June 21, 2005 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 13511 area, and remain lovingly devoted to one an- dent committed us to doing in January. The and Operation Bluestar was a black chapter other after 5 years of marriage. time has come to stop all our aid and trade in the history of Independent . The Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Rep- with India, to end our burgeoning military co- had laid down their lives under the resentatives to join me now in thanking Debo- aegis of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwalae operation, and to demand the peaceful resolu- to protect the sanctity of gurdhams. rah Benjamin for her selfless contributions to tion of the situation in South Asia through a Meanwhile presented society, in congratulating her on her 50th birth- free and fair plebiscite for all the national photographs of Jarnail Singh, , day, and in extending our best wishes for her groups there. Shubeg Singh and Thara Singh to future success and happiness as she marks Mr. Speaker, I would like to put the Times of Takht Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti this important and joyous milestone. of India article about the demonstration into for displaying them in the gallery. Vedanti f the RECORD at this time. however asked them to contemplate over their request. Meanwhile chief spokesperson [From the Times of India, Jun. 6, 2005] DEMAND FOR FREEDOM ALIVE IN of Damdami Taksal. Bhai , KHALISTAN KHALISTAN DEMAND RAISED ON GENOCIDE DAY said that they also performed ardas at the (By Yudhvir Rana) gallery’s gate. He said panth would decide if HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS .—The pent up secessionist emo- there was no desirable reply from Jathedar. tions of Sikh radicals whipped up on the On the other hand SAD(A) had demanded OF NEW YORK Genocide Day observed as Ardas Divas at to display the photograph of Jarnail Singh IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on Monday, as a large number of Bhinderanwalae at central Sikh Museum, Tuesday, June 21, 2005 Sikh youth including women brandishing handing over of personal belongings of Bhinderanwale by his family, Taksal and Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to naked swords raised slogans for Sikh’s inde- pendent state Khalistan while passing pejo- Army to panth without any conditions, nam- take note of the demonstrations in Punjab, rative remarks against SAD-Badal president ing the road between Sri Guru Arjun Dev Khalistan that surrounded the 21st anniversary Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC president Niwas to Sri Hargobind Niwas on Sant of the Indian government’s attack on the Gold- Bibi Jagir Kaur for not coming up to the as- Jarnail Singh Marg, setting up of a Sant en Temple. Groups such as Dal and pirations of Sikhs and addressing their prob- Jarnail Singh Dharmik Vidya Kendar and others marched through the streets of Amrit- lems. beginning of Shaheed Bhai Amrik Singh sar, converging at the for a The ferocity of slogans multiplied after Award for those schools helping to check big rally, according to The Times of India. Sikh radical leader Simranjit Singh Mann, apostism among Sikhs and General Shubeg Sigh Award to promote traditional sports. They carried posters of Sant Jarnail Singh president of SAD (Amritsar) announced that Sikhs’s hurt feelings could only be assuaged f Bhindranwale, a Sikh freedom leader killed in when Sikhs independent state Khalistan the Golden Temple attacks, as well as posters comes into existence. He suggested that JUSTICE DELAYED, BUT JUSTICE of the demolished Golden Temple. Khalistan could be created on the buffer zone FINALLY SERVED As you know, the Indian government also between India and Pakistan. attacked 125 other —Sikh places of Baba Harnam Singh, 15th chief of worship—at the same time. Over 20,000 Sikhs Damdami Taksal joined Simranjit Singh HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL were killed. The Sikh holy book, the Guru Mann with his arms wielding supporters and OF NEW YORK Granth Sahib, was shot full of bullet holes. announced to observe the martyrdom day of IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwalae at Sikh boys between the ages of 8 and 13 were Taksal’s headquarters at Tuesday, June 21, 2005 shot on the premises. Gurdarshan Parkash, Chowk Mehta on June Former Member of Parliament Simranjit Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 12. honor the memory of three heroic young men Singh Mann said that the only way to assuage The radical activists including from Dal the wounds of the attack is by freeing Khalsa, Dal Khalsa, SAD(A), Damdami James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mi- Khalistan, the