[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 101 (Thursday, July 27, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1558-E1560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES LONDON INSTITUTE OF SOUTH ASIA

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
Council of Khalistan, recently spoke at the London Institute of South 
Asia, which was holding a seminar on separate electorate in India. He 
also contributed an article to the Journal of the London Institute of 
South Asia. Both presentations were on the same theme: freedom for 
Khalistan, the sovereign Sikh state that declared its independence from 
India on October 7, 1987, and has been under Indian occupation ever 
since then.
  Dr. Aulakh stressed that a separate electorate within India, although 
it might help some of the oppressed minorities there, would not be 
appropriate for the Sikh nation, which is separate and distinct from 
India. He said that the achievement of full sovereignty and 
independence for Khalistan is inevitable. He took note of the Sikh 
farmers whose farms were bulldozed earlier this year by the Government. 
He discussed the Sikh activists who were arrested for raising the 
Khalistani flag. ``How can India claim it is a democracy and continue 
to hold political prisoners?'' he asked. ``How can a democratic, 
secular state make it a crime to

[[Page E1559]]

raise a flag and make speeches? Would America arrest people for raising 
the Confederate flag? Would the United Kingdom arrest people for 
speaking in support of Scottish independence?'' And the answer is that 
of course we wouldn't. We may not like these things, but they are not 
crimes. Yet in India the equivalent act gets you arrested.
  Dr. Aulakh noted several other acts of tyranny against the Sikhs, 
including the kidnapping of human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, 
the murder of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke, 
the killing of the driver for Sikh religious leader Baba Charan Singh, 
who was tied to two Jeeps which drove in different directions, tearing 
this human being apart, and many other atrocities. These things are the 
mark of a tyrannical, totalitarian regime, Mr. Speaker. Dr. Aulakh 
writes that in light of these atrocities, ``independence for Khalistan 
is inevitable.''
  Dr. Aulakh takes note of the rising support for Khalistan in Punjab. 
He notes the marches being organized, that politicians and other Sikh 
leaders are speaking out for Khalistan, the seminars held by a former 
member of Parliament on the subject, and other activities in support of 
freedom for Khalistan.
  Mr. Speaker, the essence of democracy is the right to self-
determination. All people and all nations have a right to be free. That 
is the idea that gave birth to America. As such, we must be active and 
vigilant in supporting freedom around the world. We should stop our aid 
and trade with India, which is only propping up the repressive regime. 
The time has come to put the U.S. Congress on record in support of a 
free and fair plebiscite in Khalistan and all the minority nations that 
seek their freedom in South Asia.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place Dr. Aulakh's article from the 
Journal of the London Institute of South Asia into the Record at this 
time.

  [From the Journal of the London Institute of South Asia, July, 2006]

Flame of Freedom Burns in Khalistan: Establishment of a Sovereign Sikh 
                          State Is Inevitable

                      (By Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh)

