Council of Khalistan Convention Very Successful

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 10, 2006 – The Council of Khalsitan’s annual convention was held in Philadelphia from October 6 through October 8. It was very successful. Delegates came from around the country and Canada to support the cause of a sovereign, independent Khalistan. Khalistan is the Sikh homeland that declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987.

Delegates listened to several speakers, discussed strategies for liberating Khalistan, and passed resolutions. They passed resolutions for the independence of Khalistan, denouncing the law in India that anyone can by land in Punjab but Sikhs cannot buy land in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttaranchal Pradesh, supporting those organizations in Punjab which support Khalistan, demanding the release of 52,268 political prisoners illegally held by the Indian government, for technical development in Punjab, and calling for the removal of the fence three miles inside the Indian border because it is an obstruction to them and the women who take food to them are searched by male security guards. If they are searched at all, it should be only by female security guards. Indians know the sensitivity of the situation.

“I would like to thank everyone who helped to make the convention a success,” said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, which leads the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent movement to liberate Khalistan. “I would especially like to thank Dr. Bakhshsh Singh Sandhu, who did an excellent job as convention president and managed the stage magnificently; the Gurdwara President and his entire Managing Committee, who were very helpful; Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, who made an excellent speech; Sardar Manmohan Singh Randhawa; Sardar Harjinder Singh; Sardar Ajit Singh Pannu; Dr. Ranbir Singh Bhalla; Dr. Anahat Kaur Sandhu; Sardar Hardev Singh Bandesha; Sardar Charan Singh Kalsi; Sardar Jas Paul Singh; Sardar Man Paul Singh; Sardar Karaj Singh; Sardar Dharam Singh, the Gurdwara secretary; and Mrs. Sandhu, Mrs. Harjinder Singh, Mrs. Karaj Singh, and all the women who prepared the excellent Langar and participated in the convention; Mrs. Makker, who was a delegate; and everyone who attended the convention or served in any way.” Sardar Kuldip Singh Makker has been appointed to assist the President of the Council of Khalistan with the functioning of the Council. Sardar Makker led the attendees in five chants of “Khalistan Zindabad.”

“This convention has been a significant step forward for the cause of freedom for Khalistan,” said Dr. Aulakh. “A free Khalistan is the only way to end the repression of the Sikhs and allow the Sikh Nation to live in freedom, peace, security, dignity, and prosperity,” he said. The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikh infants, children, youth, men, women, and elderly since 1984, as well as more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 Muslims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and other minorities.

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. No one has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra. The only witness to the Khalra kidnapping, Rajiv Singh Randhawa, has been repeatedly harassed by the police, including having been arrested for trying to hand a piece of paper to then-British Home Secretary Jack Straw. The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. 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. There has been no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and those who are still rotting in Indian jails. 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. “How can making speeches and raising a flag be considered crimes in a democratic society?” asked Dr. Aulakh.

“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. “We hope that India’s breakup will be peaceful like Czechoslovakia’s, not violent like Yugoslavia’s,” Dr. Aulakh said. “Montenegro, which has less than a million people, has become a sovereign country and a member of the United Nations,” he said. “Now it is the time for the Sikh Nation of Punjab, Khalistan to become independent.”

Dr. Aulakh stressed his commitment to the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent struggle to liberate Khalistan. “The only way that the repression will stop and Sikhs will live in freedom, dignity, and prosperity is to liberate Khalistan,” 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.