[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1913-1914]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN SENDS NEW YEAR GREETINGS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 15, 2006

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, last month the Council of Khalistan sent out 
New Year's greetings to the Sikh Nation. In the letter the Council 
noted that the flame of freedom still burns brightly in Punjab, 
Khalistan, despite India's ongoing effort to stamp out the freedom 
movement. In both January and June of 2005, Sikhs were arrested for 
making speeches in support of freedom Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, and 
raising the Khalistani flag. When did making speeches and hoisting a 
flag become crimes in a democracy?
  The letter took note of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's apology to 
the Sikh Nation for the massacres of November 1984 that killed over 
20,000 Sikhs. This clearly admits India's culpability for this horrible 
massacre. While that apology is a positive step and we applaud it, it 
was not accompanied by any compensation to the victims' families. Nor 
was it accompanied by an apology for the military attack on the Golden 
Temple or any other Indian government atrocity against the Sikhs. 
Nevertheless, it shows India's awareness of the rising tide of freedom 
in Punjab, Khalistan.
  Last month, the Indian government bulldozed the homes of Sikh farmers 
in Uttaranchal Pradesh, farms they had worked all their lives for, and 
expelled them from the state. This is the height of discrimination 
against the Sikhs. No Sikhs are allowed to own land in Rajasthan and in 
Himachal Pradesh, but outsiders are allowed to buy land in Punjab. The 
government encourages Hindus to buy land in Punjab. Is this secularism 
in action? Is this democracy at work?
  Mr. Speaker, these are just the latest acts against the legitimate 
freedom movement in Punjab, Khalistan. The repression has been ongoing. 
The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs, according to 
figures compiled by the Punjab State Magistracy and human-rights 
groups. In addition, the Movement Against State Repression, MASR--an 
organization that should be unnecessary in a democratic state--reported 
in one of its studies that the Indian government admitted to holding 
52,268 Sikh political prisoners. Some have been held since 1984! These 
are in addition to tens of thousands of other political prisoners, 
according to Amnesty International. And the Indian government has 
killed over 90,000 Kashmiri Muslims, over 300,000 Christians in 
Nagaland, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims throughout the 
country, and

[[Page 1914]]

tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and 
other minorities. And the repression continues, not only in Punjab, 
Khalistan, but throughout the country.
  We can and must do something about it. We can stop our aid and trade 
with India until it respects full human rights for all people living 
within its borders. And we can and should declare our support for self-
determination in Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir, as promised to the UN 
in 1948, in Nagalim, and wherever the people are seeking freedom. India 
claims to be democratic and the essence of democracy is the right to 
self-determination. Democracies also respect the human rights of the 
minority. Why is India afraid to put this simple question to a free and 
fair vote? Where is its commitment to democratic principles, Mr. 
Speaker?
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's open 
letter in the Record at this time.


                                         Council of Khalistan,

                                 Washington, DC, January 23, 2006.

May Guru Bless the Khalsa Panth in 2006 With Freedom, Happiness, Unity, 
                             and Prosperity

