[Extensions of Remarks]
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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

DAL KHALSA USA HOLDS SEMINAR ON KHALISTAN

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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

of new york

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, Dal Khalsa USA held a seminar in
support of Khalistan, the Sikh homeland. It was a significant
demonstration of the continuing support that the Sikh people have for
freedom for their homeland. Paramjit Singh Sekhon and Gagandecp Singh,
who lead Dal Khalsa USA and organized the seminar, are to be
congratulated. Speakers, included Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, Dr. Awatar
Singh Sekhon, Dr. Ajit Pal Singh Sandhu, and Dr. Arjinder Singh
Sekhorn.
Freedom is a dream that people all over the world share and we should
be encouraging it, Mr. Speaker. Both here and in Punjab, support for
Khalistan is on the rise and getting more visible.
As the beacon of liberty in the world, it is our duty to encourage
people who are reaching for freedom. The essence of democracy is the
right to self-determination. But in India, all that elections do for
minorities is to change the faces of the oppressors. The time has come
to go on record in support of a democratic vote on freedom for
Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the minority nations of South
Asia. And we should stop our aid to India and our trade until human
rights are respected.
Mr. Speaker, the Council of Khalistan issued a press release on the
seminar. I would like to add it to the Record.

Dal Khalsa USA Holds Seminar on Khalistan

Washington, D.C.--Dal Khalsa USA held a seminar on
Khalistan In Fremont, California from August 25 to August 27,
The seminar focused on the need to liberate Khalistan, the
Sikh homeland, from Indian occupation. Khalistan is the Sikh
homeland that declared its independence from India on October
7, 1987. Speakers included Dr. Gurmit Singh aulakh, President
of the Council of Khalistan, Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon,
Managing Editor of the International Journal of Sikh Affairs,
Dr. Ajit Pal Singh Sandhu, Colonel Arjinderpal Singh Sekhon
(US Army Reserve), and others, The seminar was organized by
Sardar Paramjit Singh Sekhon, President of Dal Khalsa USA,
and Sardar Gagandeep Singh, General Secretary of Dal Khalsa
USA.
The speakers addressed the need for the Sikh Nation to
reclaim it lost sovereignty and escape from the oppression of
the Indian government, which 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, Manipurls, 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. 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 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. 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 governments 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 Khalistan
flag. ``How can making speeches and raising a flag be
considered crimes in a democratic society?'' asked Dr.
Aulakh.
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. The persons who have murdered priests, raped nuns, and
burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried.
Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.
Recently, militant Hindus from the Bharatlya Janata Yuva (a
youth movement affiliated with the BJP and the Fascist RSS)
attacked the Convent of Loreto and the school there. 13
Catholic schools remain closed and a spokesman for the BJP,
Mr. H. Dikshit, demanded an investigation of the school!
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 Sabri
Mosque, was destroyed by militant Hindu fundamentalists who
have never been held responsible for their actions.
``I am honored to be a speaker at this seminar and very
pleased that Dal Khalsa USA is holding these activities to
focus the attention of America and the world on the plight of
the Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan and the need for a sovereign,
Independent Khalistan,'' said 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.
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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