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“NAGAS OPEN OFFICE IN D.C. TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1497 on July 17, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NAGAS OPEN OFFICE IN D.C. TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, as you know, there are many national groups fighting for their freedom from India. We have been following the struggles of the Sikhs to free their homeland of Khalistan for many years thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan. Now another of the minority nations that seeks freedom from India has opened an office to represent its interests in Washington, D.C. The people of Nagaland are now represented in a Washington office.
I am happy to see the Nagas open a Washington office. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them. Nagaland is predominantly Christian and the Nagas have suffered under Indian oppression for many years. India has murdered over 200,000 Nagas since 1947. They are a separate nation and people from predominantly Hindu India, but they are victims of India's ongoing efforts to establish fundamentalist Hindu hegemony over the entire subcontinent.
Nagaland is entitled to freedom. Freedom is the birthright of all peoples and nations. The essence of democracy is the right to self-
determination and this right has been denied to the people of Nagaland just as it has been denied to the people of the Sikh homeland, Punjab, Khalistan, to the Kashmiri people, and to so many other nations living under the boot of Indian repression. It is time for India to start acting like the democracy it claims to be and settling these matters in a peaceful, democratic manner rather than trying to suppress the people and their natural ambitions by force.
The leaders of Nagaland have tried to establish their freedom peacefully through negotiations, but the Indian government has been unwilling to discuss independence with Nagaland. However, they finally recognized the Nagas as a separate people. This is the first step toward the independence of the Naga nation. Democratic India wishes to retain the right to continue repressing the minorities living under its rule.
That is why the opening of an office representing the freedom struggle of Nagaland is so important, Mr. Speaker. The Sikhs have had such an office for a long time, and the Kashmiris have also. The more information that can be put out about the brutal, repressive nature of the Indian government, the more success all of the movements for freedom will have. This will also be a significant boost for basic human rights throughout India, where Assamese, Bodos, Dalits (the dark-
skinned aboriginal people of South Asia), Manipuris, Tamils, and so many others are being oppressed and killed for struggling for their freedom.
We can help in this effort. It is time to stop American aid to India until it respects basic human rights and to declare our support for the freedom of Nagaland, Khalistan, Kashmir, and all the oppressed nations of South Asia.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert a list of persecution of minorities in India into the Record at this time for the information of my colleagues.
Persecution of Minorities in India
christians
Over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland have been murdered by the Indian government.
Since Christmas 1998, Christians have been the favored target of Indian religious persecution.
American missionary Joseph Cooper was expelled from India for preaching after he was beaten so severely he had to be hospitalized for a week.
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and other states have recently passed laws banning conversion to any religion except Hinduism.
Recently in Gujarat the government has been conducting a survey of Christians, asking how long they have been Christians, how long they have been in India, citizenship, and other intrusive questions.
Hindu Nationalists associated with the parent organization of the ruling party have murdered several priests.
Several nuns have been murdered.
A nun named Sister Ruby was forced to drink her captors' urine.
Hindu nationalists have burned churches.
Christian schools and prayer halls have been attacked.
Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned to death while sleeping in their jeep by Hindu nationalists who chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a Hindu god.
A Christian religious festival was broken up by police gunfire.
sikhs
Indian police have murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984.
52,268 Sikhs are rotting in Indian jails as political prisoners without charge or trial. Some have been there since 1984.
The U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. One of these was awarded to a police officer who killed a three-year-old boy.
In 1984, the Indian government attacked Sikhism's most sacred shrine, the Golden Temple, and 38 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab, killing 20,000 Sikhs.
Human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra was killed in police custody after he exposed India's policy of secret cremations of Sikhs.
Over 50,000 Sikhs have ``disappeared'' after they were picked up by the police. They were tortured, secretly cremated, then declared ``unidentified bodies'' and secretly cremated.
The Indian government paid the late governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, over $1.5 billion to generate and support terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir.
Indian forces were caught red-handed trying to set fire to a Gurdwara and some Sikh homes in a village in Kashmir. Sikh and Muslim villagers overwhelmed them and stopped them.
Indian forces carried out the March 2000 massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora, according to two independent studies.
Over 20,000 Sikhs were murdered by the government in the Delhi massacres of Sikhs while police, on orders, stood by and did nothing.
The Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Gurdev Singh Kaunke, was murdered by the police.
The driver for Baba Charan Singh, a religious leader, was killed when his legs were tied to two jeeps that drove off in opposite directions.
muslims
2,000 to 5,000 Muslims were murdered in Gujarat last March.
The police stood aside and let the murders happen. They had no orders to stop it.
According to the Hindustan Times, the government pre-planned that massacre.
Over 85,000 Muslims in Kashmir have been murdered by Indian forces.
Hindu nationalists destroyed the most revered mosque in India, the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, to build a Hindu temple.
India has not kept the promise it made in 1948 to hold a plebiscite on the future of Kashmir.
others
A Dalit girl was blinded by her teacher after she drank water from the community pitcher.
A Dalit constable went into a temple to take shelter on a rainy day and was stoned to death by the Brahmins in attendance.
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