[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12625]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 12625]]

     SELF-DETERMINATION FOR SIKH HOMELAND DISCUSSED ON CAPITOL HILL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2001

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, June 15, the Think Tank for 
National Self-Determination held a very informative meeting here on 
Capitol Hill in the Rayburn House Office Building. The featured speaker 
was Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan. He 
laid out very well the strong case for self-determination for the Sikhs 
of Punjab, Khalistan, and for the other nations of South Asia, such as 
predominantly Christian Nagaland and predominantly Muslim Kashmir.
  During his speech, Dr. Aulakh noted that ``self-determination is the 
birthright of all peoples and nations.'' He quoted Thomas Jefferson, 
who wrote in our own Declaration of Independence that when a government 
tramples on the basic rights of the people, ``it is the right of the 
people to alter or abolish it.'' Jefferson also wrote, ``Resistance to 
tyranny is obedience to God.''
  India certainly is that kind of government. It has killed over 
200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 250,000 Sikhs 
since 1984, over 75,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and many thousands 
of other minorities, including people from Assam, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, 
and members of the Dalit caste, the dark-skinned ``Untouchables,'' who 
are the aboriginal people of South Asia, among others. Currently, there 
are 17 freedom movements in India.
  Just recently, a group of Indian soldiers was caught trying to set 
fire to a Gurdwara, a Sikh temple, in Kashmir, and some houses. Local 
townspeople, both Sikh and Muslim, overwhelmed the soldiers and 
prevented them from committing this atrocity. Unfortunately, that is 
the reality of ``the world's largest democracy.''
  Mr. Speaker, there are measures that America can take to prevent 
further atrocities and help the people of the subcontinent live in 
freedom. We should end our aid to the Indian government until it stops 
repressing the people and we should openly and publicly declare our 
support for self-determination for the people of Khalistan, Nagalim, 
Kashmir, and the other nations seeking their freedom in South Asia. 
This is the best way to help them. It supports the principles that gave 
birth to our country and it strengthens our security position in that 
region.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert Dr. Aulakh's speech into the 
Record for the information of my colleagues.

  Remarks of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President, Council of Khalistan