Sikh homeland. Another speak- Taksal, Sikh Students Federation (Bittu), chael Schwerner, brutally killed in Mississippi er said that the movement to free Khalistan is Akal Federation jointly put up the board of exactly 41 years ago today and to welcome by peaceful means. Khalistan declared its Shaheedee Gallery at the gallery situated today’s verdict of the Mississippi jury that independence from India in 1997. That is now outside Akal Takht against the wishes of found Edgar Ray Killen guilty of three counts SGPC. A large number of Sikhs and con- of manslaughter in their deaths. I would have eight years ago. verged at Akal Takht on the 21st anniver- Police and intelligence operatives were sur- preferred the murder convictions sought by sary of Operation Bluestar. Neshoba County district Attorney Mark Dun- reptitiously watching this peaceful demonstra- Posters of demolished Akal Takht, Sikh tion. Apparently, 21 years after the Golden militant leaders and pamphlet on the life of can in the deaths of these three brave civil Temple attack, the Sikhs’ demand for freedom Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwalae were distrib- rights activists but I recognize the important still frightens them. uted among Sikh sangat. step Mississippi has taken in finally convicting India claims it is democratic, Mr. Speaker, A large number of policemen in plain Killen of the crimes he proudly and publicly yet it sends police to spy on a peaceful dem- clothes and sleuths of various intelligence took credit for after a jury was deadlocked in onstration. In January, 35 Sikhs were arrested agencies were hovering around the Akal his 1964 Federal Civil Rights trial. Takht and its surrounding. A police officer for raising the Sikh flag and making speeches. Killen was a recruiter and organizer for the of DSP rank remained present among Sikh Neshoba County Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan The Movement Against State Repression re- sangat sitting in front of Akal Takht during ports that over 52,000 Sikhs are political pris- the ceremony. during the ‘‘freedom summer’’ in 1964 when oners in ‘‘the world’s largest democracy.’’ Earlier Parkash Singh Badal and Bibi Goodman and Schwerner came from New More than a quarter of a million Sikhs have Jagir Kaur condemned congress government York to work with James Chaney and other been murdered, according to figures compiled for rubbing salt to the wounds of Sikhs. civil rights activists in Mississippi to register from the Punjab State Magistracy. About the postponement of foundation stone African-American voters. Schwerner had been Sikhs are only one of India’s targets. Other alying ceremony of Yadgara-e-Shaheedan, in Mississippi but returned with Goodman minorities such as Christians, Muslims, and Badal said the foundation stone would be when he heard of the burning of an African- laid once its design was approved. American Church and beatings of members of others have also been subjected to tyrannical Justifying the demand of Khalistan, Jagjit repression. More than 300,000 Christians Singh Chauhan, a Khalistan ideologue said the congregation. The night Chaney, Good- have been killed in Nagaland, and thousands that they would peruse their mission man and Schwerner died they had been jailed elsewhere in the country. Over 900,000 Kash- through peaceful democratic means. for speeding by Neshoba County Deputy mir Muslims, at least 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims Jathedar of Akal Tkaht, Giani Joginder Sheriff Cecil Price. By the time they were re- in Gujarat, and thousands of other Muslims, Singh Vedanti presented siropas’s to Ishar leased at 10 p.m., the plan formulated by have been victims of India’s tyranny. And tens Singh, Mata Pritam Kaur son and wife of Killen to kill them and bury their bodies in an of thousands of people in Assam, Bodoland, Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwalae and relatives earthen dam was in place. of other martyrs. Earlier addressing the Manipur, Tamil Nadu, and around the country, gathering he said it was unfortunate that The Klan had used fear, intimidation and as well as countless Dalit ‘‘Untouchables’’ even after 21 years of Operation Bluestar, the murder to brutally oppress over African-Ameri- have been killed as well. central government has not condemned the cans who sought justice and equality and it Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. We must incident nor those responsible for the 1984 sought to respond to the young workers of the take a stand for freedom for all, as the Presi- anti Sikh riots have been brought to books civil rights movement in Mississippi in the

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