[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E965-E968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

KHALISTAN SYMPOSIUM AT LONDON SCHOOL SHOWS KHALISTAN MOVEMENT IS
GAINING MOMENTUM

______

HON. GARY A. CONDIT

of california

in the house of representatives

Thursday, May 30, 1996

Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, the Khalistan Society at the London School
of Economics recently sponsored a seminar on the subject of freedom for
the Sikh nation in an independent Khalistan. The keynote speaker was
Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan, who has
been vigilant in leading his people in the struggle for freedom. Other
participants included British Member of Parliament Max Maddon and Mr.
Rahman of Amnesty International. The Khalistan Society works to promote
a free and independent Khalistan among the students and faculty of the
London school. The London school is one of the world's most prestigious
institutes, and this seminar is a significant step forward in the
movement to liberate Khalistan.
The Sikh nation has suffered greatly under Indian tyranny. The Indian
regime has killed over 150,000 Sikhs since 1984, as well as tens of
thousands of Kashmiri Muslims, Christians in Nagaland, and other
peoples throughout the subcontinent. No Sikh has ever signed the Indian
constitution. In the past few days, a Khalistani American was arrested
in India and charged with possessing a gun and drugs, which there is
good reason to believe were planted on him. This is a standard tactic
of the Indian police. In February 1995, Sikh human rights activist
Jaswant Singh Khalra released a report that showed that the Indian
regime had abducted, tortured, murdered, and cremated more than 25,000
Sikhs. For having released this report, Mr. Khalra was himself abducted
by police while washing his car in front of his house on September 7,
1995. Despite international protest, the Indian Government refuses to
release Mr. Khalra. His whereabouts remain unknown. I call upon the new
Indian Government to release Mr. Khalra and all the other Sikh
political prisoners languishing in Indian jails, some under now-expired
emergency laws.
The Sikh nation has a tradition of self-rule. Sikhs ruled Punjab from
1710 to 1716 and from 1765 to 1849. When America was fighting for its
independence, the Sikh nation was

[[Page E966]]

ruling itself independently. Punjab was the last part of the
subcontinent to fall to the British. During India's struggle for
independence, overwhelming majorities of those killed and jailed were
Sikhs. When India achieved its freedom, three nations were to receive
power. The Muslims received Pakistan, the Hindus got India, and the
Sikh leadership cast its lot with India on the promise that Sikh rights
would be respected and no law affecting those rights would pass unless
they consented to it. Of course, those promises have not been kept. The
collapse of the corrupt Congress Party, which has ruled India since
independence, provides an opportunity for a new direction in Indian
politics. I hope that the new government will respect human rights and
let the Sikhs and the other occupied peoples of the subcontinent live
in freedom. The breakup of India is inevitable. The handwriting is on
the wall. Only a free Khalistan will allow the Sikh Nation to live in
peace, freedom, prosperity, and dignity.
I am introducing Dr. Aulakh's speech to the seminar into the Record
along with a press release issued by the Khalistan Society.

Sikh National Identity and the Struggle for an Independent Khalistan

(By Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh)

