The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SIKHS OBSERVE INDIA'S REPUBLIC DAY AS DAY OF BETRAYAL” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E127-E128 on Feb. 1, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SIKHS OBSERVE INDIA'S REPUBLIC DAY AS DAY OF BETRAYAL
______
HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, this past Wednesday, January 26, was India's Republic Day, the anniversary of the adoption of their constitution. It is a very important day in India's calendar. The Indian constitution is supposed to guarantee freedom for everyone and ensure everyone full human rights and democratic freedoms. However, in practice, it has not worked that way in the 58 years that India has been independent. I salute the ideals of the Indian constitution, but I cannot urge India strongly enough to start living up to them.
Independent India has been no picnic for the minorities of India. They have suffered severe repression. Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, and others have suffered greatly at the hands of democratic, secular India. That is why Sikhs in Washington, London, and even Amritsar protested on Republic Day. In Amritsar, the Sikh organization Dal Khalsa hoisted the Sikh flag and distributed flyers saying that the Indian flag ``is not our flag'' and the Indian constitution ``is not our constitution.'' No Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian constitution.
Over a quarter of a million Sikh have been murdered at the hands of the Indian government, along with over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland and still more Christians elsewhere. Priests have been murdered throughout the country, nuns have been raped, churches have been burned, Christian schools and prayer halls have been vandalized. By now, the burning death of missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons and the beating of missionary Joseph Cooper are well known. In recent days, evangelist Benny Hinn had to travel under heavy security after being attacked and vandalized.
Over 90,000 Kashmiri Muslims have been murdered, along with thousands of Muslims in other parts of the country. Recently, according to the BBC, the Indian government finally admitted that Muslims in Gujarat did not set the train fire that led to the massacre of 5,000 of them, a massacre that a policeman told an Indian newspaper was planned in advance by the Indian government.
India forced Untouchables out of a refugee camp after the tsunami, according to Yahoo! News. The Washington Post reported that they were being given only the leftover food of Brahmins and India has refused all efforts by the international community to come and help them. Even though the very Indian constitution that Republic Day celebrates outlawed the caste system, it is alive and well to this day.
Mr. Speaker, these are just the latest examples of the repression of minorities that continues to occur while India celebrates its secular, democratic constitution. This is unacceptable. In the President's recent Inaugural Address, he spoke about extending freedom to all the world. India is one place where that effort needs to be carried out before the country, a multinational, polyglot empire like Austria-
Hungary, the Soviet Union, or Yugoslavia, falls apart. We must do whatever we can to ensure freedom and peace for all in the subcontinent.
The best things we can do are to stop our aid and trade with India until human rights are respected and the violent repression ceases and to put ourselves on record in support of a free and fair plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir (as promised in 1948), in Nagaland, and throughout the minority areas of the subcontinent.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to place an article about Dal Khalsa's protest in Amritsar and a press release about the Council of Khalistan's protest here in Washington into the Record.
Council of Khalistan,
Washington, DC.
Sikhs Mark Indian Republic Day by Protesting Genocide, Repression
Washington, DC, January 26, 2005.--Sikhs from all over the East Coast came to Washington today to mark Indian Republic Day by protesting the genocide and repression against the Sikhs and other minorities. They raised slogans such as
``India out of Khalistan'' and carried signs such as ``India: Democracy for Brahmins, Tyranny for Minorities.'' The demonstration was organized by the Council of Khalistan, which leads the struggle to establish a sovereign, independent Khalistan free from Indian occupation. On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation declared its independence from India, naming its new country Khalistan. The Council of Khalistan was established at that time to lead the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent movement to liberate Khalistan from Indian oppression. It is the government pro tempore of Khalistan, the Sikh homeland.
Republic Day is the anniversary of the adoption of India's constitution, which is supposed to ensure a secular, democratic government. But the Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948, over 89,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits, Bodos, and others. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs ``worse than a genocide.'' 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 have been in illegal custody since 1984! Tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. We demand the immediate release of all these political prisoners.
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. 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 police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht 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.
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. 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. 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.
``Is Jaswant Singh Khalra celebrating? Is Jathedar Kaunke celebrating? Is Graham Staines celebrating?,'' Dr. Aulakh asked. ``How can a democracy celebrate the kind of violent repression that claimed their lives?''
When India became Independent, Sikhs were equal partners in the transfer of power and were to receive their own state, but the weak and ignorant Sikh leaders of the time were tricked into staying with India on the promise that they would have ``the glow of freedom'' and no law affecting the Sikhs would pass without their consent. Sikhs ruled an independent and sovereign Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again from 1765 to 1849 and were recognized by most of the countries of the world at that time. No Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian constitution.
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. Last year, the Punjab Legislative Assembly passed a bill annulling all water agreements with the Indian government, preventing the government's daylight robbery of Punjab river water. Punjab needs its river water for its crops. In the bill, the Assembly explicitly stated the sovereignty of Punjab. Political leaders in Punjab have again called for an Independent Khalistan.
``This shows that the drive for freedom is still alive in Punjab,'' Dr. Aulakh said. ``It is clear that India does not accept Sikhs,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``The Indian government continues to persecute and kill our Sikh brethren,'' he said.
``As Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, `If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a Sikh','' Dr. Aulakh noted.
``We must continue to press for our God-given birthright of freedom,'' he said. ``Without political power, religions cannot flourish and nations perish. A sovereign Khalistan is essential for the survival of the Sikh religion.''
____
Dal Khalsa Observe R-Day as ``Betrayal Day'' in Amritsar
Amritsar, January 26, 2005 (ANI).--Leaders of Dal Khalsa on Wednesday gathered at Gurudwara Shahid Ganj, Amritsar to observe the Indian republic day as betrayal day.
The Dal Khalsa leaders, including president of Dal Khalsa Harcharnjit Singh Dhami, Khalistan ideologue Jagjit Singh Chauhan, Satnam Singh Paunta Sahib, hijacker of Indian Airlines plan in 1981 performed a Ardaas for the freedom of the Sikh nation.
They hoisted the Khalsa flag of Maharaj Ranjit Singh's regime, which symbolises Sikh raj, and prayed for the freedom of the Sikh community as they took guard of honour and pledged to continue their struggle for a free Sikh nation.
Dal Khalsa leaders describe 26th January as ``betrayal day'' for the Sikhs as Indian leaders betrayed the Sikh nation and imposed the present Constitution on them.
They also believe that Sikhs have been massacred in Punjab, Delhi and elsewhere after the Blue Star Operation in 1984.
____________________
