[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 34535]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


         INDIAN INTELLIGENCE PLANS TO ASSASSINATE SIKH LEADERS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2007

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, while Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of 
the Council of Khalistan, was visiting Belgium, he was informed of a 
very sinister plan by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the 
intelligence service of the Indian government. RAW is the agency behind 
the Golden Temple attack and also, according to the excellent and well-
documented book Soft Target, the agency behind the Air India bombing, 
which was the largest aviation terror attack prior to September 11.
  According to sources in Belgium, which is the European headquarters 
of RAW, RAW is planning to assassinate Sikh leaders using Sikh 
operatives here in the United States. This sounds very much like their 
strategy in the Air India attack. Apparently, they haven't been able to 
come up with new terror tactics in 22 years.
  One of the targets is a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, which is 
the highest office in the Sikh religion. The Sikh leaders who are being 
targeted have one thing in common: They are supporters of freedom and 
sovereignty for Khalistan, the Sikh homeland that declared its 
independence from India in 1987.
  You might also remember, Madam Speaker, that the Washington Times 
reported on January 2, 2002 that India was sponsoring cross-border 
terrorism in the Pakistani province of Sindh.
  Given this terrorist record, why are American taxpayers being asked 
to support such a country? Although India proclaims itself democratic, 
the real India is the one that plans to assassinate Sikh leaders for 
seeking freedom, bombs its own airplanes to create an excuse to kill 
its Sikh minority, sponsors cross-border terror, and carries out other 
such reprehensible acts. Yet many in this country are blinded by 
India's democratic claims.
  The time has come to say no more, Madam Speaker. We must stop our aid 
to this regime until every citizen within its borders and those outside 
can live securely in freedom, comfortable that no oppression, torture, 
or assassination plots will be aimed at them. We must demand a free and 
fair vote for all the people seeking their freedom from this brutal 
regime. And someone should call the FBI.
  Plotting to assassinate Americans and others, no matter the 
circumstances, is an attack on us all, Madam Speaker. I hope that all 
my colleagues will join me in condemning it.
  I would like to place the Council of Khalistan's news release on the 
RAW assassination plot into the Record for the information of my 
colleagues.

                RAW Planning To Assassinate Sikh Leaders

       Washington, D.C., December 6, 2007--During his recent visit 
     to Belgium, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council 
     of Khalistan, was informed that agents of the Research and 
     Analysis Wing (RAW), the intelligence agency of the Indian 
     government, plan to assassinate prominent Sikh leaders, 
     including a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht. Belgium is the 
     European headquarters of RAW.
       A very reliable Sikh source, who intervened to stop the 
     assassination of a prominent Sikh leader, told Dr. Aulakh 
     about the plot The RAW plot seeks to use Sikhs in the United 
     States as their operatives.
       India is determined to destroy the Sikh Nation and the Sikh 
     religion, both inside and outside India. They are determined 
     to eliminate the pro-Khalistan Sikh leadership worldwide so 
     they can continue to carry out their violent rule over the 
     Sikhs and absorb the Sikh religion into Hinduism. Indian 
     intelligence is using every trick available to them to 
     achieve this goal.
       According to the book Soft Target by Zuhair Kashmeri of the 
     Toronto Globe and Mail and Brian McAndrew of the Toronto 
     Star, it was RAW that was responsible for the bombing of an 
     Air India flight in 1985 that killed 329 people. Two Canadian 
     Sikhs were acquitted on charges related to the bombing by a 
     Canadian judge who said the evidence against them was ``not 
     credible.'' It was RAW that was responsible for the attack on 
     the Golden Temple, the seat of the Sikh religion, and 38 
     other Gurdwaras in June 1984, an operation that killed more 
     than 20,000 Sikhs.
       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 Jathedar Kaunke's 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.
       ``The flame of freedom burns brightly in the hearts of 
     Sikhs,'' 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. 
     ``Liberating Khalistan is the only way to let the Sikh Nation 
     live in freedom and dignity.''

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