Ladies and gentlemen, students, fellow Sikhs: I want to
thank you for providing me this opportunity to come to the
London School of Economics and talk on issues facing the
struggle for an independent Khalistan.
In 1984 I was working as a research scientist in Boston
studying the genetics of mycoplasmas, the reactivation of the
herpes virus and the biology of cancer and AIDS. Nineteen
eighty-four was also the year the Indian government attacked
the Golden Temple and 38 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab.
Twenty thousands Sikhs were killed. The Akal Takht was
destroyed. Nineteen eighty-four was also the year two Sikhs
assassinated Indira Gandhi for ordering the desecration of
the Golden Temple. In response, high-level politicians in the
ruling Congress (I) party fomented the massacre of Sikhs
throughout India. Crazed Hindu mobs slaughtered 40,000 Sikhs
and destroyed millions of dollars of Sikh property. Two years
later, in 1986, I left my job at Harvard Medical School and
dedicated myself to attaining freedom for the Sikh nation.
Nineteen eighty-four marks a watershed year for the Sikh
nation. It was a year of rude awakening, a year Sikhs awoke
to the reality that as a nation we were no longer safe under
Indian rule. But during the past 12 years of my involvement
with the struggle for Sikh freedom, I have come to see very
distinctly that 1984 did not occur in a vacuum. Sikhs have
been agitating for some of their most fundamental rights as a
nation since the British pulled out of the subcontinent in
1947. Furthermore, it is plainly evident that nothing in Sikh
history suggests that Sikhs would be remotely satisfied under
the rule of a foreign power. Let me make it perfectly clear
that the Sikhs are an independent nation. This is our
identity. We were wrong to join India after partition in
1947. We were lied to; we were duped, we were manipulated and
we have paid dearly. Today we want our freedom, and this is
fully consistent with our national character.
The first Sikh Guru Nanak, lived in the 15th century, a
time of immense turmoil. He witnessed the brutality of the
Mughal invaders who had swept down through Afghanistan into
the northern subcontinent, terrorizing the local populations.
According to the Sikh historian Harbans Singh, Guru Nanak's
voice offered ``the only strongly vocal protest in India
against the invasions of Barbar, founder of the Mughal
dynasty.'' Guru Nanak also spoke out against the social
evils of the caste system which promoted vast inequality
among fellow human beings. Guru Nanak recognized all
humanity as one and knew that the free life was the only
life worth living.
The succeeding nine Gurus of the Sikh faith further
developed what Guru Nanak set into motion. When the tenth
Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, baptized the Sikhs into
nationhood in 1699, he specifically commanded all Sikhs to
stand up to tyranny no matter where it exists. Guru Gobind
Singh, too, knew the importance of maintaining one's freedom,
and he was certain to pass this legacy on to the Sikh nation.
Every morning Sikhs pray ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa: The Khalsa
Shall Rule.'' After the death of Guru Gobind Singh, Banda
Singh Bahadur swept through the Punjab, defeating the forces
of the Mughal rulers who had earlier outlawed the Sikhs,
placing a hefty bounty on severed Sikh heads. Banda Singh's
rule lasted from 1710 to 1716.
Wars with the brutal Muhgals followed Banda Singh's rule.
The Sikhs fought valiantly against great odds. During the
lowest periods of those days, Sikhs rallied together to chant
``Raj Karega Khalsa: The Khalsa Shall Rule.'' It wasn't until
1765 that the Sikhs reestablished their kingdom under the
Khalsa Misls, who were later consolidated by Maharajah Ranjit
Singh in 1799. Ranjit Singh's rule was characterized by an
enlightened form of government that recognized the equality
of all citizens regardless of religious affiliation or social
class standing. Indians today choose to forget that the
territories held by the Sikhs extended from the borders of
China and Tibet in the North to the deserts of Sindh in the
South and from Afghanistan in the North-West to the river
Ganga in the East. Indians also seem to forget that it was
the Sikhs who halted the foreign invasions from the North-
West of the subcontinent that had been going on for thousands
of years.
The point in all this history is to show that Sikhs have
forged for themselves an independent national identity.
According to the UN charter, a nation is marked by one or
more of the following characteristics: common descent, common
tradition, common heritage, common culture or common
language. The Sikhs qualify on all counts. Current attempts
to define Sikhs as less than a nation are thinly veiled
attempts to keep Sikhs from attaining their rightful place in
the international community.
