[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E427-E428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SIKH ORGANIZATIONS UNITE FOR KHALISTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 28, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the Indian newspaper The Telegraph ran a 
story on March 21 reporting that two Sikh organizations in Punjab, Dal 
Khalsa, under the leadership of Satnam Singh, and the Shiromani Khalsa 
Dal under the leadership of Daljit Singh Bittu, are uniting to promote 
a sovereign, independent Khalistan. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the Sikhs 
declared Khalistan independent on October 7, 1987. Ever since then, 
Sikhs have been struggling against a massive Indian force of over 
500,000 troops sent to suppress their drive for freedom.
  The announcement from Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal was met 
by shouts of ``Khalistan Zindabad,'' meaning ``Long live Khalistan.'' 
Now the Chief Minister of Punjab has ordered the police to place the 
leaders of both organizations under watch. Let me make this clear, Mr. 
Speaker. They are under police watch in ``the world's largest 
democracy'' for peaceful political activities designed to achieve 
freedom for their people.
  These arrests come in short order after the recent arrests of Sikh 
activists Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan and Kanwarpal Singh Dhami for 
speeches they made supporting Khalistan. Dr. Chohan committed the 
additional crime of flying the Khalistani flag from his residence. 
Groups of Sikhs were arrested last year in January and June for 
hoisting the Khalistani flag and making speeches in support of 
sovereignty for Khalistan. Dal Khalsa organized those events. It has 
organized numerous events in support of a sovereign Khalistan in 
Punjab, and the support has been shown to be large. I guess this scares 
the Indian government.
  Mr. Speaker, these actions are unacceptable in any country. We use 
our influence to put pressure on totalitarian regimes for just these 
kinds of tactics. They are even more unacceptable when the country 
using them

[[Page E428]]

claims to be democratic. This does not resemble any kind of democracy I 
know about.
  Mr. Speaker, we must take a stand for freedom in South Asia, as we 
are doing elsewhere in the world. The time has come to cut off our aid 
and trade with India and until basic human rights for all people are 
respected there. In addition, we should put the Congress officially on 
record in support of free and fair plebiscites in Punjab, Khalistan, in 
Kashmir, in Nagaland, and all the other minority nations seeking their 
freedom from India. It is time for America to show its active support 
for freedom, stability, dignity, and human rights.
  Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan has published a very good 
release on the statement by Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal. I 
would like to add it to the Record now for the information of my 
colleagues.

           Sikhs Arrested in India for Speaking for Khalistan

       Washington, DC, March 15, 2006.--Sardar Kanwarpal Singh 
     Dhami, Chairman of Dal Khalsa, and Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan 
     were arrested earlier this month for speaking out for an 
     independent Khalistan. They were charged with sedition. These 
     arrests follow the arrests of Sikh leaders last year 
     belonging to Dal Khalsa both in January and June for hoisting 
     the flag of Khalistan. Kanwarpal Singh Dhami was arrested 
     after saying that the Sikh Panth could not live under someone 
     else's rule. He was accused of ``. . . sedition, promoting 
     enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, 
     doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, 
     imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration 
     and statements conducing to public mischief.'' The government 
     charged that he promoted separatist and `terrorist' 
     movements.
       Dal Khalsa has sponsored numerous marches and conferences 
     in Punjab in support of a free Khalistan, the Sikh homeland 
     that declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987. 
     It was the organizer of the two events at which Sikhs were 
     arrested for making speeches and raising the Khalistani flag. 
     It was announced today that they will be joining forces with 
     the Shiromani Khalsa Dal, headed by Sardar Daljit Singh 
     Bittu, in support of a free Khalistan. The Punjab and Haryana 
     High Court ruled that it is legal to ask for freedom for 
     Khalistan, yet the Indian government continues to treat it as 
     a crime. They do not even live by their own law.
       Dr. Chohan said on India's Zee TV that Khalistan will be 
     free by 2007. He has also been flying the Khalistani flag and 
     that of his party, the Khalsa Raj Party, outside his office. 
     According to the book Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism 
     (page 183), Dr. Chohan worked with Major General Jaswant 
     Singh Bhullar, Professor Manjit Singh Sidhu, Didar Singh 
     Bains, and others ``to stop Sikhs living abroad'' from 
     supporting freedom for Khalistan and connived with the Indian 
     government for the June 1984 attack on the Golden Temple.
       ``It is evident that the Indian government is scared of the 
     increasing amount of peaceful activism in Punjab in support 
     of Khalistan,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of 
     the Council of Khalistan, which is leading the Sikh struggle 
     for independence. ``The time of Khalistan's liberation is 
     near. India will fall apart soon,'' he said. ``We condemn the 
     arrests of Sardar Dhami and Dr. Chohan but remind the Sikh 
     Nation that it must work only with leaders who are honest, 
     sincere, and committed to the liberation of Khalistan.'' Dr. 
     Aulakh noted that in New York in 2000, former Member of 
     Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann had called for the Council of 
     Khalistan's office to be closed. ``Sikhs must be very careful 
     about the leaders they follow,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``This 
     office has worked unwaveringly for a sovereign Khalistan for 
     almost 20 years,'' he noted.
       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. ``We only hope that the breakup will be 
     peaceful,'' said Dr. Aulakh.
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 
     Muslims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and 
     Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of 
     Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, and others. The Indian Supreme 
     Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse 
     than a genocide.''
       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. He was murdered in police 
     custody. His body was not given to his family. The police 
     never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht 
     Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered 
     him. No one has been brought to justice for the Khalra 
     kidnapping and murder. Yet 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 since 1984!
       Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh Nation prosper and 
     get justice,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``India should act like a 
     democracy and allow a plebiscite on independence for 
     Khalistan and all the nations of South Asia,'' Dr. Aulakh 
     said. ``We must free Khalistan now.''

                          ____________________