       January 2006 was not a good month for the Sikh farmers in 
     Uttaranchal Pradesh, India. Their farms were bulldozed and 
     they were thrown out of the state. They had worked peacefully 
     all their lives, but now everything they had worked for was 
     destroyed. Once again, the government had decided to make 
     Sikhs the victims. This continues a pattern of repression 
     that has kept the Sikh Nation from living in freedom or 
     prosperity. Since 1984, over a quarter of a million Sikhs 
     have been murdered at the hands of the Indian government.
       There is no way for these farmers to gain redress within 
     the Indian system. They have lost their life's work with no 
     way of making themselves whole. And they have no means to 
     begin again. They received no compensation for their 
     bulldozed property. This is just a recent example of why 
     Sikhs need their own independent country, Khalistan.
       Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, declared its independence 
     from India on October 7, 1987. Since then, India's brutal 
     repression of the Sikh nation has intensified. Last year on 
     Republic Day, 35 Sikhs were arrested for making speeches in 
     support of Khalistan and raising the flag of Khalistan. This 
     past June, even more Sikhs were arrested for hoisting a flag 
     and making speeches. They join at least 52,268 Sikh political 
     prisoners that India admitted to holding, according to the 
     Movement Against State Repression (MASR) (as well as tens of 
     thousands of other political prisoners, according to Amnesty 
     International.)
       India proclaims itself the world's largest democracy. How 
     can India claim it is a democracy and continue to hold 
     political prisoners? How can a democratic, secular state make 
     it a crime to raise a flag and make speeches? Would America 
     arrest people for raising the Confederate flag? Would the 
     United Kingdom arrest people for speaking in support of 
     Scottish independence?
       The Sikhs are a separate people from India--culturally, 
     linguistically, and religiously distinct. As such, the Sikh 
     Nation is logically and morally a separate nation, a separate 
     people. Every day Sikhs pray ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa,'' meaning 
     ``the Khalsa shall rule.'' It is part of the Sikh 
     consciousness that we are either rulers or we are in 
     rebellion.
       Since 1947, the Indian government has been enslaving the 
     Sikh Nation. Under Indian rule, Sikhs are slaves. They are 
     exploited, tortured, and killed for the convenience of the 
     rulers. Despite India's repression of the Sikhs `symbolized 
     by half a million troops enforcing the peace of the bayonet' 
     the Sikhs are reclaiming the freedom that is our birthright. 
     The record of India's treatment of the Sikhs makes it clear 
     that there is no place for the Sikhs in `India's democracy'.
       In 1995, human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra 
     published a report exposing India's policy of secret 
     cremations of Sikhs under which Sikh men are picked up, 
     tortured, and murdered, then their bodies are declared 
     `unidentified' and secretly cremated. Khalra did his work by 
     studying several cremation grounds in Punjab. He established 
     about 25,000 Sikhs who have been secretly cremated. Follow-up 
     work has established that the number is around 50,000. Their 
     bodies have never been given to their families. For his work, 
     Sardar Khalra was murdered in police custody; no wonder his 
     body also disappeared.
       The one witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Rajiv Singh 
     Randhawa, has been consistently harassed by the Indian 
     regime. He even got arrested for trying to hand information 
     about the repression of the Sikhs to the British Home 
     Minister outside the Golden Temple.
       Former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke was 
     murdered by police official Swaran Singh Ghotna. He has never 
     been brought to justice. The driver for Sikh religious leader 
     Baba Charan Singh was killed when his legs were tied to two 
     jeeps which then drove in different directions. The cases of 
     torture by rolling heavy rollers over the legs of Sikh 
     prisoners are too numerous to mention. In 1994, the U.S. 
     State Department reported that the Indian government paid 
     out over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for 
     killing Sikhs.
       The only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, 
     peace, stability, dignity, and prosperity, without constantly 
     fearing for their lives, is by liberating Khalistan.