The Sikhs ruled Punjab until they were annexed by the
British in 1849 at the conclusion of the Anglo-Sikh Wars. The
Sikhs were the last nation on the Indian subcontinent to fall
to the British and the record shows that the British
recognized the Sikhs as a sovereign, independent nation.
Indeed, if not for the treason of a few highly place Dogras
who betrayed the Sikh nation by sabotaging the Sikh army in
return for British favors, the Punjab may never have fallen
into British hands. Sikhs were also the first nation on the
subcontinent to raise the cry of freedom from the British. It
was the Sikhs who suffered the overwhelming number of
casualties during the struggle to oust the British. Though
the Sikhs at the time comprised 1.6% of the population on the
subcontinent, 85% of those hanged by the British were Sikhs;
80% of those exiled were Sikhs; and 75% of those jailed were
Sikhs.
In 1947, when the British pulled out of India, three
nations were recognized to receive the transfer of power: the
Muslims, the Hindus and the Sikhs. The Muslims took their
share in the newly created Pakistan; the Hindus took current-
day India and the Sikhs opted to join their share with the
Hindus under solemn assurances by Jawarhar Lal Nehru and
Mohandas Gandhi that the Sikh nation would lead an
autonomous existence in the north. Gandhi personally
guaranteed that no law would be passed in the new India
that was unacceptable to the Sikh nation. In 1950,
however, when it came time to sign the constitution, Sikhs
found the document contrary to their interests as a
nation, making no allowances whatsoever for their free
existence. The Sikh delegates at the Constituent Assembly
refused to sign the document. To this day no Sikh has
signed the Indian constitution. Later the Sikh
representative Master Tara Singh was jailed by Nehru for
agitating for the implementation of promises made to the
Sikh nation. When asked why he would not honor the
commitments he made to the Sikhs, Nehru is reported to
have replied as follows: ``I shut my ears when someone
speaks to me about honoring the promises made to Sikhs
during the independence movement.'' Sadly, the history of
the Sikh nation since the ratification of the Indian
constitution is the story of Sikhs struggling for their
most basic rights as a free and independent nation.
Which brings us around again to 1984. Earlier I mentioned
the Indian government's military assault on the Golden Temple
which took place in June of 1984. The Indian government has
offered a great deal of empty reasons why it attacked the
Golden Temple, but the plain truth of the matter is that
Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party simply wanted to show
Sikhs who was boss. Mrs. Gandhi simply did not want to hear
anymore about Sikh rights or the unfulfilled promises of
freedom. She was also afraid that sooner or later Sikhs would
simply take the freedom that they deserved and reclaim their
homeland. Therefore, she planned the assault of the Golden
Temple on the day of the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru,
Guru Arjan Dev--a day when she knew the temple complex would
be filled with observant pilgrims. She also coordinated the
assaults on 38 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab. Over 20,000
Sikhs were killed in June of 1984.
Indira Gandhi and the government of India had envisioned
this military operation as a solution to their problems, a
way to get the Sikhs off their backs. But the strategy
backfired. Whatever complacency had fallen over the Sikhs was
lifted. The attack on the Golden Temple made Sikhs reflect on
their tradition. Sikhs recalled their tradition: ``Khalsa
Bagi Yan Badshah: Either the Sikhs are ruling or they are in
rebellion!'' On October 7, 1987 the Sikh nation formally
declared itself independent forming the separate country of
Khalistan. Sikhs have not given up their dream of reclaiming
their independence. We fully expect to achieve the liberation
of Khalistan by 1999, the 300th anniversary of the Sikh
nation.
During the past 12 years, over 150,000 Sikhs have been
killed by Indian government forces. According to respected
human rights activists in Khalistan, the number of Sikhs who
have ``disappeared'' or who have been illegally killed in
extrajudicial murders may exceed 100,000. The extent of
India's campaign against the Sikhs is staggering. Also
staggering is the extent to which the Indian government will
go to cover-up its brutal campaign of genocide against the
Sikhs.
Take the case of Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh
Khalra. For years Sikhs have been alleging that Indian police
have been abducting Sikhs, torturing them, killing them and
then cremating their remains as ``unidentified bodies'' in
order to cover-up any evidence of police responsibility. Mr.
Khalra was the first to bring concrete evidence to these
allegations. He visited three