       It is a pleasure to be back here with my ftiends at the 
     Think Tank for National Self Determination. This is a very 
     important organization and I am proud to support its work.
       Self-determination is the birthright of all peoples and 
     nations. Next month America will celebrate its independence. 
     Thomas Jefferson, author of the American Declaration of 
     Independence, wrote that when a government tramples on the 
     people's rights, ``it is the right of the people to alter or 
     abolish it.'' He also wrote that ``resistance to tyranny is 
     obedience to God.'' Sikhs share that view. We are instructed 
     by the Gurus to be vigilant against tyranny wherever it rears 
     its ugly head. Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the Sikh Gurus, 
     proclaimed the Sikh Nation sovereign. Every day we pray ``Raj 
     Kare Ga Khalsa,'' which means ``the Khalsa shall rule.''
       Let me tell you a little about the history of Sikh national 
     sovereignty. Sikhs established Khalsa Raj in 1710, lasting 
     until 1716. In 1765, Sikh rule in Punjab was re-established, 
     and it lasted until the British conquered the subcontinent in 
     1849. Under Maharajah Ranjit Singh, Hindus, Sikhs, and 
     Muslims all served in the government. All people were treated 
     equally and fairly. The Sikh state was extensive, at one 
     point reaching all the way to Kabul.
       At the time that the British quit India, three nations were 
     supposed to get sovereignty. Jinnah got Pakistan for the 
     Muslims on the basis of religion and the Hindus got India. 
     India made a deal with the Hindu maharajah of Kashmir to keep 
     the state within India despite a Muslim majority population, 
     but at the same time it marched troops into Hyderabad to 
     annex it to India by defeating the Muslim ruler, Nizam of 
     Hyderabad. Hyderabad at the time had a majority Hindu 
     population and a Muslim maharajah.
       The third nation that was to receive sovereign power was 
     the Sikh Nation. However, Nehru tricked the Sikh leadership 
     of the time into taking their share with India on the promise 
     that Sikhs would enjoy ``the glow of freedom'' in Punjab and 
     no law affecting the rights of Sikhs would pass without Sikh 
     consent. As soon as the ink dried, however, the Indian 
     government broke those promises. They sent a memo to all 
     officials declaring Sikhs ``a criminal race'' does that sound 
     like a democracy or a totalitarian state in the Nazi/
     Communist mold?--and the repression of Sikhs began. No Sikh 
     representative has ever signed the Indian constitution to 
     this day.
       In June 1984 the Indian government attacked the holiest of 
     Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Ask yourself, 
     what would you think if someone launched a military attack on 
     the Vatican or Mecca? That is how Sikhs felt about the Golden 
     Temple massacre and desecration. Seventeen years later, we 
     have still not forgotten it, as the attendance at our recent 
     protest shows.
       Since that attack, the Indian government has murdered more 
     than 250,000 Sikhs, according to figures published in The 
     Politics of Genocide by human-rigbts leader Inderjit Singh 
     Jaijee, convenor of the Movement Against State Repression. A 
     new report from Jaijee's organization shows that India 
     admitted that it held over 52,000 Sikhs as political 
     prisoners without charge or trial under the expired 
     ``Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act.'' Some of the 
     political prisoners have been in illegal custody since 1984! 
     In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported that the Indian 
     government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers 
     for killing Sikhs. One such bonus was paid to a policeman who 
     murdered a three-year-old Sikh boy. Others have been paid for 
     killing Sikhs who later showed up alive, rising the 
     questiion: Who did the police really murder?
       Unfortunately, there is often no way to answer that 
     question. Human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra exposed 
     the fact that the Indian government picked up over 50,000 
     Sikhs, tortured them, killed them, then declared their bodies 
     ``unidentified'' and cremated them. Just recently, more 
     bodies were found in a river bank. For this, Mr. Khalra was 
     arrested and killed in police custody. The only eyewitness to 
     the Khalra kidnapping was arrested for trying to hand the 
     British Home Secretary a petition asking Britain to get 
     involved in helping to secure human rights for the Sikhs.
       Two independent investigations showed that the Indian 
     government killed 35 Sikhs last year in the village of Chithi 
     Singhpora in Kashmir. Just last week, five Indian troops were 
     overwhelmed by Sikh and Muslim residents of another village 
     while they were trying to burn down the local Gurdwara and 
     some Sikh homes. This is part of India's ongoing effort to 
     set the minorities against each other. With 17 freedom 
     movements within India's borders, the idea that the 
     minorities might support each other scares the Indian 
     government.
       It is not just Sikhs who are being oppressed. While my main 
     focus is on my own people, I am committed to freedom and 
     human rights for all peoples and nations. There has been a 
     wave of oppression of Christians since Christmas 1998. 
     Members of the RSS, the pro-Fascist parent organization of 
     the ruling BJP, murdered missionary Graham Staines and his 
     two sons, ages 8 to 10, by burning them to death while they 
     slept in their jeep. Nuns have been raped, priests have been 
     killed, schools and prayer halls have been attacked. Last 
     year, the RSS published a booklet on how to implicate 
     Christians and other minorities in false criminal cases.
       The BJP destroyed the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and still 
     intends to build a Hindu temple on the site. Leaders of the 
     BJP have said that everyone who lives in India must be Hindu 
     or must be subservient to Hinduism. They have called for the 
     ``Indianization'' of non-Hindu religions.
       Is that a democratic country? U.S. Congressman Edolphus 
     Towns pointed out that ``the mere fact that [Sikhs] have the 
     right to choose their oppressors does not mean they live in a 
     democracy.'' Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said that for the 
     minorities ``India might as well be Nazi Germany.''
       Sikh martyr Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale said that ``If the 
     Indian government attacks the Golden Temple, it will lay the 
     foundation of Khalistan.'' He was right. On October 7, 1987, 
     the Sikh Nation declared the independence of its homeland, 
     Punjab, Khalistan. India claims that there is no support for 
     Khalistan. It also claims to be democratic despite the 
     atrocities. Then why not simply put the issue of independence 
     to a vote, the democratic way? What are they afraid of?
       Self-determination is the right of all people and nations. 
     America should sanction India and stop its aid until all the 
     people of South Asia are allowed to live in freedom.
       Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I hope you will 
     support freedom for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the 
     nations of South Asia.

     

                          ____________________