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.
“COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES LONDON INSTITUTE OF SOUTH ASIA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1558-E1560 on July 27, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES LONDON INSTITUTE OF SOUTH ASIA
HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, recently spoke at the London Institute of South Asia, which was holding a seminar on separate electorate in India. He also contributed an article to the Journal of the London Institute of South Asia. Both presentations were on the same theme: freedom for Khalistan, the sovereign Sikh state that declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987, and has been under Indian occupation ever since then.
Dr. Aulakh stressed that a separate electorate within India, although it might help some of the oppressed minorities there, would not be appropriate for the Sikh nation, which is separate and distinct from India. He said that the achievement of full sovereignty and independence for Khalistan is inevitable. He took note of the Sikh farmers whose farms were bulldozed earlier this year by the Government. He discussed the Sikh activists who were arrested for raising the Khalistani flag. ``How can India claim it is a democracy and continue to hold political prisoners?'' he asked. ``How can a democratic, secular state make it a crime to raise a flag and make speeches? Would America arrest people for raising the Confederate flag? Would the United Kingdom arrest people for speaking in support of Scottish independence?'' And the answer is that of course we wouldn't. We may not like these things, but they are not crimes. Yet in India the equivalent act gets you arrested.
Dr. Aulakh noted several other acts of tyranny against the Sikhs, including the kidnapping of human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, the murder of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke, the killing of the driver for Sikh religious leader Baba Charan Singh, who was tied to two Jeeps which drove in different directions, tearing this human being apart, and many other atrocities. These things are the mark of a tyrannical, totalitarian regime, Mr. Speaker. Dr. Aulakh writes that in light of these atrocities, ``independence for Khalistan is inevitable.''
Dr. Aulakh takes note of the rising support for Khalistan in Punjab. He notes the marches being organized, that politicians and other Sikh leaders are speaking out for Khalistan, the seminars held by a former member of Parliament on the subject, and other activities in support of freedom for Khalistan.
Mr. Speaker, the essence of democracy is the right to self-
determination. All people and all nations have a right to be free. That is the idea that gave birth to America. As such, we must be active and vigilant in supporting freedom around the world. We should stop our aid and trade with India, which is only propping up the repressive regime. The time has come to put the U.S. Congress on record in support of a free and fair plebiscite in Khalistan and all the minority nations that seek their freedom in South Asia.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to place Dr. Aulakh's article from the Journal of the London Institute of South Asia into the Record at this time. Flame of Freedom Burns in Khalistan: Establishment of a Sovereign Sikh
State Is Inevitable
(By Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh)
January 2006 was not a good month for the Sikh farmers in Uttaranchal Pradesh, India. Their farms were bulldozed and they were thrown out of the state. They had worked peacefully all their lives, but now everything they had worked for was destroyed. Once again, the government had decided to make Sikhs the victims. This continues a pattern of repression that has kept the Sikh Nation from living in freedom or prosperity. Since 1984, over a quarter of a million Sikhs have been murdered at the hands of the Indian government.
There is no way for these farmers to gain redress within the Indian system. They have lost their life's work with no way of making themselves whole. And they have no means to begin again. They received no compensation for their bulldozed property. This is just a recent example of why Sikhs need their own independent country, Khalistan.
Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987. Since then, India's brutal repression of the Sikh nation has intensified. Last year on Republic Day, 35 Sikhs were arrested for making speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the flag of Khalistan. This past June, even more Sikhs were arrested for hoisting a flag and making speeches. They join at least 52,268 Sikh political prisoners that India admitted to holding, according to the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) (as well as tens of thousands of other political prisoners, according to Amnesty International.)
India proclaims itself the world's largest democracy. How can India claim it is a democracy and continue to hold political prisoners? How can a democratic, secular state make it a crime to raise a flag and make speeches? Would America arrest people for raising the Confederate flag? Would the United Kingdom arrest people for speaking in support of Scottish independence?
The Sikhs are a separate people from India--culturally, linguistically, and religiously distinct. As such, the Sikh Nation is logically and morally a separate nation, a separate people. Every day Sikhs pray ``Raj Kare Ga Khalsa,'' meaning
``the Khalsa shall rule.'' It is part of the Sikh consciousness that we are either rulers or we are in rebellion.
Since 1947, the Indian government has been enslaving the Sikh Nation. Under Indian rule, Sikhs are slaves. They are exploited, tortured, and killed for the convenience of the rulers. Despite India's repression of the Sikhs `symbolized by half a million troops enforcing the peace of the bayonet' the Sikhs are reclaiming the freedom that is our birthright. The record of India's treatment of the Sikhs makes it clear that there is no place for the Sikhs in `India's democracy'.
In 1995, human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra published a report exposing India's policy of secret cremations of Sikhs under which Sikh men are picked up, tortured, and murdered, then their bodies are declared
`unidentified' and secretly cremated. Khalra did his work by studying several cremation grounds in Punjab. He established about 25,000 Sikhs who have been secretly cremated. Follow-up work has established that the number is around 50,000. Their bodies have never been given to their families. For his work, Sardar Khalra was murdered in police custody; no wonder his body also disappeared.