[[Page E967]]

municipal cremation grounds in Amritsar District and counted
up the bodies listed as ``unidentified.'' His findings are
astounding. Police have murdered and cremated 6,017 Sikhs in
Amritsar District alone. Over 25,000 were killed in the same
way throughout the rest of Khalistan.
For having publicized his findings, Mr. Khalra was himself
abducted by police on September 6th in front of his home in
the presence of witnesses. Prior to his abduction, the
Superintendent of Police threatened Mr. Khalra at a press
conference saying ``We made 25,000 disappear. It would not be
hard to make one more disappear.'' On October 19, 1995,
sixty-five Members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to
Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao demanding Mr. Khalra's
release. To this date his whereabouts remain unknown.
The Sikhs are not the only nation suffering under the boot
of Indian repression. The Muslims of Kashmir claim that
Indian has murdered over 43,000 Kashmiris since 1988. The
Christians of Nagaland claim that India has killed over
200,000 Nagas since 1950. This level of oppression points to
a profound decay eating away at the foundation of India.
According Rajinder Puri of the Times of India, the Indian
government is ``a rotten, corrupt, repressive and anti-people
system.'' The only way the government of Indian can hold the
country together is by oppression--by brute force, fear and
intimidation. If this sounds a bit like the former Soviet
Union, the comparison is an apt one. And like the Soviet
Union, India is destined to disintegrate.
Let me make it clear that India is not a democracy. It is a
conglomerate of nations held together by the nexus of
oppression. The Sikhs want out. The Kashmiris want out.
Nagaland wants out. There's trouble in Assam. There's trouble
in Tamil Nadu. The millions of the so-called ``black
untouchables'' are some of the most oppressed people on the
face of the earth. People are starving to death while India
spends billions of its World Bank money on developing nuclear
weapons and repressing freedom movements. The Indian
political system is the most corrupt in the world. One third
of Prime Minister Rao's ministry has been indicted on
corruption charges and has been forced to resign. If Hindus
aren't killing Sikhs, they are killing Muslims. Mosques are
being destroyed. Children are being exploited as sex slaves.
Wives are set up in flames if they fail to bring large enough
dowries. Last year a five year old untouchable girl was
blinded by her school teacher when she drank from a pitcher
reserved for upper caste Hindus only. In December the
Chandigarh Tribune reported that a Sikh man was killed by
Indian police when they tied his legs to two jeeps driving
off in opposite directions, tearing him in half. I remember
the report about police torturing a little Sikh girl by
covering her in molasses and pouring ants on her. Please tell
me, why on earth would Sikhs want to live in a country like
this?
India is not only bad for the people held under its rule.
India has also proven itself an irresponsible member of the
international community. India refuses to sign the
Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. India has persistently claimed that its nuclear
research is for peaceful purposes only, but leading nuclear
experts have confirmed that India is secretly building an
atomic powered submarine. (See Washington Times, Dec. 9,
1994). India has also test launched the Prithvi II ballistic
missile and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, both of which
are capable of delivering nuclear warheads. India has been
detected smuggling heavy water, a substance needed to
manufacture plutonium, out of European countries in violation
of international regulations. According to the British
documentary, ``Nuclear India,'' the government of India
spends 25% of its research and development budget on nuclear
research and only 2% on education.
From 1986 to 1991, India was the world's largest importer
of major weapons and remains one of the largest today. In
1994, reports emerged that India was preparing to arm Iran.
India persistently votes against the United States and the
West in the United Nations. In fact, just recently when the
United States sponsored a resolution to bring China under the
scrutiny of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, India sided
with China to block the move. India is also smuggling CFC
gas into the United States, which has been banned since
January 1st. According to the U.S. Custom Service, CFC gas
smuggling has become its number two problem behind illegal
drugs--and India is one of the primary culprits! Add to
this list a long history of intellectual property theft on
the part of Indian manufactures--especially in the field
of pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the Washington Times reported
on May 3, that the United States has placed India on its
trade watch list. It certainly appears that India is doing
its level best to distance itself from the decent behavior
of legitimate countries in the community of nations.
James Brady, the former U.S. Secretary of State, has called
the Indian subcontinent the most dangerous place in the
world. War is nearly always imminent. The stockpiling of arms
and nuclear weapons is a daily occurrence. Contrast this
reality with the vision of a free Khalistan in a newly
liberated South Asia, free from the bullying domination of
the Indian government. A free Khalistan would serve as a
buffer nation between India and Pakistan, thus reducing the
