[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 5226] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN COMMENTS ON PUNJAB ELECTIONS ______ HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS of new york in the house of representatives Thursday, March 1, 2007 Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, the Council of Khalistan recently issued a press release on the elections in Punjab and the victory of the Shiromani Akali Dal. Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, noted the unfortunate cycle between the Congress party, which was primarily responsible for the genocide against Sikhs, and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is in coalition with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS), an organization formed in support of the Fascists of Europe which has been responsible for acts of violence against minorities. The RSS also published a booklet on how to implicate minorities such as Sikhs, Christians, and others in false criminal cases. An alternative to these two parties is sorely needed. The Sikh nation needs leaders who are committed to protecting their interests. As you know, Madam Speaker, former President Bill Clinton, in his foreword to Madeline Albright's book, wrote that 38 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora were murdered while he was visiting by Hindu militants. New York Times reporter Barry Bearak has concluded that the Indian government's forces were responsible. Although the killers dressed as ``militants,'' they spoke to each other in the language of the Indian army. It appears that this is just another of the many incidents where either the Indian military or its paid ``Black Cats'' paramilitary units have been caught carrying out terrorist incidents in the guise of alleged ``militants.'' Remember that according to India Today, India's leading news magazine, it was the lndian government itself that created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, identified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. Madam Speaker, the essence of democracy is the right to self- determination. It is time for India to end the repression of its minorities and allow them to exercise their basic democratic right to a free and fair vote on the question of independence. This Congress should put itself on record demanding that India do so. Further, we should cut off our aid to India and our trade with that country until full human rights, including the right to self-determinatlon, are enjoyed by all the people there. Madam Speaker, I request permission to place the Council of Khalistan's press release on the Punjab ejections into the Record at this time. [From the Council of Khalistan--Press Release] Akali Dal Wins Punjab Elections--Must Put Interests of Sikh Nation First--Khalistan Is the Only Solution Washington, DC., Feb. 28, 2007.--The Shlromani Akali Dal, under the leadership of Parkash Singh Badal, won the state elections for the Punjab Legislative Assembly, winning 48 of 117 seats to 44 for the Congress party, 19 for the Bharatiya Janata Party, 5 Independents. and one seat still to be elected. Since the Akalls and the BJP are coalition partners, this puts the Akall coalition back in charge with a 67-seat majority. As a reward, the BJP got the position of Deputy Chief Minister. ``It is sad that the people of Punjab are re-enacting the cycle of choosing between the Congress Party, which presided over the massacre of Sikhs and the Akalis, whose coalition partner, the BJP, wants to wipe out the Sikhs and all minorities,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan. ``Captain Amarinder Singh is to be given credit for doing some pro-Sikh things like cancelling the water agreements that permitted the diversion of Punjab's water to non-riparian states,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``But he is still trapped by the Congress Party. Badal, who presided over the most corrupt government in Punjab's history, has pledged clean government. He has promised free electricity for Punjab farmers and Rs4 per kilo for wheat flour and Rs20 per kilo for lentils to the poor. Let's see if he keeps his word, Dr. Aulakh said. ``Radal is the head of a Sikh religious and political body. His party controls the Gurdwaras in Punjab. That's where he got the money to buy the alcohol for his election,'' Dr. Aulakh said. He noted that the BJP, the Akalls' coalition partner, is the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). a pro-Fascist organization that has worked to eliminate minorities from India. ``Is Badal on the side of the Sikhs or the RSS?'' Dr. Aulakh asked. He called on the Badal government to get Chandigarh back for Punjab. ``Punjab built Chandigarh to be its capital. It properly belongs to us. The government of Punjab should be pressing to get our capital back,'' he said. ``Remember that the Akalls once called on the Sikh Nation to carry out `the long struggle to liberate Khalistan,' '' Dr. Aulakh said. ``These elections show why we must liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation and oppression,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``That is the only way for Sikhs to protect ourselves from India's brutality. Elections under the Indian constitution will only perpetuate it. The only way that the repression will stop and Sikhs will live in freedom, dignity, and prosperity is to liberate Khalistan,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``As Professor Darshan Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, `If a Sikh is not a Khallstani, he is not a Sikh.','' Dr. Aulakh said. After human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra exposed the Indian government's 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, the police kidnapped him. Khalra was murdered in police custody. No one has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra. Rajiv Singh Randhawa, who was the only witness to the Khalra kidnapping, has been repeatedly subjected to police harassment. This includes being arrested for trying to hand a piece of paper to then-British Home Secretary Jack Straw in front of the Golden Temple. The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. He was never punished for this crime. In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government had paid over 41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs. A report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) quotes the Punjab Civil Magistracy as writing ``if we add up the figures of the last few years the number of innocent persons killed would run into lakhs [hundreds of thousands.]'' The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than a genocide.'' The MASR report states that 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners in India without charge or trial, mostly under a repressive law known as the ``Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act'' (TADA), which expired in 1995. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984. There has been no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and those who are still rotting in Indian jails. Tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. Last year, 35 Sikhs were charged and arrested in Punjab for making speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the Khalistani flag. ``How can making speeches and raising a flag be considered crimes in a democratic society?'' asked Dr. Aulakh. India is on the verge of disintegration. Kashmir is about to separate from India. As L.K. Advani said, ``If Kashmir goes, India goes.'' 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. There is nothing in common in the culture of a Hindu living in Bengal and one in Tamil Nadu, let alone between them and the minority nations of South Asia,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Freedom is the God-given right of every nation and every human being,'' said Dr. Aulakh. He noted that the Indian government was already spinning the results. ``Their wholly- owned U.S. Congressman, Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) has already portrayed the elections as a rejection of Khalistan, even though the voters defeated the Congress Party, which is against Khalistan,' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Congressman Pallone sounds like he is being compensated by the Indian regime,'' Dr. Aulakh noted. ``Sikhs must be allowed to have a free and fair plebiscite on the issue of Khalistan. In a democracy, you cannot continue to rule against the wishes of the people,'' he said. ``The essence of democracy is the right to self-determination. Currently, there are 17 freedom movements within India's borders. It has 16 official languages. It cannot hold together for very long,'' he said. ``We hope that India's breakup will be peaceful like Czechoslovakia's, not violent like Yugoslavia's,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``Earlier this year, Montenegro, which is less than a million people, became a sovereign country and a member of the United Nations,'' he said. ``Now it is the time for the Sikh Nation of Punjab, Khalistan to become independent. We must free Khalistan now.'' ____________________