[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 39 (Thursday, April 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E573-E574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SIKHS ABOUT TO CELEBRATE VAISAKHI DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 6, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, April 13, which is the birthday of Thomas 
Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, is Vaisakhi Day 
for the Sikhs. I wish all the Sikhs around the world a happy Vaisakhi 
Day.
  Vaisakhi Day is the anniversary of the day in 1699 when Guru Gobind 
Singh, the last of the ten Sikh Gurus, created the Khalsa Panth. At 
that time, he said, ``I give sovereignty to the humble Sikhs.'' Yet 
over 300 years later, they still struggle for that sovereignty while 
they suffer under severe repression from ``the world's largest 
democracy.''
  More than 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered at the hands of the Indian 
government, according to figures compiled by the Punjab State 
Magistracy. The Movement Against State Repression reports that 52,268 
Sikhs are being held as political prisoners under the repressive TADA 
law. How can this happen in a democracy?
  Sikhs have an opportunity this Vaisakhi Day to reclaim their 
sovereignty. In January, 35 Sikhs were arrested for simply raising the 
Sikh flag and making speeches in support of Khalistan, the Sikh 
homeland that declared its independence on October 7, 1987. Political 
leaders are coming out for Khalistan. All of India's efforts to 
suppress the Sikhs sovereignty movement have just given it new life.
  What can we do to support this worthy cause? We should stop our aid 
and trade with India as long as it continues to kill ethnic minorities, 
hold political prisoners, and engage in other wholesale violations of 
the most basic human rights. We should go on record in support of self-
determination in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on independence 
in Khalistan, in Kashmir, in Nagaland, and wherever the people are 
seeking freedom. These measures will help bring a new glow of freedom 
to all people in the subcontinent.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to place the Council of 
Khalistan's Vaisakhi Day message into the Record for the information of 
my colleagues.

              Vaisakhi Day Should Be Celebrated in Freedom

       I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your 
     family and friends and all Sikhs a Happy Vaisakhi Day. As you 
     know, Vaisakhi Day is the anniversary of the founding of the 
     Khalsa. On Vaisakhi Day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh baptized 
     the Sikhs and required them to keep the five Ks. He made the 
     Sikhs into saints and soldiers, giving the blessing ``In 
     grieb Sikhin ko deon Patshahi'' (``I give sovereignty to the 
     humble Sikhs.'') Just two years after his departure from this 
     earthly plane in 1708, the Sikhs established our own 
     independent state in Punjab.
       Today we struggle to regain the sovereignty that Guru 
     Gobind Singh bestowed upon us over 300 years ago. Yet the 
     Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Joginder Singh Vedanti, was 
     quoted as saying that ``We don't want a separate territory.'' 
     Does Jathedar Vedanti, like every other Sikh, pray ``Raj Kare 
     Ga Khalsa'' (``the Khalsa shall rule'') every morning and 
     evening? Has he forgotten our heritage of freedom? How can 
     the spiritual leader of the Sikh religion deny the Sikh 
     Nation's legitimate aspiration for freedom and sovereignty? 
     Is he not stung by the words of one of his predecessors, 
     former AkalTakht Jathedar Professor Darshan Singh, who said, 
     ``If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh''? Is Akal 
     Takht occupied by a person who does not believe in Sikh 
     values and Sikh apsirations?
       The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the 
     heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. On 
     Republic Day, Sikh leaders raised the Sikh flag in Amritsar 
     and made speeches in support of Khalistan. 35 Sikhs were 
     arrested for raising the Kesri Nishan. Eleven of them 
     continue to be held and they have been denied bail. Is this 
     the freedom that Guru Gobind Singh bestowed upon us? Is this 
     the ``glow of freedom'' that Nehru promised us when Master 
     Tara Singh and the Sikh leaders of the time chose to take our 
     share with India?
       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. In so doing, Amarinder Singh and 
     the Legislative Assembly explicitly declared the sovereignty 
     of the state of Punjab. In December 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

[[Page E574]]

     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.
       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 Sikh during June 1984 in Punjab. Even the Pope 
     spoke out strongly against this invasion and desecration of 
     our most sacred shrine. How can these so-called Sikh leaders 
     connive with the people who carried it out? 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.
       If Jathedar Vedanti opposes freedom and sovereignty for the 
     Sikh Nation, then he is not fit to sit in Akal Takht, in the 
     seat of the Khalsa Panth. The Sikh Nation should have a 
     Jathedar who is committed to sovereignty.
       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. 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.
       The Akal Takht Sahib and Darbar Sahib are under the control 
     of the Indian government, the same Indian government that has 
     murdered more than 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. 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 
     Jallianwala 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! 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 make Viasakhi Day a day of freedom. 
     Let us dedicate ourselves this Vaisakhi Day to living up to 
     the blessing of Guru Gobind Singh. Let us take the occasion 
     of Vaisakhi Day to begin to 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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