potential for armed conflict between the two countries.
Khalistan would also agree to the nuclear non-proliferation
efforts currently being made by the international community,
thus promoting a nuclear free South Asia. And unlike India
which depends on IMF loans and U.S. assistance to feed its
people (while secretly spending billions on developing
nuclear weapons and crushing freedom movements), an
independent Khalistan will cultivate economic self-
sustainability. Indeed, Khalistan is uniquely situated for
economic prosperity. Currently, Sikhs are responsible for 26%
of the Indian GNP. The Sikh work ethic is legendary in South
Asia. Our doctors, scientists, scholars, financiers and
engineers are among the best in the world. Agriculturally,
Khalistan could sustain itself with just a fraction of its
yield, exporting the rest. Currently, Sikhs supply 73% of
India's wheat reserve and 48% of its rice reserve. Remember
that Sikhs make up only 2% of the total population in India.
A free Khalistan has the foundation for a long overdue South
Asian success story.
Unfortunately, the past 12 years of brutality at the hands
of the Indian government has pushed the movement for a free
Khalistan almost entirely underground. Those Sikhs who are
brave enough to stand up and vocally advocate Sikh freedom
are shot down without a second thought. Through the terror
tactics promoted by former Chief Minister Beant Singh and
former Chief of Police K.P.S. Gill, the Indian government has
instilled a fear psychosis on the population of Puniab.
According to Indian journalist, Iqbal Masud, ``The Beant-Gill
duo committed mass incarceration and disappearance and called
it `normalcy.''' Sikhs want the world to know, however, that
the only ``normalcy'' in Punjab is the silence of a nation
suffocating under the strangle hold of Indian repression.
It is the Sikhs outside of Khalistan who can truly raise
the voice of Sikh freedom without fear of brutal retaliation.
On April 27, over 15,000 Sikhs in New York City did just this
when they shouted the Jathedar of the Akal Takht of a
speaker's podium when he refused to raise the slogan of
``Khalistan Zindabad.'' The current Jathedar of the Akal
Takht has refused to fullfil the duty of his office by
starting a mass-movement for Sikh freedom. The Sikhs in New
York showed their displeasure for his kind of weak leadership
and assuaged any doubts that the grassroots of the Sikh
nation stands firmly in support of Sikh independence.
Working in the international community, the Council of
Khalistan has had tremendous success in bringing to light the
brutality of the Indian government. Due to our efforts, two
bills are currently pending in the United States Congress.
House Concurrent Resolution 32 seeks to formally recognize
the Sikh nation's right of self-determination. House
Resolution 1425--``The Human Rights in India Act''--seeks
to cut U.S. aid to India if the government of India
continues its campaign of brutality against the Sikhs and
other nations and people held under Indian repression.
The Council of Khalistan has also managed to get 51 Members
of the U.S. Congress to send a letter to the U.S. State
Department demanding that the visa of Mr. K.P.S. Gill be
denied if he attempts to enter the United States as part of
the Indian field hockey team during the Summer Olympics. I
ask you, if 51 Members of the U.S. Congress can stand up
against the greatest murderer of Sikhs in the modern era,
what is preventing the Jathedar of the Akal Takht and the
members of the Akali Dal from doing the same?
The current Sikh leaders in Punjab are uniformly corrupt.
The Akali Dal leadership has long ago surrendered to the
Government of India. In 1992, 96% of the Sikh population in
Punjab boycotted the elections under the Indian constitution.
This was a clear mandate for Khalistan. Look at the situation
today. The Akali Dal has obviously failed miserably in
delivering on that mandate. Just last week Akali politicians
participated in elections under the Indian constitution as if
the past 12 years had never happened. This crisis in
leadership is what makes Sikhs outside of Khalistan so
important. It is the job of Sikhs in the West to stand up and
tell the Indian government that Sikhs do not want elections.
The only thing Sikhs want is independence. If a plebiscite
were held in Khalistan today, over 95% of the Sikh population
would vote for independence.
The current political situation in India will give the
Sikhs a perfect opportunity to seize freedom. It is clear
that the Congress party is greatly weakened by rampant
corruption. No single party will emerge dominant from last
week's elections. A weak coalition will be formed. In the
past, Sikhs were able to seize control of the Punjab during
weak governments in Delhi. We can do it again. It will take
courage and sacrifice, but the only way we will liberate the
Sikh nation is by launching a nationwide shantmai morcha--a
peaceful mass-movement for the liberation of Khalistan. We
need to protest by the hundreds of thousands; fill the jails;
boycott the Indian government completely and form a Khalsa
Raj party for the freedom of Khalistan.
Our work is cut out for us, but the Sikh nation is a proud
and fiercely independent nation. Our history has forged in us
an unconquerable desire for freedom. We possess a well-
founded and deeply imbedded national identity. We are a
strong nation with a long tradition of resistance to tyranny.
We are a freedom loving people and we want to live in peace
so that we may develop to our fullest potential. We will
never be deterred from the

