CONVENT ATTACKED IN INDIA
(Extensions of Remarks - September 19, 2006)

HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on September 11, while we were observing the anniversary of a horrible terrorist attack on America, 13 Catholic schools were closed in Lucknow, India, after the Convent of Loreto, the school there, and the chapel were attacked by the violent Hindu organization the Bharatiya Janata Yuva, a youth arm of the BJP, which is part of the RSS, a Fascist organization that published a book on how to get minorities, including Christians, falsely implicated in criminal cases.

The spokesman for the BJP demanded a high-level inquiry into the school, according to the Tribune newspaper of Chandigarh, saying it engaged in ``irrational behavior.'' Apparently, being a Catholic is irrational behavior and ``unscientific activity'' in the world of Hindu militants.

Unforturlately, Mr. Speaker, this is not an isolated incident. There has been a wave of attacks against Christians. According to an article that appeared in the Journal of the London Institute of South Asia, some Christian boys were shot while praying. A mob of Hindus burned a missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons (ages 8 and 10) to death and they have gotten away with it. Another missionary, Joseph Cooper, was severely beaten and then expelled from India. Christians have been arrested for sharing their religious beliefs. Violent Hindu Fascists have raped nuns, murdered priests, burned churches, and committed other acts of violence against Christians. More than 300,000 Christians have been killed by the Indians in Nagaland alone.

This would be bad enough if it were just Christians, Mr. Speaker, but, sadly, it is not. Sikhs, Muslims, and other minorities, such as Dalits, have been similarly repressed. The Muslims had their most revered mosque in India destroyed. Somewhere between 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims were murdered in one pogrom in Gujarat. More than 90,000 have been killed in Kashmir. The government has murdered over a quarter of a million Sikhs. Their most sacred place of worship, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which has been called the Sikh equivalent of the Vatican, was attacked in June 1984. Hundreds of people were brutally murdered there, and more than 20,000 were killed in the month of June 1984. More than 52,000 Sikhs are political prisoners in India. They have murdered human-rights activists for exposing their secret cremations, murdered religious leaders, murdered toddlers, and paid out more than 41,000 cash bounties to police officers who killed Sikhs.

I would like to thank Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh of the Council of Khalistan for bringing the Loreto attack to my attention.

Mr. Speaker, we are at war right now with Fascists using the cover of Islam. Many of us have criticisms of the war policies, but the recent anniversary of September 11 reminds us that we cannot let terrorists carry out their awful deeds with no consequences. So why do we refuse even to raise our voices against Fascists who use the cover of the Hindu religion and oppress and kill Christians, Muslims, Sikhs. and others? At the very least, Mr. Speaker, we should be willing to stop trading with India and cut off our aid, and we should stand for the principles that America represents by seeking a democratic solution to the repression in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on the status of Christian Nagaland, predominantly Sikh Khalistan, Kashmir, and the others who seek their freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to put the Council of Khalistan's press release on the Loreto attack in the RECORD.

Catholic Schools in Lucknow Closed
After Attack on Convent By Militant Hindus

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 20, 2006 - Thirteen Catholic schools were closed today to protest vandalism on the premises of the Loreto Convent, according to the Tribune of Chandigarh. Among the schools that were closed is the Loreto School. Militant Hindus from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva (a youth movement affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the Fascist RSS) attacked the Convent of Loreto, Loreto Chapel, and the school there. A spokesman for the BJP, Mr. H. Dikshit, demanded an investigation of the school, saying that it encourages "irrational behavior" and "unscientific activity." Mr. Dikshit said that the state government is "overreacting to breaking a few flower pots."

The attacks are part of a pattern of violence against Christians that has been going on heavily since Christmas 1998, which is in line with similar tyranny against other minorities. 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. Several states have enacted anti-conversion laws, which in practice prevent anyone from converting to any religion except Hinduism. Such a law is being considered by the Lok Sabha, the national Parliament. Christians report that they have faced threats, physical attacks, and jail time for sharing their beliefs. The Rashtirya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu Fascist organization that is the parent organization of the BJP, published a booklet on how to implicate Christians and other minorities in false criminal cases. The people who have murdered priests, raped nuns, forced them to drink their own urine, and burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried. In 2002, the Associated Press reported an attack on a Catholic church on the outskirts of Bangalore in which several people were injured. The assailants threw stones at the church, then broke in, breaking furniture and smashing windows before attacking worshippers. Last year, two young Christian boys were shot at while they prayed. Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.

Sikhs and Muslims know the same repression that Christians have been experiencing lately. In June 1984, Indian forces invaded and desecrated the most sacred center and seat of the Sikh religion, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, along with 37 other Gurdwaras throughout Punjab. Over 20,00 were killed. Several young Sikh boys were taken into the courtyard of the Darbar Sahib complex and asked if they supported Khalistan (the independent Sikh homeland.) When they answered with the Sikh religious statement, "Bo/e So Nihal," they were summarily murdered. The Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, was shot full of bullet holes.

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. A report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) 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."

The MASR report 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! Tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. Last year, 35 Sikhs were charged and arrested in Punjab for making speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the Khalistani flag.

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.

"The attack on the Loreto Convent shows that minorities have no place in India's so-called democracy," said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, which leads the Sikh struggle for an independent Khalistan. Khalistan declared its independence on October 7, 1987. 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. Currently, there are 17 freedom movements within India's borders. It has 18 official languages. "The only way that the repression of Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, and other minorities will end is to liberate our homelands, such as Khalistan, Nagaland, Kashmir, and the rest," said Dr. Aulakh. "As Professor Darshan Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, 'If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'," Dr. Aulakh said. "We must free Khalistan now."

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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.