SIKHS REMEMBER 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ATTACK ON GOLDEN TEMPLE
FREEDOM FOR KHALISTAN WILL END THE BRUTALITY 
(Extensions of Remarks - June 18, 2004)

SPEECH OF 
HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2004

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, Sikhs observe the twentieth anniversary of India's brutal attack on the Golden Temple, the seat of their religion, this month. From June 3 to 6, 1984, the Indian military brutally attacked the Golden Temple and 125 other Sikh Gurdwaras all over Punjab . This brutal and devastating attack, carried out by the Indira Gandhi government, which was always proudly proclaiming its commitment to secularism, killed over 20,000 Sikhs .

This attack made it clear that even when the secular parties are in power, the minorities in India are not safe and they have no real rights, despite what is written in India's constitution. Whether the Hindu nationalist BJP is in power or the secularist Congress Party is in power, the policy of killing the Sikhs and other minorities in the futile effort to preserve what India considers its territorial integrity marches brutally on.

Among those killed in the Golden Temple attack were major Sikh leaders like Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Bhai Arnrik Singh, General Shabeg Singh, and many others. The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scriptures, were shot full of bullets from the guns of the Indian military. Sikh boys were taken outside and asked if they supported Khalistan . Then they were shot to death. Khalistan, of course, is the name of the independent Sikh homeland.

There is no place for Sikhs or other minorities such as Christians and Muslims in India despite its claims of secularism. On October 7, 1987, Khalistan formally declared its independence. If India is the democratic country it claims to be, why not simply decide the issue in a free and fair plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan on the subject of independence? Isn't that the democratic way? I was under the impression that in democracies, things were decided by votes. The United States allows the people of Puerto Rico to vote on independence every few years. Canada has held democratic plebiscites on the status of Quebec. In 1947, India promised to settle the Kashmir issue by plebiscite, but it has never allowed that vote to be held. Why not simply put the question to a democratic vote? That is self-determination and self-determination is the essence of democracy.

The Sikh Nation was independent from 1765 to 1849. The Sikhs were supposed to receive sovereignty when India became independent. Although the Indian constitution was adopted in 1950, more than half a century ago, to this day no Sikh representative has ever signed it. How can India claim that it holds sovereignty over the Sikh Nation?

Unfortunately, the Sikhs are not the only victims of India's repressive tyranny. More than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland have been killed by the Indian government since 1947. They have seen priests murdered, nuns raped, schools, prayer halls, and festivals attacked--the government even shut down one festival with gunfire--missionaries murdered, beaten, and thrown out of the country, and so many other atrocities carried out against them. Almost 88,000 Kashmiri Muslims have fallen victim to India's brutal tyranny since 1988. Another 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims were massacred in Gujarat with the connivance of the government. And these are just a few of the atrocities committed against minorities by the Indian forces.

Mr. Speaker, we must do something to stop these atrocities. If real democracy and real freedom is going to come to all the people of South Asia, the United States must take a stand. It is good that a Sikh is now Prime Minister. He must know the feeling of India's brutality against his people. Therefore, I call on him to use his office to release all of India's political prisoners and bring the persons who carried out these atrocities to justice. We must stop our aid to India until it shows that it is willing to act like a democracy and protect human rights. We are setting up a democratic government in Iraq with a new President and a new Prime Minister. Isn't it time that real democracy finally came to India ?

In addition, it is vital for the Congress to declare its support for a free and fair plebiscite on the issue of independence for Khalistan . There should also be similar plebiscites for Kashmir, Nagaland, and every other nation that seeks its freedom from Indian rule. India says there is no support for these freedom movements. Well, it is time for India to prove its point by holding a free vote on the matter. This is the only way for the people of South Asia to live in freedom, peace, democracy, and stability.

Mr. Speaker, there will be demonstrations around the world this weekend to commemorate the Golden Temple attack. The one in Washington will be led by the Council of Khalistan . I would like to insert their very informative flyer into the RECORD at this time.

20th Anniversary of the Golden Temple Massacre, June 3-6, 1984
Sikhs Must Have Freedom in Sovereign Homeland

"If the Indian government attacks the Golden Temple, it will lay the  foundation stone of Khalistan."
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

From June 3 throughout 6, 1984, the Indian government brutally invaded the Golden Temple and 125 other Gurdwaras around Punjab.  Over 20,000 people were killed in these attacks, including such Sikh leaders as Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was the strongest spokesman for Sikh rights and Sikh freedom.  More than 100 young boys, ages 8 to 13, were taken outside into the courtyard and asked whether they supported Khalistan, the independent Sikh homeland.  When they answered with the Sikh religious incantation "Bole So Nihal," they were summarily shot to death.  The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, handwritten in the time of the ten Sikh Gurus, was shot full of bullet holes by the Indian military.  Sant Bhindranwale warned that if the Indian government invaded the Golden Temple, it would "lay the foundation stone for Khalistan" and it did.

How can this happen in a democracy?