The one witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Rajiv Singh Randhawa, has been consistently harassed by the Indian regime. He even got arrested for trying to hand information about the repression of the Sikhs to the British Home Minister outside the Golden Temple.
Former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke was murdered by police official Swaran Singh Ghotna. He has never been brought to justice. The driver for Sikh religious leader Baba Charan Singh was killed when his legs were tied to two jeeps which then drove in different directions. The cases of torture by rolling heavy rollers over the legs of Sikh prisoners are too numerous to mention. In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government paid out over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs.
The only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, peace, stability, dignity, and prosperity, without constantly fearing for their lives, is by liberating Khalistan.
The establishment of an independent Khalistan is inevitable. Support for an independent Khalistan is rising in Punjab. Last November, Khalistan slogans were raised at Nankana Sahib during the celebration of Guru Nanak's birthday and at a subsequent seminar. More than 25,000 people were in attendance for the birthday celebration. There have been numerous marches demanding freedom for Khalistan in Punjab. Former Member of Parliament Atinder Pal Singh held a seminar on Khalistan. Even when the Punjab Legislative Assembly canceled the agreements that had allowed Punjabi water to be diverted to other states, they openly asserted the sovereignty of the state of Punjab. It seems that the Indian government is aware and afraid of the rising tide of support for Khalistan.
As Steve Forbes wrote in Forbes Magazine in 2002, ``India is not a homogeneous state. Neither was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It attacked Serbia in the summer of 1914 in the hopes of destroying this irritating state after Serbia had committed a spectacular terrorist act against the Hapsburg monarchy. The empire ended up splintering, and the Hapsburgs lost their throne.'' India is doomed to a similar fate. It is not a single, homogeneous state, but many countries thrown together under one umbrella by the British colonial rulers for their convenience. It has 18 official languages. Such countries historically fall apart. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia are other examples from recent history.
Even former Home Minister L.K. Advani has acknowledged the instability of India, saying in Parliament: ``if Kashmir goes, India goes.'' At a seminar in Lahore in November 2005, I predicted that India will break up into five or six different countries. This caused the Akali leaders present to walk out, betraying the interests of the Sikh Nation once again. Sikhs are willing to sit down and negotiate the borders of a free and independent Khalistan. as long as that is the sole subject for negotiation.
The Sikh Nation has a long and distinguished history of freedom and secularism. Guru Gobind Singh Sahib established the Khalsa Nation in 1699 at the historic Vaisakhi Congregation in Anandpur Sahib. This event is celebrated every April on the Sikh holiday of Vaisakhi Day. By his action, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib firmly established a distinct identity for the Khalsa Panth. He gave the Khalsa the blessing of sovereignty and independence: Ain grieb Sikhin ko deon Patshahi. `Khalsa Bagi Yan Badshah.'
The Gurus laid down the correct way for the Sikh Nation by their example. Guru Nanak Sahib, the first Sikh Guru, confronted the atrocities of the first Mogul ruler Babar against the innocent population. Guru Arun Dev Ji Sahib became a martyr in defense of his principles and acceptance of the will of God. Guru Teg Bahadur Singh Sahib sacrificed his life in defense of the weak and other religions, defending Hindus from forced conversions. Today, it is nationalist Hindus who are carrying out forced conversions, more precisely forced reconversions of those who have converted to another religion.
The tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, completed Guru Nanak Dev Ji Sahib's mission. He infused a new spirit into the Sikh Nation and designed a new road map for the Sikhs. He initiated the Sacrament of Steel (khande de pahul), ordained the first five Sikhs as Singhs B the Panj Piaras, or Five Beloved Ones B and instituted the Order of the Khalsa. From then on, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib commanded the Sikhs to mark their distinct identity known through five symbols: unshorn hair, symbolizing natural and saintly appearance
(worn under a turban); a special comb to keep the hair clean; a steel bracelet symbolizing discipline and gentility; the Kirpan. or sword, a symbol of courage and commitment to justice, truth, freedom, and human dignity; and special knee-length under shorts, symbolizing chastity.
In 1706 Guru Gobind Singh left this world for his heavenly abode. Just two ears later. Banda Singh Bahadur established a Sikh Raj. It lasted from 1710 until 1716. From 1716 to 1765, Sikhs went through horrible persecution by the Mogul ruler Aurang Zeb. During that period, Sikhs experienced the chhota ghalugara (small holocaust) and the wadde ghalugara (large holocaust) In 1762, one third of the Sikh population was killed in three days.
