[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DAL KHALSA USA HOLDS SEMINAR ON KHALISTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 19, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, Dal Khalsa USA held a seminar in 
support of Khalistan, the Sikh homeland. It was a significant 
demonstration of the continuing support that the Sikh people have for 
freedom for their homeland. Paramjit Singh Sekhon and Gagandecp Singh, 
who lead Dal Khalsa USA and organized the seminar, are to be 
congratulated. Speakers, included Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, Dr. Awatar 
Singh Sekhon, Dr. Ajit Pal Singh Sandhu, and Dr. Arjinder Singh 
Sekhorn.
  Freedom is a dream that people all over the world share and we should 
be encouraging it, Mr. Speaker. Both here and in Punjab, support for 
Khalistan is on the rise and getting more visible.
  As the beacon of liberty in the world, it is our duty to encourage 
people who are reaching for freedom. The essence of democracy is the 
right to self-determination. But in India, all that elections do for 
minorities is to change the faces of the oppressors. The time has come 
to go on record in support of a democratic vote on freedom for 
Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the minority nations of South 
Asia. And we should stop our aid to India and our trade until human 
rights are respected.
  Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan issued a press release on the 
seminar. I would like to add it to the Record.

               Dal Khalsa USA Holds Seminar on Khalistan

       Washington, D.C.--Dal Khalsa USA held a seminar on 
     Khalistan In Fremont, California from August 25 to August 27, 
     The seminar focused on the need to liberate Khalistan, the 
     Sikh homeland, from Indian occupation. Khalistan is the Sikh 
     homeland that declared its independence from India on October 
     7, 1987. Speakers included Dr. Gurmit Singh aulakh, President 
     of the Council of Khalistan, Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, 
     Managing Editor of the International Journal of Sikh Affairs, 
     Dr. Ajit Pal Singh Sandhu, Colonel Arjinderpal Singh Sekhon 
     (US Army Reserve), and others, The seminar was organized by 
     Sardar Paramjit Singh Sekhon, President of Dal Khalsa USA, 
     and Sardar Gagandeep Singh, General Secretary of Dal Khalsa 
     USA.
       The speakers addressed the need for the Sikh Nation to 
     reclaim it lost sovereignty and escape from the oppression of 
     the Indian government, which has murdered over 250,000 Sikh 
     infants, children, youth, men, women, and elderly since 1984, 
     as well as 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 
     Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipurls, Tamils, and other 
     minorities.
       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. Khalra was murdered in 
     police custody. His body was not given to his family. No one 
     has been brought to Justice for the kidnapping and murder of 
     Jaswant Singh Khalra. The only witness to the Khalra 
     kidnapping, Rajiv Singh Randhawa, has been repeatedly 
     harassed by the police, including having been arrested for 
     trying to hand a piece of paper to then-British Home 
     Secretary Jack Straw. The police never released the body of 
     former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after 
     SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. He has never been tried 
     for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. In 1994, the U.S. State 
     Department reported that the Indian government had paid over 
     41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs. A report by the 
     Movement Against State Repression (MASR) quotes the Punjab 
     Civil Magistracy as writing ``if we add up the figures of the 
     last few years the number of innocent persons killed would 
     run into lakhs [hundreds of thousands.]'' The Indian Supreme 
     Court called the Indian governments murders of Sikhs ``worse 
     than a genocide.''
       The MASR report states that 52,268 Sikhs are being held as 
     political prisoners in India without charge or trial, mostly 
     under a repressive law known as the ``Terrorist and 
     Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA), which expired in 1995. 
     Many have been in illegal custody since 1984. There has been 
     no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and 
     those who are still rotting in Indian jails. Tens of 
     thousands of other minorities are also being held as 
     political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. Last 
     year, 35 Sikhs were charged and arrested in Punjab for making 
     speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the Khalistan 
     flag. ``How can making speeches and raising a flag be 
     considered crimes in a democratic society?'' asked Dr. 
     Aulakh.
       Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with his two 
     sons, ages 8 and 10, by a mob of militant, fundamentalist 
     Hindu nationalists who set fire to the jeep, surrounded it, 
     and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. Missionary 
     Joseph Cooper was beaten so badly that he had to spend a week 
     in an Indian hospital. Then the Indian government threw him 
     out of the country. None of the people involved has been 
     tried. The persons who have murdered priests, raped nuns, and 
     burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried. 
     Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire. 
     Recently, militant Hindus from the Bharatlya Janata Yuva (a 
     youth movement affiliated with the BJP and the Fascist RSS) 
     attacked the Convent of Loreto and the school there. 13 
     Catholic schools remain closed and a spokesman for the BJP, 
     Mr. H. Dikshit, demanded an investigation of the school!
       The murderers of 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in Gujarat have 
     never been brought to trial. An Indian newspaper reported 
     that the police were ordered not to get involved in that 
     massacre, a frightening parallel to the Delhi massacre of 
     Sikhs In 1984. The most important mosque in India, the Sabri 
     Mosque, was destroyed by militant Hindu fundamentalists who 
     have never been held responsible for their actions.
       ``I am honored to be a speaker at this seminar and very 
     pleased that Dal Khalsa USA is holding these activities to 
     focus the attention of America and the world on the plight of 
     the Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan and the need for a sovereign, 
     Independent Khalistan,'' said Dr. Aulakh.
       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. Currently, there are 17 freedom 
     movements within India's borders. It has 18 official 
     languages. ``We hope that India's breakup will be peaceful 
     like Czechoslovakia's, not violent like Yugoslavia's,'' Dr. 
     Aulakh said.
       Dr. Aulakh stressed his commitment to the peaceful, 
     democratic, nonviolent struggle to liberate Khalistan. ``The 
     only way that the repression will stop and Sikhs will live in 
     freedom, dignity and prosperity is to liberate Khalistan,'' 
     said Dr. Aulakh. ``As Professor Darshan Singh, former 
     Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, `If a Sikh Is not a 
     Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.','' Dr. Aulakh said. ``We must 
     free Khalistan now,''

                          ____________________