[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        CONGRATULATING NEW PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER SHAUKAT AZIZ

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 2004

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, Pakistan has installed a new Prime Minister, 
Shaukat Aziz. His installation was reported in the newspapers September 
2. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Aziz on 
his new position.
  Mr. Aziz takes the helm in Pakistan at a critical time for the people 
and nations of South Asia. I wish him well in his time as Prime 
Minister and I hope that he will dedicate himself to pursuing peace in 
the subcontinent.
  The best way to achieve peace in South Asia, Mr. Speaker, is to work 
for self-determination for everyone in the region. Only by allowing 
everyone in the subcontinent to enjoy this cornerstone of democracy can 
all the peoples and nations live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.
  I would also urge Mr. Aziz to work for a more open border so that 
Sikhs and Muslims, as well as members of other minorities, can trade 
and travel freely and raise their standard of living by doing so. This 
will be good for Pakistan and for India.
  Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan issued a press release 
congratulating Prime Minister Aziz, which I intend to insert into the 
Record.

             Congratulations to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz

       Washington, D.C., September 10, 2004.--Dr. Gurmit Singh 
     Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, today 
     congratulated the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat 
     Aziz, on his ascension to the position.
       ``I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate 
     Prime Minister Aziz and wish his government well,'' Dr. 
     Aulakh said. ``I hope that this will be a step forward for 
     peace in South Asia,'' he said. ``Prime Minister Aziz has 
     done excellent work on Pakistan's finances,'' said Dr. 
     Aulakh. ``We are sure that he can bring that wisdom and 
     expertise to all areas of life in his country,'' he added.
       ``Prime Minister Aziz must stand firm, as President 
     Musharraf has done, in supporting the interests of freedom 
     for the oppressed people in South Asia,'' said Dr. Aulakh. 
     ``We urge him to work to open the border, enhance trade in 
     the border regions, establish peaceful relations, and assist 
     the cause of freedom, not just in occupied Kashmir, but 
     wherever people are struggling to be free,'' he added. ``We 
     look forward to easy passage to visit the birthplace of the 
     first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak, in Nankana Sahib.''
       ``Only when all people and nations in South Asia have 
     freedom and self-determination can the subcontinent live in 
     peace, prosperity, and dignity,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``Prime 
     Minister Aziz has influence by virtue of his position,'' he 
     said. ``We urge him to use it for the benefit of the people 
     of Pakistan and all the people of the subcontinent by 
     supporting freedom and self-determination.''
       The Council of Khalistan was constituted to lead the 
     struggle to liberate Khalistan, the Sikh homeland which 
     declared its independence on October 7, 1987. It is the 
     government pro tempore of Khalistan. Khalistan has been under 
     Indian occupation since then. India has sent over 500,000 
     troops to Punjab, Khalistan, and over 700,000 to neighboring 
     Kashmir to suppress the independence movements there. Yet 
     India is on the verge of collapse. As former Home Minister 
     L.K. Advani said that ``if Kashmir goes, India goes.''
       At the time of India's independence, Sikhs were equal 
     partners in the transfer of power and were supposed to 
     receive their own sovereign state, but the weak and ignorant 
     Sikh leaders of the time were tricked into staying with India 
     on the promise that they would have ``the glow of freedom'' 
     and no law affecting the Sikhs would pass without their 
     consent. That promise was broken immediately after 
     independence was achieved.
       Sikhs ruled an independent and sovereign Punjab from 1710 
     to 1716 and again from 1765 to 1849 and were recognized by 
     most of the countries of the world at that time. No Sikh 
     representative has ever signed the Indian constitution.
       ``Sardar Atinder Pal Singh's question of 14 years ago is 
     still the question facing the Sikh Nation: Why don't we 
     liberate Khalistan?,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``As Professor 
     Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar, said, `If a Sikh is not for 
     Khalistan, he is not a Sikh','' he noted.
       The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 
     1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948, over 89,000 
     Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits (the aboriginal people of 
     the subcontinent), and others. The Indian Supreme Court 
     called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than 
     a genocide.'' A report by the Movement Against State 
     Repression (MASR) shows that India is holding 52,268 Sikhs as 
     political prisoners without charge or trial. Some have been 
     in illegal custody since 1984!
       ``We must move forward with the cause of Sikh freedom,'' 
     Dr. Aulakh said. ``Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh 
     Nation prosper and get justice,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``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 free Khalistan now.''

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