[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 63 (Friday, May 13, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NEW BOOK REVEALS VOICES OF SOUTH ASIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 12, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I have recently been given a copy of an 
interesting new book called Authentic Voices of South Asia, edited by 
retired Brigadier General Usman Khalid and published by the London 
Institute of South Asia. The book is an excellent discussion of India's 
hegemonic ambitions in South Asia and the drive for self-determination 
for all the peoples of the subcontinent. I recommend it to my 
colleagues as an excellent source of information about that difficult 
and troubled region.
  The book includes essays on the situation in Punjab, Khalistan, in 
Kashmir, and in other troubled parts of the subcontinent. It 
extensively discusses India's ambition to be the overwhelming, 
hegemonic power in South Asia and control all the countries there and 
its disrespect for the sovereignty of its neighbors. It is dedicated to 
``250,000 Sikhs, 90,000 Muslim Kashmiri Martyrs and many more who have 
been killed in all parts of India, notably Assam, Maharashtra, and 
Gujarat by Hindu mobs or the Indian police and armed forces.'' This 
doesn't mention the fact that the Hindu mobs carry out their atrocities 
with the connivance of the Indian police and armed forces. For example, 
a policeman in Gujarat told an Indian newspaper that the massacre of 
2,000 to 5,000 Muslims there was pre-planned by the Indian government 
and the police were told to stand aside, a remarkable parallel to the 
1984 Delhi massacre of Sikhs, in which Sikh policemen were locked in 
their barracks.
  In all, Mr. Speaker, over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered by the 
Indian government, according to the Punjab State Magistracy, in 
addition to more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 
Kashmiri Muslims, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims 
throughout India, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, 
Manipuris, Tamils, and others, as well as the minorities cited in the 
introduction to Authentic Voices of South Asia. In addition, according 
to the Movement Against State Repression, India holds over 52,000 Sikh 
political prisoners, some of whom have been in illegal detention 
without charge or trial since 1984. Amnesty International reports that 
tens of thousands of other minorities are also held as political 
prisoners. This is why this book is so urgently needed and so 
important.
  The book includes essays by Dalit leader V.T. Rajshekar, Dr. Gurm 
Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, Dr. Awatar Singh 
Sekhon, Editor of the International Journal of Sikh Affairs, and many 
other leaders and scholars. Mr. Rajshekar writes that ``the glitter of 
Brahminism lies in its imperial ambitions and its fascist agenda.'' Dr. 
Sekhon writes that only accepting the principle of national self-
determination provides a basis for peace and stability in South Asia.
  India agreed in 1948 to a plebiscite in Kashmir to determine its 
status. That plebiscite has never been held, even as India proudly 
proclaims itself ``the world's largest democracy.'' Well, why not 
simply let the people of Kashmir, of Punjab, Khalistan, of Nagalim, and 
of all the other minority states and communities determine their status 
by means of a free and fair vote. Isn't that how democracies do 
business? It is time for the U.S. Congress to go on record demanding a 
tree and fair vote, demanding that India keep its promises and act like 
the democracy it claims to be. It is also time to stop American aid and 
trade with India until its ``imperial ambitions and its fascist 
agenda'' are abandoned and all people within its borders enjoy full 
civil liberties and human rights. Only then can India's claim of 
democratic principles be taken seriously.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Preface from Authentic Voices 
of South Asia into the Record at this time for the information of my 
colleagues and the American people.

                     Authentic Voices of South Asia


                                Preface

       South Asia is the only major region in the world with 
     unsettled frontiers. This is not because the states that 
     emerged from the end of British colonial rule in the 
     subcontinent have no `principle' or `agreement' to draw on 
     for settling their disputes, it is because the largest 
     country--India--has simply resiled on the agreements it made. 
     The `core' dispute in the area is over the future of the 
     State of Jammu and Kashmir. India took the matter of its 
     `ownership' of the State to the UN Security Council which 
     ordered a cease fire but rejected its claim; it upheld the UN 
     Charter and secured an agreement of both India and Pakistan 
     that the people would decide which country their state would 
     join--India or Pakistan--in a UN supervised Plebiscite. India 
     used the cease-fire to consolidate its military position and 
     then went back on its agreement in 1953 to hold the 
     Plebiscite on the specious grounds that Pakistan had signed a 
     bilateral defence agreement with the US and introduced a 
     `foreign' element that India found unacceptable.
       The root cause of all the problems in South Asia is India's 
     self view as an `imperial' power with a role to keep order in 
     the region. India acts like the US did when it exercised 
     control over South and Central America under the Monroe 
     Doctrine or the Soviet Union exercised control over East 
     Europe under the Brezhnev Doctrine. India does not recognise 
     the sovereign equality of states of South Asia; it acts as if 
     it operated a `doctrine of limited sovereignty' of sorts in 
     the region. India is resented and abhorred by all its 
     neighbours for that reason. India became a `strategic 
     partner' of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and is now a 
     `strategic partner' of the US and Israel. It chose its 
     `partners' with only one consideration--who will recognise 
     India as the `primary power' in the region (a policeman in 
     American parlance) and thus help keep a lid on the pressure 
     cooker that India had turned South Asia into.
       Pakistan is not the only victim of India's `imperial' 
     aspiration; the religious minorities and the `low born' 
     inside India suffer even more. India betrayed the Sikh who it 
     promised to give their own `sovereign state'. It betrayed the 
     Untouchables by Poona Pact promising meaningless `legal 
     safeguards' in exchange for the effective `political 
     safeguard' of `separate electorate' offered to them by the 
     British Government. All the various tribal peoples all over 
     India, who had been self governing under British rule, have 
     been denied their separate identity and rights. The betrayal 
     of India is matched by the ineptitude of Pakistan's leaders 
     who neither understood the Indian mindset nor their own role 
     as the champion of `post imperialism' to uphold the right of 
     `national self-determination' in South Asia and as a `nation 
     state' with Islam as the principle of national solidarity.
       Putting this book together was a huge task that could be 
     done better if some of the constraints had been absent. 
     Because it is so difficult to speak the truth and survive in 
     South Asia, many of the Authentic Voices live in exile and 
     those who live in India have to be careful. Being a soldier 
     rather than scholar, my editing is not characterised by 
     `academic restraint' but by `forthright clarity'. But I have 
     not tried to harmonise style or substance; the differences of 
     views between the various contributors exist, as they must. 
     After all, these are the Authentic Voices of different I 
     peoples. I am grateful to all the contributors, particularly 
     to Syed Ali Geelani and Mr V.T. Rajshekar, who are under 
     close watch in India, to have taken risks to address the 
     people of South Asia and given them hope and direction.--
     Brigadier (R) Usman Khalid.

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