In 1765, Sikhs again established Sikh rule in several Sikh missals (free cantonal republics) as well as the principalities of Patiala, Nabha, Faridkote, Kapurthala, Jind, and Kalsia. This lasted until 1799 when Maharajah Ranjit Singh established Khalsa Raj in Punjab by uniting the missals and principalities. They marched into the capital city of Lahore and hoisted the Sikh flag, manifesting the spirit of liberty reaffirmed at the Vaisakhi of 1699. This Khalsa Raj lasted until 1849 when the British conquered the Sub-continent. This Sikh nation of Punjab was recognized by most of the Western powers of the time. The contemporary struggle to liberate the Sikh homeland, Punjab. Khalistan, is part of the same historical process.
Maharajah Ranjit Singh's rule was the Golden Age for Punjab. Sikhs destroyed Mogul rule and stopped invasions from the Afghan rulers to the west. Under the command of Hari Singh Nerwa, Sikhs defeated the Afghans and occupied Kabul. Nelwa left Kabul after securing the promise from the Afghans that they would not cross east of the Khyber Pass. Maharajah Ranjit Singh and Hari Singh Nerwa invaded Kashmir, which was part of Afghanistan. and annexed it to Punjab in 1819. India and Pakistan owe a debt of gratitude to the Sikhs, as both countries claim Kashmir as their own.
During Maharajah Ranjit Singh's rule, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians all had a share of power alongside the Sikhs. All of them were represented as ministers in his Cabinet. The Faqir brothers, who were Muslims, were trusted ministers in the inner circle of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. General Ventura, a Christian, was in charge of the artillery. The Hindu Dogras
(Dhian Singh Dogra and his brother Lal Singh Dogra) wielded enormous power with Maharajah Ranjit Singh.
The Dogras betrayed the Sikhs and connived with the British in the defeat of the Sikh army.
When Hari Singh Nalwa took a lone bullet from an Afghan, he wrote his last letter in blood rather than ink to bid his last fateh to Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Nalwa had previously asked for more troops but those letters were intercepted by the Dogra brothers, who kept the requests to themselves instead of telling Maharajah Ranjit Singh. They wanted Hari Singh Nalwa to be killed.
Nalwa instructed the messenger to give his letter to Maharajah Ranjit Singh personally and to no one else. The messenger arrived early in the morning.
Maharajah Ranjit Singh and Dhian Singh Dogra were out for a morning walk. When the messenger tried to give the letter to Maharajah Ranjit Singh, Dogra tried to intercept it. The messenger told Maharajah Ranjit Singh that he was instructed to give the letter to him personally. When Maharajah Ranjit Singh read the letter, he was so angry with Dhian Sigh Dogra that he hit Dogra with his water bucket. Then he instructed the army to get ready to march towards Afghanistan.
They arrived at the River Attack. It was flooded. It had overflowed its banks. The Sikhs wanted to wait until the flood was over, but Maharajah Ranjit Singh led his horse into the river. The water went down and the Sikhs crossed the river. Maharajah Ranjit Singh fought the Afghans and defeated them. That stopped the incursion of the Afghans into the Sikh territory of Punjab.
After the demise of Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1839, the British infiltrated their agents like the Dogra brothers and others into the Sikh Raj. Sikh rulers were murdered, one after the other. The Sikhs gave the British a tough fight in the Anglo-Sikh wars, but the Sikhs lost the war through the betrayal of the Dogra brothers and the British annexed Punjab in 1849.
The Sikh Nation's desire for sovereignty has not diminished. Sikhs always recite the couplet `Raj Kare Ga Khalsa' after their morning and evening Ardas (prayers.) The Sikhs actively participated in the Indian struggle for independence from the British. Although Sikhs were just 1.5 percent of the population, they gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices in the freedom struggle. 2,125 Indians were executed during the freedom struggle. Of these, more than 1,500 were Sikhs. Out of 2,645 exiled by the British, 2,147 were Sikhs.
At the time of India's independence in 1947, the Hindus of India and the Muslims of Pakistan received sovereign, independent states. Sikhs were supposed to be a party to the arrangement and receive their own state as well. But the Sikh leadership of the time accepted the false promise of Jawahar Lal Nehru (reaffirmed in resolutions of the Indian National Congress) that they would have `the glow of freedom' in Punjab and no law affecting Sikh rights would be passed without Sikh consent. On this basis Sikhs took their share with India.
However, soon after the independence of India. the Sikhs discovered that they had been betrayed. The Indian leaders had no intention of giving them what they had promised. Home Minister Patel shamefully sent out a memo describing Sikhs as a `criminal tribe'. The repression of the Sikh Nation began with that memo and continues to this day.
The time has come for Sikhs to break free of the repressive Indian regime. This is the only way that their human rights will ever be respected. And the world is beginning to notice. In the United States Congress, the Congressional Record is serving as a vehicle to keep an accurate record of the repression and to defeat India's effort to whitewash the situation and the history of the Sikhs and other minorities. The Congressional Record carries repeated calls for a free and fair plebiscite on the independence of Khalistan and the other nations seeking their freedom from India. There are also repeated calls for a cut off of U.S. aid to India until human rights are respected. The pressure is mounting for human rights and freedom in South Asia. How soon will India collapse under the pressure? It is only a matter of time.
____________________
