E 1184 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks June 8, 1995

New statistical studies show that the

wealthiest 1 percent of the population own

nearly 40 percent of the wealth of this country, more than the bottom 90 percent. That

is the greatest concentration of wealth in

the industrialized world and, most significantly, it is a trend accelerating faster here

than anywhere else.

In 1959, the richest 4 percent of American

families earned as much income as the bottom 35 percent. By 1989, that top 4 percent

earned as much as the bottom 51 percent. In

1980, the average pay for a chief executive officer of a major corporation was 42 times as

high as that of a factory worker. Today, the

CEO earns 149 times as much.

Meanwhile, while profits soar and CEOs

reap huge salary increases, the purchasing

power of the minimum wage has declined by

26 percent over the last 20 years. Many of the

new jobs being created are low-wage, parttime, or temporary, without benefits. As

major corporations continue to ‘‘downsize,’’

the number of temporary jobs in America

has exploded form 962,300 in 1987 to 1,657,700

in 1993.

Tens of millions of American workers are

experiencing extraordinary financial insecurity and pressure. Will they have their jobs

tomorrow, or is the owner moving the company to China where he can get workers for

20 cents an hour? Will their limited healthcare benefits be cut even further? Will they

ever collect on the pension plan they’ve been

promised?

From 1988 to 1993, worker productivity in

the private sector increased by 5.9 percent.

Average hourly earnings, however, declined

by 4 percent. By 1993, the typical family had

lost $1,400 of the buying power it had in 1991.

People are working longer, harder, and more

productively—and they’re becoming poorer.

Should the average American be angry?

Given the crisis facing the American middle class, what has the new Republican-controlled Congress been doing to address our

nation’s underlying economic problems?

JOBS

There is nothing in the ‘‘Contract With

America’’ to address our $160 billion trade

deficit, the decline of our manufacturing

base, and the loss of missions of decent-paying manufacturing jobs. How do we get corporate America to reinvest in this country,

rather than in cheap, unprotected labor

abroad? This is apparently not a subject of

much interest to the Republicans, who have

recently received huge amounts of corporate

campaign contributions.

DECLINING LIVING STANDARDS

At a time when the rich are getting richer

and the middle class and the poor are getting

poorer, the Republicans have adopted a series of bills to cut benefits drastically for

working people and the poor-making life

more difficult for those already hurting the

most. The Republicans are proposing major

cuts in child nutrition, fuel assistance, education, affordable housing, Medicare, Medicaid, and college financial aid.

TAX CUTS

Fifty percent of the individual tax breaks

passed by the Republican House will go to

people making a $100,000 a year, and the

upper 1 percent will get more in tax breaks

than the bottom 60 percent. For the lower

middle class, there will be virtually no tax

reductions at all.

Should the average American worker be

angry?

If we are to turn this country around and

create an economy that provides well for all

the people, and not just the rich, we must

focus on the real causes of our problems—

and demand real solutions.

Most importantly, we must have the courage to take on the big money interests who—

through their control of the economy, the

political parties, and the media—make most

of the decisions that affect our lives now and

those of our children, too.

THE GOLDEN TEMPLE MASSACRE:

SELF DETERMINATION AND

fINDEPENDENCE FOR KHALISTAN

HON. PHILIP M. CRANE OF ILLINOIS

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, June 7, 1995

Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to

bring to the attention of my colleagues the terrible conditions that the people of Khalistan

must endure on a daily basis. June 3–6 marks

the 11th anniversary of the Golden Temple

Massacre, where the Indian army massacred

thousands of Sikhs. The situation has not improved, and the Indian police routinely use torture, murder, and rape to oppress the Sikh

people. This religious intolerance and ethnic

warfare amounts to genocide and must stop.

We need only look at the former Soviet

Union to understand why a society based on

ethnic repression cannot work. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the republics were

finally able to break free and exist in peaceful

democratic states. It has been predicted that

India will suffer the same fate and it is our

duty to support and encourage the people of

the Sikh Nation. The following remarks by Dr.

Gurmit Singh Aulakh should be read to fully

understand the importance of the situation.

COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN,

Washington, DC, June 3, 1995.

Remarks of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President, Council of Khalistan, on the Eleventh Anniversary of the Golden Temple

Massacre, at Washington, DC.

I am glad to see so many people her today.

As you know, the Sikh Nation celebrated its

296th birthday this past Vaisakhi Day. That

was a joyous occasion; today is a sad one. We

all know about the oppression the Sikh Nation has suffered under India’s tyrannical occupation of our homeland, Khalistan. At

least 120,000 Sikhs have been murdered in

India since 1984. Tens of thousands of Sikhs

remain in prison. In many rural areas, where

the killings are most frequent, whole villages are emptied of their most able bodied

young men.

The bloody massacre we commemorate

today helped to clarify for the Sikh Nation

its true place in Hindustan’s sham ‘‘democracy.’’ The oppression and bloodshed inflicted on the Sikh Nation by the brutal Indian tyrants make it crystal clear that there

is no place for Sikhs in India. For ourselves

and for out children, we must liberate

Khalistan. Only a free and independent

Khalistan will insure that the Sikh Nation

can live in peach, prosperity, and freedom.

Freedom for Khalistan is coming soon. It is

inevitable. Dr. Jack Wheeler of the Freedom

Research Foundation, who predicted the Soviet collapse, predicted almost a year ago

that within ten years, India will cease to

exist as we know it.

When Sikhs read about India’s recent destruction of one of Kashmir’s most sacred

mosques, we felt a familiar pain remembering how we felt when thousands of our Sikh

brethren were slaughtered in the Golden

Temple massacre.

In the country that bills itself as ‘‘the

world’s largest democracy,’’ military forces

are being used to attack the faith, identity,

and even the very being of the Sikh nation.

But instead of breaking the Sikh nation, as

the tyrants of Hindustan had hoped, it has

led to a resurgence of the Sikh faith in our

struggle for dignity and freedom. The Golden

Temple massacre crystallized a desire in the

Sikh nation for a free and sovereign

Khalistan.

As you all know, today marks the anniversary of that act of wanton desecration. From

June 3 through 6, 1984, 15,000 troops of the Indian army launched a surprise military attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the

holiest shrine of the Sikh people. Simultaneously, they attacked 38 other Sikh temples

throughout Punjab, Khalistan. These attacks, timed on a holy day for the Sikh nation, left 20,000 Sikhs dead. Many innocent,

unarmed men, women and children, who had

come only to pray on the anniversary of the

martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, were

gunned down in the very temples in which

they sought peace and solace.

The operation took 72 hours to complete. A

news blackout in Punjab was initiated immediately before the attack. In the Temple

complex itself, hundreds of Sikhs were forced

into rooms designed to hold no more that 20

or 30 people. Most died of asphyxiation.

Many Sikh women were raped before being

killed.

In one episode, one hundred Sikh boys, students at the temple who were between 8 and

12 years old, were lined up along the sacred

pool that surrounds the Temple. The Indian

army officers asked each boy, one by one, if

he supported Khalistan. One by one, each

boy would cry out Bulleh So Nihal! (‘‘Everyone cry out and be contented!’’), and the rest

would respond Sat SRI Akal (‘‘God is

Truth!’’). One by one, each boy was shot in

the head. Yet the Indian regime claimed that

‘‘Not a single woman or child was wounded

in the operation proper at the hands of the

Army personnel.’’

Other Sikhs were herded together, their

turbans were removed and used to tie their

hands behind their backs. They were blindfolded and their unshorn beards were stuffed

into their mouths. They were then killed by

machine gun fire. Bodies were piled together

and shipped to nearby Gobindgarh fort,

where they were drenched in kerosene and

burned. The stench of smoldering bodies permeated in the area for two weeks. Sant

Bhindranwale and 20,000 other Sikhs lost

their lives.

The damage to the Temple complex was

extensive. We cannot forget how the Akal

Takht, the throne of timeless God, was severely damaged and the Temple’s library

building was destroyed. Priceless original

manuscripts written by the Gurus were

burnt. The Golden Temple itself was riddled

with bullet holes, many precious stones inlaid upon its walls removed by Army personnel.

