Daljit Singh Bittu Arrested for Making Speech
Where Is Freedom of Speech in India?

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 26, 2006 – Indian police arrested Daljit Singh Bittu, leader of the Shiromani Khalsa Dal, on charges of sedition and “delivering inflammatory speeches” at Fatehgarh Channa. Sardar Bittu was arrested on April 21 from his home in Ludhiana. He was held by the police, who sought “foreign currency” and a CD of his speeches.

“Where is the freedom of speech in India?” asked Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan. “How can a democratic state arrest people for making speeches? This shows us again that there is no place for Sikhs in India.”

India proudly bills itself as “the world’s largest democracy” and its constitution guarantees freedom of speech. But the arrest of Sardar Bittu is the latest incident in which people have been arrested for making speeches, holding marches, or raising a flag. “The drive for freedom is alive and strong in Punjab,” he said. “What kind of democracy arrests people for demanding freedom?” asked Dr. Aulakh.

Leaders of Dal Khalsa have been arrested for sponsoring marches in Punjab in support of a free Khalistan, the Sikh homeland that declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987. In addition, Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan was arrested for making a statement in which he made the prediction that Khalistan will be free by 2007. “Since when is making a prediction a crime in India?” Dr. Aulakh asked. “Will the weathermen in Delhi now be arrested for predicting rain?”

“The time is now to begin a Shantmai Morcha to liberate Khalistan,” said Dr. Aulakh. “India is showing its weakness with these arrests,” he said. “As Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib, said, ‘If a Sikh is not for Khalistan, he is not a Sikh.’” Every day in prayer Sikhs recite “Raj Kare Ga Khalsa,” which means “The khalsa shall rule.”

The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 300,000 Christians since 1948 as well as tens of thousands of Christians throughout the country, over 90,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in Gujarat, tens of thousands of Muslims elsewhere in India, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and others. An Indian newspaper reported that the police in Gujarat were ordered to stand aside in that massacre and not to get involved, a frightening parallel to the Delhi massacre of Sikhs in 1984. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs "worse than a genocide."

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. He was murdered in police custody. His body was not given to his family. The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht S. Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. No one has been brought to justice for the Khalra kidnapping and murder or for the murder of Jathedar Kaunke. Yet 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 since 1984!

Recently, a new wave of violence has erupted against Christian churches. States are enacting laws prohibiting Hindus from converting to any other religion. 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.

“Only in a free Khalistan will the Sikh Nation prosper and get justice,” said Dr. Aulakh. “India’s illegal occupation of our homeland, Khalistan, must end,” he said.“India should act like a democracy and allow a free and fair plebiscite on independence for all the nations of South Asia,” 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.