[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SIKHS ARRESTED FOR RAISING FLAG ARE DENIED BAIL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on January 26, India celebrated its Republic 
Day, the anniversary of the adoption of its constitution. On that day a 
group of Sikh activists raised the Sikh flag at a Gurdwara in the city 
of Amritsar in accordance with Sikh tradition. For this, complaints 
were issued against 35 Sikhs and 31 have been arrested.
  Now eleven of them have had their bail denied, keeping them in 
detention. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that speaking 
out for Khalistan is not a crime, yet they are charged with 
``sedition'' and ``making inflammatory speeches'' for raising a flag 
and speaking out for freedom for the Sikh homeland.
  Mr. Speaker, what kind of democracy is this? The Movement Against 
State Repression (MASR) was already reporting that India held 52,268 
political prisoners. These activists add 11 to that number.
  This is just the latest illustration that exercising your freedom of 
speech can be a very dangerous thing in India if you are a minority. 
India has a pattern of repression. It has killed over 250,000 Sikhs 
since 1984, more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 
Kashmiri Muslims, thousands of other Christians and Muslims throughout 
the country, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits (the 
aboriginal people of South Asia), Manipuris, Tamils, and others. The 
U.S. State Department reported in 1994 that the Indian government had 
paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. 
One such bounty went to an officer who killed a three-year-old boy.
  We must not just sit and watch while a country that proclaims itself 
``the world's largest democracy'' tramples on the most basic of 
democratic freedoms, such as the freedom to speak out and to hold a 
peaceful demonstration. That is not the hallmark of a democracy. It is 
the hallmark of a police state.
  The time has come to let India know that we are watching and to let 
them know that this is unacceptable.
  There are steps that we can take to support the rights of all people 
in south Asia. It is time that we take these steps. They include 
cutting off our aid and trade with India and putting the Congress on 
record in support of self-determination for the Sikhs of Punjab, 
Khalistan, the Christian people of Nagaland, the Kashmiris, and all the 
people of South Asia who are seeking freedom. Only by exercising their 
right to self-determination, which is the essence of democracy, can the 
people there finally live in freedom, peace, and prosperity.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's very 
informative press release on the denial of bail to these Sikh activists 
into the Record at this time.

                      [From Council of Khalistan]

 Bail Denied for 11 Sikhs Arrested for Hoisting Sikh Flag in Amritsar--
                 Is This Democracy, Freedom of Speech?

       Eleven Sikhs who were arrested for raising the Sikh flag on 
     Republic Day, January 26, have been denied bail. Thirty-five 
     Sikhs were charged and 31 are being held. They raised the 
     saffron flag of Khalsa Raj at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj in 
     Amritsar. They have been charged with sedition and ``making 
     inflammatory speeches.'' Khalsa Raj Party President Dr. 
     Jagjit Singh Chohan said that they had raised the flag 
     according to Sikh tradion.
       Punjab Pradesh Congress Party President Hanspal said, ``We 
     will not allow them to raise their heads for Khalistan.'' 
     Maninder Singh Bitta, President of the All-India Youth 
     Congress, demanded that Dr. Chohan and others be deported to 
     Pakistan, claiming they are Pakistani agents. Former Chief 
     Minister Badal said, ``We will not permit the militancy to 
     raise its head again.''
       ``How can India call itself democratic when it suppresses a 
     basic right like freedom of speech?,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh 
     Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, which leads 
     the Sikh struggle for freedom. ``The Punjab and Haryana High 
     Court has already ruled in the case of the late Colonel 
     Partap Singh that speaking in support of freedom for 
     Khalistan is not a crime,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``How can these 
     activists be arrested for something that is not a crime?''
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948, over 90,000 
     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 
     and tens of thousands of other minorities are being held as 
     political prisoners in India without charge or trial. Some 
     have been in illegal custody since 1984! We demand the 
     immediate release of all these political prisoners.
       ``The Sikh Nation is indebted to the leaders of Dal Khalsa 
     who raised the Sikh flag, including Harcharan Singh Dhami, 
     President, Kanwarpal Singh Bittu, General Secretary, Satnam 
     Singh Paonta Sahib, and others,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``We 
     praise Dr. Chohan for his remarks. But how can Sikhs like 
     Badal, Hanspal, Bitta, and others call themselves Sikhs when 
     they deny the Sikh aspirations for freedom? Clearly, they are 
     doing the bidding of the Indian government, which controls 
     them.''
       The Sikh Nation declared its independence from India on 
     October 7, 1987 and formed the Council of Khalistan at that 
     time to lead the struggle for independence. 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. Sikhs do not accept the Indian constitution. No Sikh 
     representative has ever signed it.
       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 pad over 
     41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs.
       India is not one country; it is a polyglot 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 cancelling the government's daylight 
     robbery of Punjab river water. The Assembly explicitly stated 
     the sovereignty of Punjab.
       ``I urge the international community to help us free 
     Khalistan from Indian occupation,'' Dr. Aulakh said. 
     ``Freedom is the birthright of all people and nations,'' he 
     said. ``The arrest and denial of bail for these activists for 
     raising the Sikh flag and making speeches shows that there is 
     no freedom for Sikhs within India,'' 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 freedom,'' he said. 
     ``Without political power, religions cannot flourish and 
     nations perish. A sovereign Khalistan is essential for the 
     survival of the Sikh religion and the Sikh Nation.''

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