In the mopping up operations, the Indian

forces planted sophisticated weapons inside

the Golden Temple in an effort to legitimize

the action. The Golden Temple was utterly

desecrated. In the 400-year history of the

Golden Temple, no ruler had done the kind of

damage the Indian Government meted out in

the 72-hour massacre. The Guru Granth

Sahib, the holy book of the Sikh religion,

had bullet holes in it. This is Indian religious

tolerance.

Eleven years later, we remember. The Sikh

nation can never forget the brutal massacre

and desecration that took place during those

dark days. We cannot forget, and the memory reminds us that we must take back our

homeland from the tyrannical Indian regime. We must liberate Khlistan from the

grip of oppression, and we should do so very

soon. It is our destiny. Raj Karega Khlasa!

Khalistan will be free.

Eleven years later, the killing has not

stopped. Virtual martial law and press blackouts have been in place almost continuously
June 8, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E 1185

since 1984. In November 1984, after Sikh

bodyguards assassinated Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi, Congress party and government sponsored rioting broke out in cities

all over India. 40,000 Sikhs lost their lives,

20,000 Sikhs in New Delhi alone. Sikhs were

pulled out of shops, homes, trains and buses,

and burned alive. For three days, television

stations throughout India, all State controlled, aired the simple message, Blood for

Blood.

Indian newspapers recently reported that

25,000 bodies have been cremated and listed

as unclaimed by the Indian regime since 1990.

In Amritsar district alone, over 6000 bodies

were listed as unidentified. This is one of 13

districts in Punjab. A mass grave which held

the remains of 400 Cambodians shook the

world, as it should have. Why does the mass

cremation of 25,000 in Punjab, Khalistan, get

ignored? These Sikhs were brutally tortured

and murdered by the Indian police, then cremated to hide the evidence.

Sikhs are not the only victims. Indian ‘‘democracy’’ has murdered over 150,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, over 43,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Manipuris, and other

tribal people. According to the State Department’s 1994 report on human rights, between

1991 and 1993 the Indian regime paid over

41,000 cash bounties to police officers for

killing Sikhs. Many people simply ‘‘disappear.’’ It is the great unknown holocaust.

These atrocities are part of a pattern of oppression by the corrupt Indian regime. According to the Indian magazine Sunday, for

every case of human rights violations that is

reported, another thousand go unreported.

I am sure that you know what happened to

Simranjit Singh Mann. On December 26,

Sardar Mann made a speech calling for a

peaceful, democratic, nonviolent movement

to liberate Khalistan. He asked the 50,000

Sikhs in his audience to raise their hands if

they agreed with him. All 50,000 did so. For

this blatant act of free speech, Mann was arrested under the so-called ‘‘Terrorist and

Disruptive Activities Act’’ (TADA). Although the regime has repealed TADA, and

despite a Supreme Court ruling that asking

for Khalistan is not a crime, Mann remains

in a windowless cell almost five months after

he was arrested. This is typical of the kind of

tyranny practiced against the Sikh nation

by the Indian regime.

According to the government of India, all

Sikhs are terrorists. The regime has even

outlawed the Sikh baptismal ceremony of

amrit. Most Sikhs have a friend or relative

who has been imprisoned, tortured or killed

by police, ostensibly because they are terrorists. This is the myth that justifies the Indian government’s bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing. The world is beginning to realize that Sikh terrorism is a myth. On November 6, the Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian regime paid the late

governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, $1.5 billion to foment terrorism in Punjab and

Kashmir, then blame it on ‘‘Sikh militants.’’

Again, Indian ‘‘democracy’’ is exposed.

This oppression must stop. On October 7,

1987, the Sikh nation declared its independence from India, forming the separate country of Khalistan. Sikhs ruled Punjab from

1710 to 1716 and from 1765 to 1849. Punjab belongs to the Sikhs. Sikhs own 95 percent of

the land in Punjab, Khalistan. Over twothirds of the population of Punjab is Sikh.

