[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E427-E428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SIKH ORGANIZATIONS UNITE FOR KHALISTAN

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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

of new york

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the Indian newspaper The Telegraph ran a
story on March 21 reporting that two Sikh organizations in Punjab, Dal
Khalsa, under the leadership of Satnam Singh, and the Shiromani Khalsa
Dal under the leadership of Daljit Singh Bittu, are uniting to promote
a sovereign, independent Khalistan. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the Sikhs
declared Khalistan independent on October 7, 1987. Ever since then,
Sikhs have been struggling against a massive Indian force of over
500,000 troops sent to suppress their drive for freedom.
The announcement from Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal was met
by shouts of ``Khalistan Zindabad,'' meaning ``Long live Khalistan.''
Now the Chief Minister of Punjab has ordered the police to place the
leaders of both organizations under watch. Let me make this clear, Mr.
Speaker. They are under police watch in ``the world's largest
democracy'' for peaceful political activities designed to achieve
freedom for their people.
These arrests come in short order after the recent arrests of Sikh
activists Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan and Kanwarpal Singh Dhami for
speeches they made supporting Khalistan. Dr. Chohan committed the
additional crime of flying the Khalistani flag from his residence.
Groups of Sikhs were arrested last year in January and June for
hoisting the Khalistani flag and making speeches in support of
sovereignty for Khalistan. Dal Khalsa organized those events. It has
organized numerous events in support of a sovereign Khalistan in
Punjab, and the support has been shown to be large. I guess this scares
the Indian government.
Mr. Speaker, these actions are unacceptable in any country. We use
our influence to put pressure on totalitarian regimes for just these
kinds of tactics. They are even more unacceptable when the country
using them

[[Page E428]]

claims to be democratic. This does not resemble any kind of democracy I
know about.
Mr. Speaker, we must take a stand for freedom in South Asia, as we
are doing elsewhere in the world. The time has come to cut off our aid
and trade with India and until basic human rights for all people are
respected there. In addition, we should put the Congress officially on
record in support of free and fair plebiscites in Punjab, Khalistan, in
Kashmir, in Nagaland, and all the other minority nations seeking their
freedom from India. It is time for America to show its active support
for freedom, stability, dignity, and human rights.
Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan has published a very good
release on the statement by Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal. I
would like to add it to the Record now for the information of my
colleagues.

Sikhs Arrested in India for Speaking for Khalistan

Washington, DC, March 15, 2006.--Sardar Kanwarpal Singh
Dhami, Chairman of Dal Khalsa, and Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan
were arrested earlier this month for speaking out for an
independent Khalistan. They were charged with sedition. These
arrests follow the arrests of Sikh leaders last year
belonging to Dal Khalsa both in January and June for hoisting
the flag of Khalistan. Kanwarpal Singh Dhami was arrested
after saying that the Sikh Panth could not live under someone
else's rule. He was accused of ``. . . sedition, promoting
enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race,
doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony,
imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration
and statements conducing to public mischief.'' The government
charged that he promoted separatist and `terrorist'
movements.
Dal Khalsa has sponsored numerous marches and conferences
in Punjab in support of a free Khalistan, the Sikh homeland
that declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987.
It was the organizer of the two events at which Sikhs were
arrested for making speeches and raising the Khalistani flag.
It was announced today that they will be joining forces with
the Shiromani Khalsa Dal, headed by Sardar Daljit Singh
Bittu, in support of a free Khalistan. The Punjab and Haryana
High Court ruled that it is legal to ask for freedom for
Khalistan, yet the Indian government continues to treat it as
a crime. They do not even live by their own law.
Dr. Chohan said on India's Zee TV that Khalistan will be
free by 2007. He has also been flying the Khalistani flag and
that of his party, the Khalsa Raj Party, outside his office.
According to the book Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism
(page 183), Dr. Chohan worked with Major General Jaswant
Singh Bhullar, Professor Manjit Singh Sidhu, Didar Singh
Bains, and others ``to stop Sikhs living abroad'' from
supporting freedom for Khalistan and connived with the Indian
government for the June 1984 attack on the Golden Temple.
``It is evident that the Indian government is scared of the
increasing amount of peaceful activism in Punjab in support
of Khalistan,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of
the Council of Khalistan, which is leading the Sikh struggle
for independence. ``The time of Khalistan's liberation is
near. India will fall apart soon,'' he said. ``We condemn the
arrests of Sardar Dhami and Dr. Chohan but remind the Sikh
Nation that it must work only with leaders who are honest,
sincere, and committed to the liberation of Khalistan.'' Dr.
Aulakh noted that in New York in 2000, former Member of
Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann had called for the Council of
Khalistan's office to be closed. ``Sikhs must be very careful
about the leaders they follow,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``This
office has worked unwaveringly for a sovereign Khalistan for
almost 20 years,'' he noted.
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. ``We only hope that the breakup will be
peaceful,'' said Dr. Aulakh.
The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since
1984, more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000
Muslims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and
Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of
Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, 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. The police
never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht
Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered
him. No one has been brought to justice for the Khalra
kidnapping and murder. Yet 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 since 1984!
Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh Nation prosper and
get justice,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``India should act like a
democracy and allow a plebiscite on independence for
Khalistan and all the nations of South Asia,'' Dr. Aulakh
said. ``We must free Khalistan now.''

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