[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 191 (Thursday, December 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES ANAND MARRIAGE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2007

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, the government of Pakistan has recognized 
the Anand Marriage Act of 1909. This act covers Sikh marriages. I 
commend the Pakistani government for this show of tolerance and 
religious freedom.
  There are only about 15,000 Sikhs in Pakistan. When is India, with 
its 22 million Sikhs, going to recognize the same act? It has been on 
the books for almost a century.
  India refuses to enforce or even recognize the Anand Marriage Act. 
Instead, it records all Sikh marriages as Hindu marriages under the 
Hindu Marriage Act. This constitutes a refusal of ``secular'', 
``democratic'' India to recognize Sikhism as a separate religion. 
Instead, they seek to subsume it under Hinduism.
  The fact that Guru Nanak, who began the Sikh religion, was born Hindu 
no more makes Sikhism a part of Hinduism than the fact that Jesus was 
Jewish makes Christianity part of Judaism. The Indian government is 
simply trying to eliminate the Sikh religion by subverting it and 
forcing Sikhs into Hinduism. Where is the freedom of religion in India?
  Madam Speaker, this is unacceptable! America can and must do 
something to protect the rights and freedoms of all people in South 
Asia. We can start by stopping our aid to India and our trade until 
such time as it learns to respect the rights of all people regardless 
of ethnicity, religion, or social status. And we should put this 
Congress on record in support of self-determination for the Sikhs of 
Punjab, Khalistan, the Muslims of Kashmir, the Christians of Nagaland, 
and all the others who seek freedom. India will not allow such free and 
fair votes, belying its self-proclaimed democratic principles. The 
essence of democracy is the right to self-determination.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to insert the Council of Khalistan's 
press release on the Anand Marriage Act into the Record.

                 Pakistan Recognizes Anand Marriage Act

       Washington, D.C., December 6, 2007.--The government of 
     Pakistan has formally recognized the Anand Marriage Act, 
     which governs Sikh marriages. The act was adopted in 1909.
       Even though there are only about 15,000 Sikhs in Pakistan 
     and there are millions of Sikhs in India, India still refuses 
     to recognize the act. While Sikhs conduct marriages in accord 
     with the Anand Marriage Act, the Indian government will not 
     certify them under the act. Instead, they are recorded under 
     the Hindu Marriage Act. The Indian government is trying to 
     destroy the Sikh religion. Its failure to recognize the Anand 
     Marriage Act is one more way that it is carrying out this 
     effort. Sikh marriages are different from Hindu marriages. 
     Hindu couples circle around a fire. Sikh couples circle 
     around the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scripture, four 
     times.
       ``I would like to thank the Pakistani government for its 
     recognition of the Anand Marriage Act, which is almost a 
     hundred years old,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President 
     of the Council of Khalistan, which leads the Sikh struggle 
     for freedom. ``Pakistan's action has shown a level of 
     tolerance that supposedly secular, supposedly democratic 
     India has never shown,'' he said. ``That is very telling. It 
     shows the true face of India,'' he said. ``There is no place 
     for Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, or other minorities there.''
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948, over 90,000 
     Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits, and others. The Indian 
     Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs 
     ``worse than a genocide.''
       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, and then their bodies were declared 
     unidentified and secretly cremated. He was murdered in police 
     custody. His body was not given to his family.
       The police never released the body of former Jathedar of 
     the Akal Takht Sardar Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran 
     Singh Ghotna murdered him. Ghotna has never been brought to 
     trial for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. No one has been brought 
     to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh 
     Khalra.
       According to a report by the Movement Against State 
     Repression (MASR), 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political 
     prisoners in India without charge or trial. Some have been in 
     illegal custody since 1984! Tens of thousands of other 
     minorities are also being held as political prisoners, 
     according to Amnesty International. We demand the immediate 
     release of all these political prisoners.
       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.
       ``Only a sovereign, independent Khalistan will allow the 
     Sikhs of Punjab and the other people of the subcontinent to 
     live in freedom, dignity, and prosperity,'' said Dr. Aulakh. 
     ``As Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal 
     Takht, said, `If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a 
     Sikh','' Dr. Aulakh noted. ``We must continue to press for 
     our God-given birthright of freedom,'' he said. ``Without 
     political power, religions cannot flourish and nations 
     perish. Let us join together and free Khalistan.''

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