[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1755-E1756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONVENT ATTACKED IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 19, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on September 11, while we were observing the 
anniversary of a horrible terrorist attack on America, 13 Catholic 
schools were closed in Lucknow, India, after the Convent of Loreto, the 
school there, and the chapel were attacked by the violent Hindu 
organization the Bharatiya Janata Yuva, a youth arm of the BJP, which 
is part of the RSS, a Fascist organization that published a book on how 
to get minorities, including Christians, falsely implicated in criminal 
cases.
  The spokesman for the BJP demanded a high-level inquiry into the 
school, according to the Tribune newspaper of Chandigarh, saying it 
engaged in ``irrational behavior.'' Apparently, being a Catholic is 
irrational behavior and ``unscientific activity'' in the world of Hindu 
militants.
  Unforturlately, Mr. Speaker, this is not an isolated incident. There 
has been a wave of attacks against Christians. According to an article 
that appeared in the Journal of the London Institute of South Asia, 
some Christian boys were shot while praying. A mob of Hindus burned a 
missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons (ages 8 and 10) to death 
and they have gotten away with it. Another missionary, Joseph Cooper, 
was severely beaten and then expelled from India. Christians have been 
arrested for sharing their religious beliefs. Violent Hindu Fascists 
have raped nuns, murdered priests, burned churches, and committed other 
acts of violence against Christians. More than 300,000 Christians have 
been killed by the Indians in Nagaland alone.
  This would be bad enough if it were just Christians, Mr. Speaker, 
but, sadly, it is not. Sikhs, Muslims, and other minorities, such as 
Dalits, have been similarly repressed. The Muslims had their most 
revered mosque in India destroyed. Somewhere between 2,000 to 5,000 
Muslims were murdered in one pogrom in Gujarat. More than 90,000 have 
been killed in Kashmir. The government has murdered over a quarter of a 
million Sikhs. Their most sacred place of worship, the Golden Temple in 
Amritsar, which has been called the Sikh equivalent of the Vatican, was 
attacked in June 1984. Hundreds of people were brutally murdered there, 
and more than 20,000 were killed in the month of June 1984. More than 
52,000 Sikhs are political prisoners in India. They have murdered 
human-rights activists for exposing their secret cremations, murdered 
religious leaders, murdered toddlers, and paid out more than 41,000 
cash bounties to police officers who killed Sikhs.
  I would like to thank Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh of the Council of 
Khalistan for bringing the Loreto attack to my attention.
  Mr. Speaker, we are at war right now with Fascists using the cover of 
Islam. Many of us have criticisms of the war policies, but the recent 
anniversary of September 11 reminds us that we cannot let terrorists 
carry out their awful deeds with no consequences. So why do we refuse 
even to raise our voices against Fascists who use the cover of the 
Hindu religion and oppress and kill Christians, Muslims, Sikhs. and 
others? At the very least, Mr. Speaker, we should be willing to stop 
trading with India and cut off our aid, and we should stand for the 
principles that America represents by seeking a democratic solution to 
the repression in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on the status 
of Christian Nagaland, predominantly Sikh Khalistan, Kashmir, and the 
others who seek their freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to put the Council of Khalistan's press 
release on the Loreto attack in the Record.

Catholic Schools in Lucknow Closed After Attack on Convent by Militant 
                                 Hindus

       Washington, D.C.--Thirteen Catholic schools were closed 
     today to protest vandalism on the premises of the Loreto 
     Convent, according to the Tribune of Chandigarh. Among the 
     schools that were closed is the Loreto School. Militant 
     Hindus from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva (a youth movement 
     affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the 
     Fascist RSS) attacked the Convent of Loreto, Loreto Chapel, 
     and the school there. A spokesman for the BJP, Mr. H. 
     Dikshit, demanded an investigation of the school, saying that 
     it encourages ``irrational behavior'' and ``unscientific 
     activity.'' Mr. Dlkshit said that the state government is 
     ``overreacting to breaking a few flower pots.''
       The attacks are part of a pattern of violence against 
     Christians that has been going on heavily since Christmas 
     1998, which is in line with similar tyranny against other 
     minorities. Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with 
     his two sons, ages a 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. Several states have enacted anti-
     conversion laws, which in practice prevent anyone from 
     converting to any religion except Hinduism. Such a law is 
     being considered by the Lok Sabha, the national Parliament. 
     Christians report that they have faced threats, physical 
     attacks, and jail time for sharing their beliefs. The 
     Rashtirya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu Fascist 
     organization that is the parent organization of the BJP, 
     published a booklet on how to implicate Christians and other 
     minorities in false criminal cases. The people who have 
     murdered priests, raped nuns, forced them to drink their own 
     urine, and burned Christian churches have not been charged or 
     tried. In 2002, the Associated Press reported an attack on a 
     Catholic church on the outskirts of Bangalore in which 
     several people were injured. The assailants threw stones at 
     the church, then broke in, breaking furniture and smashing 
     windows before attacking worshippers. Last year, two young 
     Christian boys were shot at while they prayed. Police broke 
     up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.
       Sikhs and Muslims know the same repression that Christians 
     have been experiencing lately. In June 1984, Indian forces 
     invaded and desecrated the most sacred center and seat of the 
     Sikh religion, the Golden Temple in Amrltsar, along with 37 
     other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab. Over 20,00 were killed. 
     Several young Sikh boys were taken into the courtyard of the 
     Darbar Sahib complex and asked if they supported Khalistan 
     (the independent Sikh homeland.) When they answered with the 
     Sikh religious statement. ``Bole So Nihal,'' they were 
     summarily murdered. The Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth 
     Sahib, was shot full of bullet holes.
       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 Khaira. 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 cal[ed the Indian government's 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! 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 Khalistani 
     flag.
       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 Babri 
     Mosque, was destroyed by militant Hindu fundamentalists who 
     have never been held responsible for their actions.
       ``The attack on the Loreto Convent shows that minorities 
     have no place in India's so-called democracy,'' said Dr. 
     Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, 
     which leads the Sikh struggle for an independent Khalistan. 
     Khalistan declared its independence on October 7, 1987. 
     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

[[Page E1756]]

     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. ``The only way that 
     the repression of Sikhs, Christians. Muslims, and other 
     minorities will end is to liberate our homelands, such as 
     Khalistan, Nagaland, Kashmir. and the rest, 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.''

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