[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 83 (Friday, June 23, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1267-E1268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ARTICLE EXPOSES REPRESSION OF SIKHS BY INDIA

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 22, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, a good article appeared in the Argus of 
Fremont, California on repression of the Sikhs in India. Fremont has a 
large Sikh population and the article appeared earlier this month in 
conjunction with the commemoration of the Indian government's June 1984 
attack on the Golden Temple, the most sacred Sikh shrine.
  The article points out that the abuse at Abu Ghbraib which 
embarrassed all of us, was a lesser offense than what India did to its 
Sikh population in June 1984 when it attacked the Golden Temple and 37 
other Gurdwaras in Punjab.
  The article quotes a Sikh named Jasdeep Singh as saying that ``We 
would have said that was nothing'' referring to Abu Ghraib.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, since we know how atrocious the Abu Ghraib 
incidents are, that gives us an indication of the carnage that was 
inflicted on the Sikh Nation by the Indian regime in June 1984.
  The article also discusses the Sikhs' desire for an independent, 
sovereign Khalistan, which declared its independence from India in 
1987. This has been met with many years of bloody repression, including 
the murders of over 250,000 Sikhs and over 52,000 who are held as 
political prisoners in ``the world's largest democracy.''
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come to demand self-determination and full 
human rights for all people in South Asia. We should stop our aid and 
trade with India and we should demand a free and fair plebiscite not 
only on the status of Khalistan, but of Kashmir (as India promised in 
1948), of Nagalim, and all the nations seeking their freedom in that 
troubled region. It would be good for the freedom, prosperity, and 
stability of all concerned.
  I would like to insert the Argus article into the Record at this 
time.

                     [From the Argus, June 5, 2006]

                    Fremont Sikhs Recall Oppression

                           (By Matthew Artz)

       Fremont.--Jasdeep Singh couldn't help but laugh at the 
     uproar over the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
       ``We would have said that was nothing,'' said Singh, who 
     moved to Fremont in 1992, he said, after Indian authorities 
     detained and tortured him three times because he is Sikh.
       Sikh nationalism barely a blip on the international radar, 
     was front and center Sunday at the Fremont Gurdwara Sahib, 
     the local Sikh house of worship, where community leaders 
     reaffirmed support for transforming the Indian state of 
     Punjab into a secular Sikh-majority state of Khalistan.
       ``We know from our history that Sikhs will never be safe or 
     truly free unless they have a homeland of their own,'' Singh 
     said.
       For the estimated 150,000 Sikhs living in the Bay Area, 
     Tuesday marks the anniversary of two of the most devastating 
     and seminal events in the history of the 500-year-old faith.
       In 1984, with Sikhs pressing for an independent Punjab, 
     where they are a majority, the Indian government invaded the 
     Golden Temple--Sikhism's holiest place--and 36 other 
     religious sites where separatists were hiding, killing 
     thousands. The attack came on the 378th anniversary of the 
     torture and death of a Sikh religious leader.
       Four months later, when Prime Minister Indira Ghandi was 
     murdered by two of her Sikh bodyguards, rioters murdered 
     thousands more Sikhs, who are easy to identify because the 
     men wore turbans and grow long beards.
       The bloodbath and ensuring eight years of repression drove 
     many Sikhs to North America.
       Now, 7,500 miles from their ancestral land, leaders of the 
     Fremont gurdwara won't let their brethren forget about what 
     transpired in India.
       Photographs of 73 Sikhs murdered by Indian authorities in 
     1984, including the two men who killed the prime minister, 
     ring the gurdwara's dining room.
       On Sunday, the gurdwara installed an exhibit about their 
     faith that included photographs of Sikh men being burned 
     alive or beaten by Indian soldiers. Other pictures 
     commemorated the 400th anniversary of the torture and murder 
     of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who refused to remove references to 
     Islam and Hinduism from the Sikh's holy book.
       ``We're trying to make people aware,'' said Ram Singh, a 
     gurdwara leader who plans to protest outside the Indian 
     Consulate in San Francisco tomorrow. ``We don't want our 
     future generations to forget what happened to us.''
       Jasdeep Singh, an engineer, won't forget the day in 1989 
     when soldiers raided his graduate school boarding house and 
     detained all the Sikhs in an effort to gain intelligence on 
     separatist leaders.
       ``First the clothes came off,'' he said. Later, guards tied 
     his hands behind his back and hung him from the ceiling. 
     ``These two shoulders,'' he said, ``felt like they were going 
     to pop out.''
       Since Singh arrived in Fremont, persecution of Sikhs in 
     India has decreased and the governing Congress Party named a 
     Sikh, Mammohan Singh, to serve as prime minister.
       Years of repression followed by some reforms have stifled 
     the independence movement in Punjab and left Sikhs in the Bay

[[Page E1268]]

     Area divided over the nationalist cause, said Ram Singh, who 
     favors an independent Khalistan.
       ``It's not that simple,'' said Balraj Gil as he peered at 
     the pictures of torture. ``You can't just get an independent 
     state.''

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