[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2045-E2046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN HAS SUCCESSFUL CONVENTION

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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

of new york

in the house of representatives

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh publicly stated that India is the victim of cross-border terror.
The Council of Khalistan under the leadership of Dr. Gurmit Singh
Aulakh wrote to Prime Minister Singh and reminded him that India has
been sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Sindh, a province of
Pakistan, as the Washington Times reported on January 2, 2002 and that
it created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eclam, which our government
has identified as a terrorist organization, according to Indian Today,
which is the leading news magazine in India.
It has also sponsored domestic terrorism against the minorities
within its borders, including murdering a quarter of a million Sikhs
and holding another 52,000 as political prisoners; killing Muslims by
the tens of thousands in Kashmir, where more than 90,000 have been
killed, Gujarat, where between 2,000 and 5,000 died in a massacre pre-
planned by the government, and elsewhere; killing Christians throughout
the country, including over 300,000 just in Nagaland; and mass killing
many other minorities. Yet India proclaims itself the victim of
terrorism and proclaims itself a democracy. Well, Mr. Speaker, it
certainly doesn't act that way.
The repression and terrorism must be stopped. We should end all aid
and trade with India until such time as the repression ends and people
enjoy the most basic human rights, and we should throw our full support
behind self-determination in Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir, in Nagalim,
and wherever people are trying to be free. In addition, we should
designate India a terrorist state and impose the sanctions that that
designation brings.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Council of Khalistan's open
letter into the Record. It is a frightening record of Indian terrorism.

Council of Khalistan,

Washington, DC, October 10, 2006.

Open Letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: India Is a
Terrorist State, Not a Victim

Dear Prime Minister Singh: On October 4, you said that
India is it victim of crossborder terrorism. India is a
terrorist state itself and should be subject to the penalties
that are imposed on terrorist states.
On January 2, 2002, the Washington Times reported that
India is supporting cross-border terrorism in Sindh, a
province of Pakistan, the very same kind of thing that Prime
Minister Singh was claiming is victimizing India. In
addition, India's leading newsmagazine, India Today, reported
that the Indan government created the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), identified by the U.S. government as a
terrorist organization, and its leaders were put up by the
Indian government in the finest hotel in Delhi, How can you
blame Pakistan when India started cross-border terrorism with
its own actions?
The Indian government has committed terrorism against its
own minorities. It has murdered over 250,000 Sikh infants,
children, youth, men, women, and elderly since 1984, as well
as more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000
Mulims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and
Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of
Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and other
minorities. A report by the Movement Against State Repression
(MASR) 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. Tell the families of
these innocent Sikhs and others that there is no terrorism in
India.
lndian 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. Khalra was murdered in
police custody. His body was not given to his family. No one
has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of
Jaswant Singh Khalra. The only witness to the Khalra
kidnapping, Rajiv Singh Randhawa, has been repeatedly
harassed by the police, including having been arrested for
trying to hand a note to then British Home Secretary Jack
Straw. 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?
The police never released the body of former Jathedar of
the Akal Talkht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh
Ghotna murdered him, He has never been tried for the Jathedar
Kaunke murder. In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported
that the Indian government had paid over 41,000 cash bounties
for killing Sikhs. The MASR report 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.''
Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with his two
sons, ages 8 and 10, by a mob of militant, fundamentalist
Hindu nationalists who set fire to the jeep, surrounded it,
and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god. Missionary
Joseph Cooper was beaten so badly that he had to spend a week
in an Indian hospital. Then the Indian government threw him
out of the country. None of the people involved has been
tried, The persons who have murdered priests, raped nuns, and
burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried.
Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.
Recently, militant Hindus from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva (a
youth movement affiliated with the BJP and the Fascist RSS)
attacked the Convent of Loreto and the school there. A
spokesman for the BJP, Mr. H. Dikshit, demanded an
investigation of the school!
The murderers of 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in Gujarat have
never been brought to trial. An Indian newspaper reported
that the police were ordered not to get involved in that
massacre, a frightening parallel to the Delhi massacre of
Sikhs in 1984. The most important mosque in India, the Babri
Mosque, was destroyed by militant Hindu fundamentalists who
have never been held responsible for their actions.
It is good that you have admitted the guilt of the Indian
government for the Delhi massacres, in which over 20,000
Sikhs were killed, by apologizing for the massacres, but what
good does it do the Sikh Nation? Where are the apologies for
the Golden Temple attack, the destruction of the Akal Takht,
and the desecration of Darbar Sahib, and the other
atrocities? Where is the compensation for the victims'
families? That operation was yet another act of Indian
domestic terrorism.
The Guru granted sovereignty to the Sikh Nation, saying
``In Grieb Sikhin Ko Deon Patshahi.'' We must remind
ourselves of our heritage by raising slogans of ``Khalistan
Zindabad'' and beginning a Shantmai Morcha to liberate our
homeland, Khalistan. Whoever is honest and dedicated in
leading that Shantmai Morcha deserves our support. Every
rooming and evening we recite, ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa.'' Now is
the time to act on it. Do we mean what we say every morning
and evening?
The flame of freedom continues to burn blightly in the
heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. Recently,
Dal Khalsa and the Shiromani Khalsa Dal announced that they
are uniting for sovereignty for Khalistan. This was met with
chants of ``Khalistan Zindabad.'' The Punjab Legislative
Assembly proclaimed the sovereignty of Punjab when it
cancelled the water agreements. Only by liberating Khalistan
can we put an end to the repression and terrorism against the
Sikh Nation by the Indian regime. Now is the time to
rededicate ourselves to the liberation of Khalistan.
Last year, 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. It is incumbent on the Sikh diaspora to
free Khalistan. We must redouble our efforts. That is the
only way to keep these atrocities from continuing and to
protect the Sikh Nation and the Sikh religion.
The Akali Dal conspired with the Indian government in 1984
to invade the Golden Temple to murder Sant Bhindranwale and
20,000 other Sikhs during June 1984 in Punjab. Among those
who conspired with the government, according to Chakravyuh:
Web of Indian Secularism, were Dr. Chohan, Ganga Singh
Dhillon, and Didar Singh Bains

[[Page E2046]]

It appears the Indian regime is even willing to arrest its
own agents to suppress the movement for Khalistan! Now Badal
and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh have been accusing each
other of being tied in with ``terrorists.'' These leaders
view support for Khalistan as terrorism, as the Indian
government does. They have shown where their loyalties lie.
How will these so-called Sikh leaders 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.''
Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. Ever since
independence, India has mistreated the Sikh Nation, starting
with Patel's memo calling 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. There is no place
for Sikhs in supposedly secular, supposedly democratic India.
Our moment of freedom is closer than ever. Sikhs will
continue to work to make certain 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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