Extensions of Remarks E973 HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
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June 1, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E973 COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN CON- take the steps necessary to bring peace, free- Temple. Thus it is disturbing to read that GRATULATES INDIA’S NEW SIKH dom, prosperity, and dignity to everyone in the you have said you intend to follow the poli- PRIME MINISTER subcontinent. cies of Rajiv Gandhi. His policy was the mur- Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert the Coun- der of at least 8,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone and over 20,000 throughout India. It is also dis- HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS cil of Khalistan’s letter to Prime Minister Singh turbing that your party gave tickets to OF NEW YORK into the RECORD at this time. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, who are IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN, responsible for ordering the murders of thou- Washington, DC, May 26, 2004. sands of Sikhs in Delhi, and that Tytler was Tuesday, June 1, 2004 The Hon. Dr. Manmohan Singh, appointed to your Cabinet. Tytler and Sajjan Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, as you know, a Prime Minister of India, Chanakyapouri, New Kumar supplied gasoline for these murders Sikh, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has been named Delhi, India. and incited the crowd. These people belong DEAR PRIME MINISTER SINGH: Congratula- in jail, not in the government. as the new Prime Minister of India. Dr. Singh tions on becoming Prime Minister of India. I hope that you will not follow such un- is a former Finance Minister in the government You have been entrusted with a significant democratic, anti-secularist, anti-Sikhs poli- of Narasimha Rao from 1991 to 1996. He is responsibility. cies. Policies such as these have made it a very experienced Indian official. We are very pleased to see a Sikh as Prime clear that there is no place for Sikhs in I hope that this will be a step forward for Minister. You have reached this high office India. If you are truly committed to secu- good relations between the United States and because of your intelligence and hard work larism, you cannot follow such brutal, re- India, Mr. Speaker. We all seek good rela- and your presence in this position gives the pressive policies against Sikhs and other mi- tions. However, the support of India’s Com- world a strong and positive impression of norities. The brutal policies have brought Sikhs. However, remember the way that the about the murders of over 250,000 Sikhs since munists for the governing coalition makes me Gandhi family used Giani Zail Singh when he 1984, more than 87,000 Kashmiri Muslims wonder if good relations are possible under was President of India. He became the figure- since 1988, over 300,000 Christians in this particular government. head for their repression of the Sikhs. Unlike Nagaland, and tens of thousands of Assam- Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Zail Singh, you are in a position of real ese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, and other mi- Council of Khalistan has sent a letter to Prime power. Sikhs around the world will be watch- norities. The United States State Depart- Minister Singh congratulating him on his new ing what you do and hoping that you will not ment exposed the fact that between 1992 and position. In the letter, Dr. Aulakh notes that it allow yourself to be used in a similar man- 1994, a Congress government paid out more ner. than 41,000 cash bounties to police officers is good for the image of Sikhs worldwide that As a Sikh, you are in a position to under- Dr. Manmohan Singh is now Prime Minister. for killing Sikhs. One officer received a stand the problems of the Sikh Nation. The bonus for murdering a three-year-old boy, He also notes that it was the RSS, parent or- Movement Against State Repression (MASR) claiming the toddler was a ‘‘terrorist.’’ ganization of the ousted BJP, that assas- did a report that showed the government ad- The time has come for India to make a sinated Mohandas Gandhi and takes note of mitted to holding 52,268 Sikh political pris- clean break with its past by punishing those India’s violent history, urging Prime Minister oners. They have been held without charge responsible for these actions, compensating Singh to take strong measures to avoid re- or trial, some for as long as 20 years! If you the victims’ families, and committing itself peating this history, such as releasing the po- are truly committed to secularism, one of to preventing and punishing such acts in the your first acts should be to release all polit- litical prisoners that India holds, punishing future. This will show your commitment to ical prisoners. If any have died in custody, secular, democratic government and not the those responsible for atrocities, ending the their bodies should be released to their fami- theocratic repression of the country’s past taking of Punjabi water to nonriparian states lies. These are people who have committed governments. without compensation, and other such policies no crime but opposition to the government. India is a very fractured country. Because I think we can all support. India will be a better How can there be political prisoners in a de- of past history, no party is able to unify the place if Prime Minister Singh implements mocracy? people and command a majority of the sup- these policies. I urge you to restore to Punjab what is port, so coalition governments are inevi- According to the Movement Against State rightfully Punjab’s. I call on you to restore table. Coalition governments are inherently the Punjabi-speaking areas that were re- Repression (MASR), 52,268 Sikhs are being unstable. For example, the support of India’s moved from the state of Punjab to it. Punjab three Communist parties for your coalition held as political prisoners. Amnesty Inter- was meant to be a unified Sikh state and In- weakens your ability to pursue good rela- national reports that tens of thousands of dian governments of the past have pursued a tions with the United States and other West- other minorities are also being held as political deliberate policy of dividing, bankrupting, ern countries, which could increase India’s prisoners. A democracy should not hold polit- and weakening it to divide and weaken the isolation from the world. ical prisoners. I am sure all my colleagues will Sikhs. As a Sikh and as Prime Minister, you History also shows us that multinational agree with me that all these political prisoners are in a position to put a stop to this policy. countries are doomed to failure. Austria- should be released immediately. You are also in a position to restore Punjab’s Hungary, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, water rights. For years, Punjab’s water has and Yugoslavia are examples of this. India is The letter also reminds Prime Minister Singh been diverted to non-riparian states with no a multinational state, not a single country, that while ending the BJP’s policy of compensation to Punjab or to the people of thrown together by British colonialists and Hindutva—total Hinduization of every aspect Punjab. Please put an end to the diversion of with 18 official languages. How can such a of Indian life—will be welcome, it was the Punjab’s water to non-riparian states and country be held together except by massive Congress Party under Dr. Singh’s political pa- when such diversion is necessary, please repression and bloodshed? And the repression trons, the Gandhi family, that carried out the make certain that the Sikh farmers of Pun- has simply created greater resentment of the military attack on the Golden Temple, the cen- jab get appropriate compensation for their central government, which also strengthens ter and seat of the Sikh religion and the mas- water. This is only fair and right, and it is a the support for the 17 independence move- policy that will earn you greater support ments throughout India. Either way, holding sacre of Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere in India. among the Sikhs. All other states control India together is a futile enterprise destined Dr. Aulakh urges Dr. Singh to make a com- their water resources. to fail. plete break with these policies by punishing We are also pleased that the BJP is out of Since India is a democracy, I urge you to those responsible. power. Rahul Gandhi, MP, the son of Sonia solve this problem the democratic way. In In 1987, the Sikhs declared themselves and Rajiv Gandhi and a member of your 1947, India committed itself to a plebiscite independent from India, naming their new party, pointed out that the RSS, which is the on the status of Kashmir. The Sikhs also country Khalistan. As Dr. Aulakh points out in parent organization of the BJP, assassinated seek their freedom and sovereignty, as the his letter, allowing Khalistan, Kashmir, Mahatma Gandhi. The RSS is a pro-Fascist Nagas and others also do. If India is truly the organization and both Vajpayee and Advani world’s largest democracy, why not simply Nagaland, and the other nations seeking their are proud RSS members. The end of the pol- allow the people to decide their status by a freedom from India to be free is the best way icy of Hindutva will be a welcome develop- free and fair vote. That is the way that you to spare the subcontinent any more blood- ment. Sikh support for the Congress Party is achieved power, by the people’s votes. Why shed. also a by-product of the corrupt Parkash not let the people vote on this critical issue? I join in that call, Mr.