[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1129-E1130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INDIA MUST STOP PROMOTING SECTARIAN VIOLENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 23, 2007

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, India is again promoting sectarian violence 
in pursuit of its continued control of the Sikhs and other minorities. 
A fake baba named Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, who is sponsored by the 
Indian government, created a sect called Dera Sacha Sauda, one of many 
sects set up to divide the Sikh people. He took out a newspaper ad in 
which he dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh and offered to perform the 
rite of Amrit, which not anyone can perform, for anyone who contacted 
him. Performing this rite is reserved for specific religious leaders.
  This ad caused massive protests, as it was an insult to the Sikh 
religion. Those demonstrations turned violent. A man named Kanwaljit 
Singh was murdered by the followers of the Dera when he went there to 
confront them about Ram Rahim's behavior.

[[Page E1130]]

  This marks an ongoing practice of promoting violence in the minority 
communities so as to divide and rule them. As they did in Gujarat a few 
years ago, the Hindu government set in motion bloodshed to keep the 
minority community--Muslims then, Sikhs now--divided.
  Madam Speaker, this is reprehensible, unacceptable, and undemocratic. 
It is outrageous behavior for any government and it should not be 
supported by countries like ours. We must stop aid and trade with India 
and we must support freedom for Khalistan and the other nations seeking 
their freedom from Indian rule.
  The Council of Khalistan put out a good press release condemning the 
Indian government's incitement of sectarian violence.

 Council of Khalistan Condemns Promotion of Sectarian Violence by India

       Washington, DC, May 16, 2007.--The Council of Khalistan 
     condemned the recent violence in Punjab, sparked by an 
     advertisement in the newspaper by Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim 
     Singh, the head of Dera Sacha Sauda, in which Baba Gurmit Ram 
     Rahim Singh dressed as Guru Gobind Singh and advertised that 
     he would give Amrit to anyone who asked. This is reserved 
     only for the Panj Plaras. This is an insult to the Sikh 
     religion and clearly backed by the Indian government, said 
     Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of 
     Khalistan, the government pro tempore of Khalistan, which 
     leads the struggle for Khalistan's independence.
       ``There are no Deras or sects in the Sikh religion. There 
     is only one Sikh religion and Sikh Nation,'' said Dr. Aulakh. 
     ``Fake Babas like Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh are part of the 
     Indian government's ongoing effort to weaken the Sikh 
     religion and prevent Sikhs from achieving freedom,'' he said,
       Next month marks the anniversary of the Golden Temple 
     massacre, Dr. Aulakh noted. During that attack, young boys 
     ages 8 to 13 were taken outside and asked if they supported 
     Khalistan, the independent Sikh country. When they answered 
     with the Sikh religious phrase ``Bole So Nihal,'' they were 
     shot to death. The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy 
     scriptures, written in the time of the Sikh Gurus, were shot 
     full of bullet holes and burned by the Indian forces.
       Former President Bill Clinton wrote in the foreword to 
     Madeleine Albright's book that Indian forces were responsible 
     for the massacre of 38 Sikhs in 2000 in the village of 
     Chithisinghpora. Recently, two leading Sikh activists were 
     arrested for peacefully protesting the construction of a 
     statue to honor Beant Singh, the late Chief Minister who 
     presided over the murder of tens of thousands of Sikhs. In 
     2005, 35 Sikhs were arrested for making speeches and raising 
     the flag of Khalistan. Sikh farmers are forced by the 
     government to buy supplies and seeds for unaffordably high 
     prices and forced to sell their crops well below market 
     prices.
       ``These incidents show that we need to free our homeland, 
     Khalistan,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``Remember what former Akal 
     Takht Jathedar Professor Darshan Singh said: `If a Sikh is 
     not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.' ''
       A report issued by the Movement Against State Repression 
     (MASR) shows that India admitted that it held 52,268 
     political prisoners under the repressive ``Terrorist and 
     Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA) even though it 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. 
     Additionally, according to Amnesty International, there are 
     tens of thousands of other minorities being held as political 
     prisoners. MASR report 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 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.''
       ``Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh Nation prosper and 
     get justice,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``When Khalistan is free, we 
     will have our own Ambassadors, our own representation in the 
     UN and other international bodies, and our own leaders to 
     keep this sort of thing from happening. We won't be at the 
     mercy of the brutal Indian regime and its Hindu militant 
     allies,'' he said. ``Democracies don't commit genocide. 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 continue to pray for and 
     work for our God-given birthright of freedom,'' he said. 
     ``Without political power, religions cannot flourish and 
     nations perish.''

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