       The establishment of an independent Khalistan is 
     inevitable. Support for an independent Khalistan is rising in 
     Punjab. Last November, Khalistan slogans were raised at 
     Nankana Sahib during the celebration of Guru Nanak's birthday 
     and at a subsequent seminar. More than 25,000 people were in 
     attendance for the birthday celebration. There have been 
     numerous marches demanding freedom for Khalistan in Punjab. 
     Former Member of Parliament Atinder Pal Singh held a seminar 
     on Khalistan. Even when the Punjab Legislative Assembly 
     canceled the agreements that had allowed Punjabi water to be 
     diverted to other states, they openly asserted the 
     sovereignty of the state of Punjab. It seems that the Indian 
     government is aware and afraid of the rising tide of support 
     for Khalistan.
       As Steve Forbes wrote in Forbes Magazine in 2002, ``India 
     is not a homogeneous state. Neither was the Austro-Hungarian 
     Empire. It attacked Serbia in the summer of 1914 in the hopes 
     of destroying this irritating state after Serbia had 
     committed a spectacular terrorist act against the Hapsburg 
     monarchy. The empire ended up splintering, and the Hapsburgs 
     lost their throne.'' India is doomed to a similar fate. It is 
     not a single, homogeneous state, but many countries thrown 
     together under one umbrella by the British colonial rulers 
     for their convenience. It has 18 official languages. Such 
     countries historically fall apart. The Soviet Union, 
     Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia are other examples from recent 
     history.
       Even former Home Minister L.K. Advani has acknowledged the 
     instability of India, saying in Parliament: ``if Kashmir 
     goes, India goes.'' At a seminar in Lahore in November 2005, 
     I predicted that India will break up into five or six 
     different countries. This caused the Akali leaders present to 
     walk out, betraying the interests of the Sikh Nation once 
     again. Sikhs are willing to sit down and negotiate the 
     borders of a free and independent Khalistan. as long as that 
     is the sole subject for negotiation.
       The Sikh Nation has a long and distinguished history of 
     freedom and secularism. Guru Gobind Singh Sahib established 
     the Khalsa Nation in 1699 at the historic Vaisakhi 
     Congregation in Anandpur Sahib. This event is celebrated 
     every April on the Sikh holiday of Vaisakhi Day. By his 
     action, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib firmly established a distinct 
     identity for the Khalsa Panth. He gave the Khalsa the 
     blessing of sovereignty and independence: Ain grieb Sikhin ko 
     deon Patshahi. `Khalsa Bagi Yan Badshah.'
       The Gurus laid down the correct way for the Sikh Nation by 
     their example. Guru Nanak Sahib, the first Sikh Guru, 
     confronted the atrocities of the first Mogul ruler Babar 
     against the innocent population. Guru Arun Dev Ji Sahib 
     became a martyr in defense of his principles and acceptance 
     of the will of God. Guru Teg Bahadur Singh Sahib sacrificed 
     his life in defense of the weak and other religions, 
     defending Hindus from forced conversions. Today, it is 
     nationalist Hindus who are carrying out forced conversions, 
     more precisely forced reconversions of those who have 
     converted to another religion.
       The tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, completed 
     Guru Nanak Dev Ji Sahib's mission. He infused a new spirit 
     into the Sikh Nation and designed a new road map for the 
     Sikhs. He initiated the Sacrament of Steel (khande de pahul), 
     ordained the first five Sikhs as Singhs B the Panj Piaras, or 
     Five Beloved Ones B and instituted the Order of the Khalsa. 
     From then on, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib commanded the Sikhs to 
     mark their distinct identity known through five symbols: 
     unshorn hair, symbolizing natural and saintly appearance 
     (worn under a turban); a special comb to keep the hair clean; 
     a steel bracelet symbolizing discipline and gentility; the 
     Kirpan. or sword, a symbol of courage and commitment to 
     justice, truth, freedom, and human dignity; and special knee-
     length under shorts, symbolizing chastity.
       In 1706 Guru Gobind Singh left this world for his heavenly 
     abode. Just two ears later. Banda Singh Bahadur established a 
     Sikh Raj. It lasted from 1710 until 1716. From 1716 to 1765, 
     Sikhs went through horrible persecution by the Mogul ruler 
     Aurang Zeb. During that period, Sikhs experienced the chhota 
     ghalugara (small holocaust) and the wadde