[[Page E968]]

path of freedom, and Khalistan will be ours. Sikhs are
looking forward to 1999, the 300th anniversary of the Sikh
nation. On that day Sikhs will proudly hoist the Sikh flag
high above the Golden Temple and thank Guru for the long
awaited blessing of freedom in a sovereign, independent
Khalistan.
____

Inaugural Meeting of the Khalistan Society: Speakers Expose Indian
State Repression, Support Self-Determination for Khalistan

London.--The movement for Punjab's national independence
received a historic boost today, as the Khalistan Society
launched its Inaugural meeting here at The London School of
Economics. Three invited speakers, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh,
President, Council of Khalistan, Mr. Max Madden, British
Member of Parliament, and Mr. Asad Rehman, a representative
of London based Amnesty International, stressed the moral
imperative to hold India accountable for extensive and
continuing human rights violations against the Sikh people
and other minorities in India. They also urged the massive
British Asian community to mobilize its resources to protect
the rights of those fighting for freedom in India-occupied
Punjab.
Mr. Max Madden told audience members of his trip to Punjab
in 1991, when he visited Sikh villages and a Punjabi jail,
speaking to literally hundreds of people who had suffered
human rights abuses by Indian police forces. ``I met a father
whose 12 year old daughter was abducted by policemen, raped
repeatedly, and eventually killed. Policemen warned the
father that were he to pursue a case against the officers
involved, his 7 year old daughter would face the same fate.''
He recalled meeting Mr. K.P.S. Gill, former Punjab Chief of
Police, who he described as ``the epitome of evil.'' Mr.
Madden reiterated the right of the people of Punjab to self-
determination, and congratulated The Khalistan Society for
its efforts to highlight human rights violations against the
Sikhs in Punjab. He told the audience, ``Because of my human
rights activities, the Indian High Commission refuses to
grant me a visa to visit India.''
Mr. Asad Rehman stressed the need to put human rights on
the agenda of governments in South Asia. He detailed the
violent and anti-democratic tactics used by India to crush
political dissent, and drew comparisons between such tactics
used in occupied Punjab and other parts of India. He stressed
the importance of peaceful self-determination in Punjab,
stating, ``Everyone must have the right to express their
political beliefs freely, whatever they may be, without fear
of imprisonment, torture or death.''
Dr. Gurmit S. Aulakh strongly denounced the Indian
government for its continuing policy of state repression
against Sikhs in Punjab, Muslims in Kashmir, and Christians
in Nagaland. He spoke of the case of Mr. Jaswant Singh
Khalra, a Sikh human rights activist in Punjab who has
recently ``disappeared'' and is feared to be dead. Dr. Aulakh
detailed the history of the Sikh struggle for freedom, and
articulated his vision of a Khalistani state. ``Khalistan
will be a buffer state between India and Pakistan, and will
sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaties, thereby increasing
regional peace and security. We will also operate on a `one
man, one vote' policy. In a free Khalistan, there will be no
human rights violations, and minorities will be treated
equally.''

____________________