[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 8 (Tuesday, February 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E127-E128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SIKHS OBSERVE INDIA'S REPUBLIC DAY AS DAY OF BETRAYAL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, this past Wednesday, January 26, was India's 
Republic Day, the anniversary of the adoption of their constitution. It 
is a very important day in India's calendar. The Indian constitution is 
supposed to guarantee freedom for everyone and ensure everyone full 
human rights and democratic freedoms. However, in practice, it has not 
worked that way in the 58 years that India has been independent. I 
salute the ideals of the Indian constitution, but I cannot urge India 
strongly enough to start living up to them.
  Independent India has been no picnic for the minorities of India. 
They have suffered severe repression. Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, and 
others have suffered greatly at the hands of democratic, secular India. 
That is why Sikhs in Washington, London, and even Amritsar protested on 
Republic Day. In Amritsar, the Sikh organization Dal Khalsa hoisted the 
Sikh flag and distributed flyers saying that the Indian flag ``is not 
our flag'' and the Indian constitution ``is not our constitution.'' No 
Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian constitution.
  Over a quarter of a million Sikh have been murdered at the hands of 
the Indian government, along with over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland 
and still more Christians elsewhere. Priests have been murdered 
throughout the country, nuns have been raped, churches have been 
burned, Christian schools and prayer halls have been vandalized. By 
now, the burning death of missionary Graham Staines and his two young 
sons and the beating of missionary Joseph Cooper are well known. In 
recent days, evangelist Benny Hinn

[[Page E128]]

had to travel under heavy security after being attacked and vandalized.
  Over 90,000 Kashmiri Muslims have been murdered, along with thousands 
of Muslims in other parts of the country. Recently, according to the 
BBC, the Indian government finally admitted that Muslims in Gujarat did 
not set the train fire that led to the massacre of 5,000 of them, a 
massacre that a policeman told an Indian newspaper was planned in 
advance by the Indian government.
  India forced Untouchables out of a refugee camp after the tsunami, 
according to Yahoo! News. The Washington Post reported that they were 
being given only the leftover food of Brahmins and India has refused 
all efforts by the international community to come and help them. Even 
though the very Indian constitution that Republic Day celebrates 
outlawed the caste system, it is alive and well to this day.
  Mr. Speaker, these are just the latest examples of the repression of 
minorities that continues to occur while India celebrates its secular, 
democratic constitution. This is unacceptable. In the President's 
recent Inaugural Address, he spoke about extending freedom to all the 
world. India is one place where that effort needs to be carried out 
before the country, a multinational, polyglot empire like Austria-
Hungary, the Soviet Union, or Yugoslavia, falls apart. We must do 
whatever we can to ensure freedom and peace for all in the 
subcontinent.
  The best things we can do are to stop our aid and trade with India 
until human rights are respected and the violent repression ceases and 
to put ourselves on record in support of a free and fair plebiscite in 
Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir (as promised in 1948), in Nagaland, and 
throughout the minority areas of the subcontinent.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to place an article about Dal 
Khalsa's protest in Amritsar and a press release about the Council of 
Khalistan's protest here in Washington into the Record.


                                         Council of Khalistan,

                                                   Washington, DC.

   Sikhs Mark Indian Republic Day by Protesting Genocide, Repression

       Washington, DC, January 26, 2005.--Sikhs from all over the 
     East Coast came to Washington today to mark Indian Republic 
     Day by protesting the genocide and repression against the 
     Sikhs and other minorities. They raised slogans such as 
     ``India out of Khalistan'' and carried signs such as ``India: 
     Democracy for Brahmins, Tyranny for Minorities.'' The 
     demonstration was organized by the Council of Khalistan, 
     which leads the struggle to establish a sovereign, 
     independent Khalistan free from Indian occupation. 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. It is the government pro tempore of 
     Khalistan, the Sikh homeland.
       Republic Day is the anniversary of the adoption of India's 
     constitution, which is supposed to ensure a secular, 
     democratic government. But 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, 
     Bodos, 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! 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.
       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. Khalra was murdered in 
     police custody. His body was not given to his family. No one 
     has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of 
     Jaswant Singh Khalra. The police never released the body of 
     former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after 
     SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. He has never been tried 
     for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. In 1994, the U.S. State 
     Department reported that the Indian government had paid over 
     41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs.
       Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with his two 
     sons, ages 8 and 10, by a mob of militant, fundamentalist 
     Hindu nationalists who set fire to the jeep, surrounded it, 
     and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. None of the 
     people involved has been tried. The persons who have murdered 
     priests, raped nuns, and burned Christian churches have not 
     been charged or tried. The murderers of 2,000 to 5,000 
     Muslims in Gujarat have never been brought to trial. An 
     Indian newspaper reported that the police were ordered not to 
     get involved in that massacre, a frightening parallel to the 
     Delhi massacre of Sikhs in 1984.
       ``Is Jaswant Singh Khalra celebrating? Is Jathedar Kaunke 
     celebrating? Is Graham Staines celebrating?,'' Dr. Aulakh 
     asked. ``How can a democracy celebrate the kind of violent 
     repression that claimed their lives?''
       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.
       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. Last year, 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. Political leaders in Punjab have 
     again called for an Independent Khalistan.
       ``This shows that the drive for freedom is still alive in 
     Punjab,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``It is clear that India does not 
     accept Sikhs,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``The Indian government 
     continues to persecute and kill our Sikh brethren,'' he said. 
     ``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.''
                                  ____


                 [From WebIndia123.com, Jan. 26, 2005]

        Dal Khalsa Observe R-Day as ``Betrayal Day'' in Amritsar

       Amritsar, January 26, 2005 (ANI).--Leaders of Dal Khalsa on 
     Wednesday gathered at Gurudwara Shahid Ganj, Amritsar to 
     observe the Indian republic day as betrayal day.
       The Dal Khalsa leaders, including president of Dal Khalsa 
     Harcharnjit Singh Dhami, Khalistan ideologue Jagjit Singh 
     Chauhan, Satnam Singh Paunta Sahib, hijacker of Indian 
     Airlines plan in 1981 performed a Ardaas for the freedom of 
     the Sikh nation.
       They hoisted the Khalsa flag of Maharaj Ranjit Singh's 
     regime, which symbolises Sikh raj, and prayed for the freedom 
     of the Sikh community as they took guard of honour and 
     pledged to continue their struggle for a free Sikh nation.
       Dal Khalsa leaders describe 26th January as ``betrayal 
     day'' for the Sikhs as Indian leaders betrayed the Sikh 
     nation and imposed the present Constitution on them.
       They also believe that Sikhs have been massacred in Punjab, 
     Delhi and elsewhere after the Blue Star Operation in 1984.

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