[[Page E1560]]

     ghalugara (large holocaust) In 1762, one third of the Sikh 
     population was killed in three days.
       In 1765, Sikhs again established Sikh rule in several Sikh 
     missals (free cantonal republics) as well as the 
     principalities of Patiala, Nabha, Faridkote, Kapurthala, 
     Jind, and Kalsia. This lasted until 1799 when Maharajah 
     Ranjit Singh established Khalsa Raj in Punjab by uniting the 
     missals and principalities. They marched into the capital 
     city of Lahore and hoisted the Sikh flag, manifesting the 
     spirit of liberty reaffirmed at the Vaisakhi of 1699. This 
     Khalsa Raj lasted until 1849 when the British conquered the 
     Sub-continent. This Sikh nation of Punjab was recognized by 
     most of the Western powers of the time. The contemporary 
     struggle to liberate the Sikh homeland, Punjab. Khalistan, is 
     part of the same historical process.
       Maharajah Ranjit Singh's rule was the Golden Age for 
     Punjab. Sikhs destroyed Mogul rule and stopped invasions from 
     the Afghan rulers to the west. Under the command of Hari 
     Singh Nerwa, Sikhs defeated the Afghans and occupied Kabul. 
     Nelwa left Kabul after securing the promise from the Afghans 
     that they would not cross east of the Khyber Pass. Maharajah 
     Ranjit Singh and Hari Singh Nerwa invaded Kashmir, which was 
     part of Afghanistan. and annexed it to Punjab in 1819. India 
     and Pakistan owe a debt of gratitude to the Sikhs, as both 
     countries claim Kashmir as their own.
       During Maharajah Ranjit Singh's rule, Hindus, Muslims, and 
     Christians all had a share of power alongside the Sikhs. All 
     of them were represented as ministers in his Cabinet. The 
     Faqir brothers, who were Muslims, were trusted ministers in 
     the inner circle of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. General Ventura, 
     a Christian, was in charge of the artillery. The Hindu Dogras 
     (Dhian Singh Dogra and his brother Lal Singh Dogra) wielded 
     enormous power with Maharajah Ranjit Singh.
       The Dogras betrayed the Sikhs and connived with the British 
     in the defeat of the Sikh army.
       When Hari Singh Nalwa took a lone bullet from an Afghan, he 
     wrote his last letter in blood rather than ink to bid his 
     last fateh to Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Nalwa had previously 
     asked for more troops but those letters were intercepted by 
     the Dogra brothers, who kept the requests to themselves 
     instead of telling Maharajah Ranjit Singh. They wanted Hari 
     Singh Nalwa to be killed.
       Nalwa instructed the messenger to give his letter to 
     Maharajah Ranjit Singh personally and to no one else. The 
     messenger arrived early in the morning.
       Maharajah Ranjit Singh and Dhian Singh Dogra were out for a 
     morning walk. When the messenger tried to give the letter to 
     Maharajah Ranjit Singh, Dogra tried to intercept it. The 
     messenger told Maharajah Ranjit Singh that he was instructed 
     to give the letter to him personally. When Maharajah Ranjit 
     Singh read the letter, he was so angry with Dhian Sigh Dogra 
     that he hit Dogra with his water bucket. Then he instructed 
     the army to get ready to march towards Afghanistan.
       They arrived at the River Attack. It was flooded. It had 
     overflowed its banks. The Sikhs wanted to wait until the 
     flood was over, but Maharajah Ranjit Singh led his horse into 
     the river. The water went down and the Sikhs crossed the 
     river. Maharajah Ranjit Singh fought the Afghans and defeated 
     them. That stopped the incursion of the Afghans into the Sikh 
     territory of Punjab.
       After the demise of Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1839, the 
     British infiltrated their agents like the Dogra brothers and 
     others into the Sikh Raj. Sikh rulers were murdered, one 
     after the other. The Sikhs gave the British a tough fight in 
     the Anglo-Sikh wars, but the Sikhs lost the war through the 
     betrayal of the Dogra brothers and the British annexed Punjab 
     in 1849.
       The Sikh Nation's desire for sovereignty has not 
     diminished. Sikhs always recite the couplet `Raj Kare Ga 
     Khalsa' after their morning and evening Ardas (prayers.) The 
     Sikhs actively participated in the Indian struggle for 
     independence from the British. Although Sikhs were just 1.5 
     percent of the population, they gave over 80 percent of the 
     sacrifices in the freedom struggle. 2,125 Indians were 
     executed during the freedom struggle. Of these, more than 
     1,500 were Sikhs. Out of 2,645 exiled by the British, 2,147 
     were Sikhs.
       At the time of India's independence in 1947, the Hindus of 
     India and the Muslims of Pakistan received sovereign, 
     independent states. Sikhs were supposed to be a party to 
     the arrangement and receive their own state as well. But 
     the Sikh leadership of the time accepted the false promise 
     of Jawahar Lal Nehru (reaffirmed in resolutions of the 
     Indian National Congress) that they would have `the glow 
     of freedom' in Punjab and no law affecting Sikh rights 
     would be passed without Sikh consent. On this basis Sikhs 
     took their share with India.
       However, soon after the independence of India. the Sikhs 
     discovered that they had been betrayed. The Indian leaders 
     had no intention of giving them what they had promised. Home 
     Minister Patel shamefully sent out a memo describing Sikhs as 
     a `criminal tribe'. The repression of the Sikh Nation began 
     with that memo and continues to this day.
       The time has come for Sikhs to break free of the repressive 
     Indian regime. This is the only way that their human rights 
     will ever be respected. And the world is beginning to notice. 
     In the United States Congress, the Congressional Record is 
     serving as a vehicle to keep an accurate record of the 
     repression and to defeat India's effort to whitewash the 
     situation and the history of the Sikhs and other minorities. 
     The Congressional Record carries repeated calls for a free 
     and fair plebiscite on the independence of Khalistan and the 
     other nations seeking their freedom from India. There are 
     also repeated calls for a cut off of U.S. aid to India until 
     human rights are respected. The pressure is mounting for 
     human rights and freedom in South Asia. How soon will India 
     collapse under the pressure? It is only a matter of time.

                          ____________________