[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 24864-24865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               PUNJAB ASSEMBLY SHIFTS BLAME ON TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 3, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear that the Legislative 
Assembly in Punjab recently had a discussion on terrorism there. 
Terrorism is an important issue which all leaders of the world must 
address. However, the debate turned into partisan politics of the type 
we're too familiar with here--each side blaming the other for spurring 
the terrorism in Punjab, while they ignored the real cause of the 
problem--the Indian government.
  India has imposed a reign of terror in Punjab, Khalistan for many 
years, starting with a memo sent to police by their first Home 
Minister, Mr. Patel, describing Sikhs as ``a criminal class.'' This 
month marks the anniversary of one particularly brutal chapter in that 
reign of terror--the Delhi massacres of November 1984, in which 20,000 
Sikhs were murdered. The government locked Sikh police officers in 
their barracks to keep them from getting involved and the government's 
own radio and TV called for more Sikh blood.
  The newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government paid the 
governor of Punjab, the late Surendra Nath, the equivalent of $1.5 
billion to foment terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir. The U.S. State 
Department reported that the government paid more than 41,000 cash 
bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. One even got a bounty 
for killing a three-year-old boy.
  Human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra compiled and published a 
report showing that India had a policy of picking up young Sikh men, 
torturing and killing them, declaring their bodies unidentified, and 
then secretly cremating them. Khalra identified over 25,000 such cases 
at three cremation grounds in Punjab. Others who have followed up on 
Khalra's work found that the number is at least 50,000. For his work, 
Mr. Khalra was arrested by the Punjab police and killed while in police 
custody. The only witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Rajiv Singh 
Randhawa, has been repeatedly arrested and harassed by the police.
  Gurdev Singh Kaunke was the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the highest 
Sikh religious leader. He was murdered by a police official named 
Swaran Singh Ghotna. No one has ever been punished for this atrocity. 
The driver for another religious leader, Baba Charan Singh, had his 
legs tied to two jeeps, which then drove off in different directions, 
tearing the man in half.
  Mr. Speaker, why are such actions tolerated, especially by a 
government that calls itself democratic? America must take a stand 
against such tyranny.
  The time has come to stop all our trade with India and all our aid to 
that country until such time as basic human rights are fully protected. 
And we must put this Congress on record in support of self-
determination for the people of Punjab, Khalistan, and all the other 
peoples and nations seeking freedom, such as predominantly Muslim 
Kashmir and predominantly Christian Nagaland. This is the most 
effective way to end terrorism in the subcontinent.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Council of Khalistan's press 
release into the Record now for the information of my colleagues.

                   Punjab Assembly Debates Terrorism


        amarinder, badal should discuss freedom for sikh nation

       Washington, D.C., November 2, 2005--The Punjab Legislative 
     Assembly recently had a session to debate terrorism. Both the 
     Congress Party and the Akali Dal blamed each other for 
     encouraging Sikh youth to carry out the violence.
       Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal are trying to 
     change the history of Punjab.

[[Page 24865]]

     They are fully aware that Punjab, Khalistan has been engaged 
     in a long struggle for independence after the Delhi massacres 
     of November 1984. On April 29, 1986, Sarbat Khalsa passed a 
     resolution for the independence of Khalistan and formed the 
     Panthic Committee. On October 7, 1987, the Panthic Committee 
     declared the independence of Khalistan. The Council of 
     Khalistan was formed at that time to lead the peaceful, 
     democratic, nonviolent struggle to liberate Khalistan.
       These leaders are betraying the Sikh Nation. They need to 
     be exposed and removed from their leadership roles. As 
     Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, 
     said, ``If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'' 
     Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologized for the 
     Delhi massacres, in which over 20,000 Sikhs were killed, 
     firmly establishing India's guilt in this atrocity against 
     the Sikh Nation.
       The Indian government controls the Sikh leadership. Both 
     Badal's Akali Dal, which claims to be the protector of Sikh 
     interests, and Amarinder Singh's Congress Party, which is the 
     party that carried out the Golden Temple attack, are under 
     Indian government control.
       New Sikh leadership is emerging in Dal Khalsa and other 
     organizations. They hoisted the Khalistani flag in front of 
     the Golden Temple on Republic Day in January and again on the 
     anniversary of the Golden Temple attacks. They marched and 
     made speeches for Khalistan. For this, they were charged by 
     the Indian government and 35 were arrested.
       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. Last year, the Punjab Legislative 
     Assembly passed a bill annulling all water agreements with 
     the Indian government, preventing the government's daylight 
     robbery of Punjab river water. Punjab needs its river water 
     for its crops. In the bill, the Assembly explicitly stated 
     the sovereignty of Punjab.
       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, then their bodies were declared 
     unidentified and secretly cremated. He 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 Khalra. The police never released the body of 
     former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after 
     SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. Ghotna has never been 
     brought to trial for the Jathedar Kaunke murder.
       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.
       ``It is time to replace Amarinder Singh and Badal with new 
     leadership that is committed to the interests of the Sikh 
     Nation,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council of Khalistan. ``Only a sovereign, independent 
     Khalistan will end the repression and lift the standard of 
     living for the people of Punjab,'' he said. ``We must 
     continue to press for our God-given birthright of freedom,'' 
     he said. ``Without political power, religions cannot flourish 
     and nations perish.''

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