallelled corruption.
       The Council of Khalistan has stood strongly and 
     consistently for liberating our homeland, Khalistan, from 
     Indian occupation. For over 18 years we have led this fight 
     while others were trying to divert the resources and the 
     attention of the Sikh Nation away from the issue of freedom 
     in a sovereign, independent Khalistan. Yet Khalistan is the 
     only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, peace, 
     prosperity, and dignity. It is time to start a Shantmai 
     Morcha to liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation.
       Never forget that the Akal Takht Sahib and Darbar Sahib are 
     under the control of the Indian government, the same Indian 
     government that has murdered over a quarter of a million 
     Sikhs in the past twenty years. The Jathedar of the Akal 
     Takht and the head granthi of Darbar Sahib toe the line that 
     the Indian government tells them. They are not appointed by 
     the Khalsa Panth. The SGPC, which appoints them, does not 
     represent the Sikh Nation anymore. They have become the 
     puppets of the Indian government and have lost credibility 
     with the Sikh Nation. Otherwise they would behave like a real 
     Jathedar, Jathedar Gurdev Singh Kaunke, rather than like 
     Indian government puppet Jathedar Aroor Singh, who gave a 
     Siropa to General Dyer for the massacre of Sikhs and others 
     at Jalianawa Bagh. These institutions will remain under the 
     control of the Indian regime until we free the Sikh homeland, 
     Punjab, Khalistan, from Indian occupation and oppression and 
     sever our relations with the New Delhi government.
       The Sikhs in Punjab have suffered enormous repression at 
     the hands of the Indian regime in the last 25 years. Over 
     50,000 Sikh youth were picked up from their houses, tortured, 
     murdered in police custody, then secretly cremated as 
     ``unidentified bodies.'' Their remains were never even given 
     to their families! More than a quarter of a million Sikhs 
     have been murdered at the hands of the Indian government. 
     Another 52,268 are being held as political prisoners. Some 
     have been in illegal custody since 1984! Even now, the 
     capital of Punjab, Chandigarh, has not been handed over to 
     Punjab, but remains a Union Territory. How can Sikhs have any 
     freedom living under a government that would do these things?
       Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. The leaders in 
     Delhi are only interested in imposing Hindu sovereignty over 
     all the minorities to advance their own careers and their own 
     power. Ever since independence, India has mistreated the Sikh 
     Nation, starting with Patel's memo labelling Sikhs ``a 
     criminal tribe.'' What a shame for Home Minister Patel and 
     the Indian government to issue this memorandum when the Sikh 
     Nation gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India.
       How can Sikhs continue to live in such a country? There is 
     no place for Sikhs in supposedly secular, supposedly 
     democratic India. Let us work to make certain that 2005 is 
     the Sikh Nation's most blessed year by making sure it is the 
     year that we shake ourselves loose from the yoke of Indian 
     oppression and liberate our homeland, Khalistan, so that all 
     Sikhs may live lives of prosperity, freedom, and dignity.

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