"The Indian government, all the time they boast that they are democratic, that they are secular.  They have nothing to do with a democracy, nothing to do with a secularism.  They just kill Sikhs to please the majority." 
Narinder Singh, spokesman for the Golden Temple, on NPR August 1997

U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Cal.) has said that for the minorities such as Sikhs and Kashmiris
"India might as well be Nazi Germany." 

A Pattern of Repression Against the Sikh Nation

• Over 250,000 Sikhs murdered since 1984.
• 52,268 Sikh political prisoners, according to the Movement Against State Repression
• More than 50,000 Sikhs disappeared in Indian government's secret cremations.  Their remains have never been given to their families.
• Indian government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police to kill Sikhs
• Gurnihal Singh Pirzada, a senior officer in the IAS, arrested after allegedly being seen at a meeting of gathering of Punjab "dissidents."  Pirzada denies attending such a meeting, but points out that it would not be illegal if he did.
• Jaswant Singh Khalra kidnapped by police and murdered in police custody after exposing Indian policy of arresting Sikhs, torturing them, murdering them, cremating the bodies as "unidentified."
• Gurdev Singh Kaunke, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, highest Sikh religious leader, murdered by police official Swaran Singh Ghotna, who has never been punished.

• The Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government paid the late Governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, the equivalent of $1.5 billion to foment and support covert state terrorist activity in Punjab and Kashmir.

This is the state of freedom in Punjab, Khalistan under Indian rule.

"The mere fact that they have the right to choose their oppressors does not mean they live in a democracy."
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)

THE REPPRESSION CONTINUES WHILE INDIA PROCLAIMS ITS SECULARISM AND DEMOCRACY

Half a million Indian forces have been sent to Punjab, Khalistan to subdue the freedom movement there.  Another 700,000 are deployed in Kashmir. They join with the police in carrying out the kinds of atrocities described above.  India calls this "protecting its territorial integrity."

In March 2000 in the village of Chithisinghpora, 35 Sikhs were massacred. Two studies of this massacre, one by the International Human Rights Organization, based in Ludhiana, and the other conducted jointly by the Punjab Human Rights Organization and the Movement Against State Repression, concluded that the massacre was the work of Indian forces, a conclusion supported by reporter Barry Bearak in the December 31, 2000 issue of the New York Times Magazine.  In another village in Kashmir, Indian troops were caught red-handed trying to set fire to several Sikh houses and the local Gurdwara.  Sikh and Muslim villagers joined together to stop this atrocity before it could be carried out.

Sikhs ruled Punjab as an independent, secular country from 1765 to 1849.  Sikhs have never accepted the Indian constitution.  At the time of the transfer of power, Sikhs were equal patrners who were to receive sovereignty along with Muslims and Hindus.  When the Indian constitution was adopted in 1950, no Sikh representative signed it and no Sikh representative has signed it to this day.

On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation formally declared its independence from India, naming their new country Khalistan.  Since then, Khalistan has been under illegal occupation by the Indian government and its forces. 

"If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a Sikh."
Professor Darshan Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht

Unfortunately, Sikhs are not the only victim of India's brutal tyranny.

• India has murdered over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 85,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of other minorities

• Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were brutally murdered by being  burned to death while they slept in their jeep by a mob of Hindu militants affiliated with the militant, pro-Fascist Rashtriya Swayamsewak  Sangh (RSS) who chanted "Victory to Hannuman," a Hindu god.

• An American missionary from Pennsylvania, Joseph Cooper, was expelled from the country after being so severely beaten by RSS goons that he had to spend a week in the hospital.

• In January 2003, an American missionary and seven other individuals were attacked.

• Christian schools and prayer halls have been attacked and destroyed.

• A Christian religious festival was broken up by police gunfire.

• In March 2002, between 2,000 and 5,000 Muslims were brutally murdered in Gujarat.  India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an official body, found evidence in the killings of premeditation by members of Hindu extremist groups and complicity by Gujarat state officials.  A police officer confirmed to an Indian newspaper that the massacre was pre-planned by the government.

• The most revered mosque in India, the Ayodhya mosque, was destroyed by Hindu mobs affiliated with the BJP and a Hindu temple was built on the site.

•  The states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa have all passed bills barring religious conversions.

DEMOCRACIES DON'T COMMIT GENOCIDE.
Support Self-Determination in South Asia
The right to self-determination is the essence of democracy. 
Please urge your representatives to support self-determination for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the nations seeking their freedom. 
Demand a free and fair plebiscite on the question of independence and an end to foreign aid to India until human rights are respected.

For further information, please contact the Council of Khalistan, 730 24th St. NW, #310, Washington, DC 20037 (202) 337-1904 or visit our website, www.khalistan.com

This material is circulated by the Council of Khalistan, which is registered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent of the Council of Khalistan, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab.  The material is filed with the DOJ where the required registration is available for inspection.  Registration does not indicate approval of the contents by the U.S. Government.