       Dear Khalsa Ji: Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waherguru Ji Ki 
     Fateh!
       Happy New Year to you and your family and the Khalsa Panth. 
     May 2006 be your best year ever. I wish you health, joy, and 
     prosperity in the new year.
       The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the 
     heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. The 
     arrests of Sikh activists, mostly from Dal Khalsa, last 
     January and again in June merely for raising the Khalistani 
     flag and making pro-Khalistan speeches shows that the 
     movement to free our homeland is on the rise. It has gotten 
     the attention of the world.
       The Indian government is reacting to the rising tide of 
     freedom for the Sikh Nation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 
     apologized to the Sikh Nation for the Delhi massacres of 
     November 1984 that killed over 20,000 Sikhs. It is good that 
     he apologized and it clearly shows India's responsibility, 
     but what good does it do the Sikh Nation? Where are the 
     apologies for the golden Temple attack and the other 
     atrocities? Where is the compensation for the victims' 
     families?
       Earlier this month, Sikh farmers were expelled from 
     Uttaranchal Pradesh and their land was seized. They were 
     beaten up by the police. Their homes were bulldozed by 
     paratroopers. Their homes in many cases were built using 
     their life savings and by their own hands. We condemn this 
     act of state terrorism by the government of Uttaranchal 
     Pradesh. As you know, Sikhs are prohibited from buying land 
     in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Now Uttaranchal Pradesh 
     joins that list. Yet there are no restrictions on land 
     ownership in Punjab by non-Sikhs. People from anywhere can 
     buy land in Punjab, including people from Rajasthan and 
     Himachal Pradesh. India is trying to subvert Khalistan's 
     independence by overrunning Punjab with non-Sikhs while 
     keeping Sikhs from escaping the brutal repression in Punjab. 
     We must redouble our efforts to free our homeland, Punjab, 
     Khalistan. That is the only way to keep these atrocities from 
     continuing and to protect the Sikh Nation. This is a direct 
     challenge to the Sikh leadership, irrespective of their party 
     affiliation.
       Any organization that sincerely supports Khalistan deserves 
     the support of the Sikh Nation. However, the Sikh Nation 
     needs leadership that is honest, sincere, consistent, and 
     dedicated to the cause of Sikh freedom. But we should only 
     support sincere, dedicated, honest leaders. We must be 
     careful if we are to continue to move the cause of freedom 
     for Khalistan forward in 2006 as we did in 2005.
       The Akali Dal conspired with the Indian government in 1984 
     to invade the Golden Temple to murder Sant Bhindranwale and 
     20,000 other Sikh during June 1984 in Punjab. If Sikhs will 
     not even protect the sanctity of the Golden Temple, how can 
     the Sikh Nation survive as a nation?
       The Akali Dal has lost all its credibility. The Badal 
     government was so corrupt openly and no Akali leader would 
     come forward and tell Badal and his wife to stop this 
     unparalleled corruption. Now Badal and his son have accused 
     Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of being tied in with 
     Khalistanis. If this were true, what would be wrong with it? 
     The Akali leaders also walked out when I predicted at a 
     seminar around the celebration of Guru Nanak's birthday that 
     Khalistan will soon be free, a prediction that was greeted 
     with multiple enthusiastic shouts of ``Khalistan Zindabad.'' 
     How will these Akalis, including Badal and his son, account 
     for themselves? Remember the words of former Jathedar of the 
     Akal Takht Professor Darshan Singh: ``If a Sikh is not a 
     Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'' Badal and his son are not 
     Sikhs.
       The corruption of the Badal government was just part of a 
     pattern of corruption in India. Jobs are sold, legislative 
     seats are rigged, judges preside over cases being tried by 
     their family members, and so many other forms of corruption 
     occur. As Dr. M.S. Rahi has pointed out in his excellent new 
     paper on the corruption, this kind of corruption leads to the 
     kind of atrocities that have unfortunately become so routine 
     in India.
       The Council of Khalistan has stood strongly and 
     consistently for liberating our homeland, Khalistan, from 
     Indian occupation. For over 18 years we have led this fight 
     while others were trying to divert the resources and the 
     attention of the Sikh Nation away from the issue of freedom 
     in a sovereign, independent Khalistan. Yet Khalistan is the 
     only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, peace, 
     prosperity, and dignity. It is time to start a Shantmai 
     Morcha to liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation.
       Never forget that the Akal Takht Sahib and Darbar Sahib are 
     under the control of the Indian government, the same Indian 
     government that has murdered over a quarter of a million 
     Sikhs in the past twenty years. These institutions will 
     remain under the control of the Indian regime until we free 
     the Sikh homeland, Punjab, Khalistan, from Indian occupation 
     and oppression and sever our relations with the New Delhi 
     government.
       The Sikhs in Punjab have suffered enormous repression at 
     the hands of the Indian regime in the last 25 years. Over 
     50,000 Sikh youth were picked up from their houses, tortured, 
     murdered in police custody, then secretly cremated as 
     ``unidentified bodies.'' Their remains were never even given 
     to their families! More than a quarter of a million Sikhs 
     have been murdered at the hands of the Indian government. 
     Another 52,268 are being held as political prisoners. Some 
     have been in illegal custody since 1984! Even now, the 
     capital of Punjab, Chandigarh, has not been handed over to 
     Punjab, but remains a Union Territory. How can Sikhs have any 
     freedom living under a government that would do these things?
       Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. Ever since 
     independence, India has mistreated the Sikh Nation, starting 
     with Patel's memo labelling Sikhs ``a criminal tribe.'' What 
     a shame for Home Minister Patel and the Indian government to 
     issue this memorandum when the Sikh Nation gave over 80 
     percent of the sacrifices to free India.
       How can Sikhs continue to live in such a country? There is 
     no place for Sikhs in supposedly secular, supposedly 
     democratic India. Let us work to make certain that 2006 is 
     the Sikh Nation's most blessed year by making sure it is the 
     year that we shake ourselves loose from the yoke of Indian 
     oppression and liberate our homeland, Khalistan, so that all 
     Sikhs may live lives of prosperity, freedom, and dignity.
           Sincerely,
                                          Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
     President, Council of Khalistan.

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