No Sikh has ever signed the Indian constitution. In the Indian-run elections in Punjab,

Khalistan, in February 1992, 96 percent of the

Sikhs there did not vote, according to India

Abroad. India’s occupation of Khalistan is

destroying our homeland. The Sikh Nation

has made its desire for freedom clear. We

want our country back. We want to live in

peace, and we want to live apart from India

in a free, democratic society.

Every day the world is exposed to the brutality of India’s occupation of Khalistan. In

May 1994, Human Rights Watch/Asia and

Physician for Human Rights released a report entitled Dead Silence: The Legacy of

Abuses in Punjab. The report quotes a police

officer as saying, ‘‘Once I became a police officer in Punjab, I realized that torture is

used routinely. During my five years with

the Punjab police, I estimate 4,000 to 5,000

were tortured at my police station alone.’’

Another policeman was quoted as saying

that 500 people were killed at his police station in five years. At least 200 of these torture centers currently operate in Indian-occupied Khalistan.

In 1947, when India achieved independence,

three nations were to receive power. The

Hindus got India, the Muslims got Pakistan,

and the Sikh Nation was to receive a state of

our own. But the Sikh leadership at the time

made the critical mistake of taking our

share with India on the solemn promises of

Gandha and Nehru that Sikhs would enjoy

‘‘the warm glow of freedom’’ in Punjab and

that no law affecting Sikh rights would be

passed without Sikh consent. Almost immediately, those promises were broken and the

repression of our people began.

India is not one nation. It is a conglomeration of many nations thrown together for administrative purposes by the British. It is

the last vestige of colonialism. With 18 official languages, India is doomed to disintegrate just as the former Soviet Union did.

Freedom for Khalistan and all the nations

living under Indian occupation is inevitable.

The Sikh Nation’s demand for an independent Khalistan is irrevocable, irreversible,

and nonnegotiable. But we are willing to sit

down with the Indian regime anytime to demarcate the boundaries of Khalistan. It is

time for India to recognize the inevitable

and withdraw from Khalistan.

An independent Khalistan will help make

South Asia nuclear-free. Punjab, Khalistan,

produces 73 percent of India’s wheat reserves

and 48 percent of its rice reserves. As a country where it takes three days’ pay to buy a

box of cereal, India will have to sign the

Non-Proliferation Treaty because it needs

food. Once India disarms, Pakistan will have

no reason not to do so as well. Khalistan will

sign the NPT and a 100-year friendship treaty with the United States.

In the past eleven years, there have been

thousands of cases of Sikh deaths and torture at the hands of Indian police and security forces. According to domestic and international human rights groups, the following

are frequently used torture methods by the

Indian government:

A log of wood made heavier by weights is

placed on the legs of the detainee and rotated up and down.

The legs of detainees are often stretched

and then the thigh muscles are beaten until

they tear.

Body joints are beaten with a heavy baton.

Electric shocks are applied to genitals resulting in impotency.

Sikh women and girls are raped, then usually killed or rendered infertile.

Family members are forced to watch while

violence is inflicted on other family members. Often the parents must watch as their

children suffer.

Husbands are forced to beat their wives

and vice versa.

Pregnancies are forcibly terminated.

Security officials sponsor death squads

throughout Punjab. Typically, these agents

arrive in unmarked cars, dressed in plain

clothes and carry automatic weapons. The

death squads pick up suspects and take them

to interrogation centers.

According to Asia Watch, ‘‘virtually everyone detained in Punjab is tortured.’’ Sikhs

who die of torture are routinely listed as

having died in fake ‘‘encounters’’ with the

police. Behavior like this is the reason that

Amnesty International has been barred from

conducting an independent human-rights investigation in Punjab, Khalistan since 1978.

Even Fidel Castro’s Cuba has allowed Amnesty International into the country more

recently.

Eleven years after the Golden Temple massacre, the human rights situation has only

gotten worse. Our history and the history of

other minority nations under Indian occupation teach us that freedom for Khalistan,

Kashmir, and Nagaland is the only way to

prevent further massacres like the one in the

Golden Temple.

Secular democracy in India is a myth. The

plight of minority nations in India is a direct

result of Indian government’s racial and ethnic intolerance. A Brigadier General of the

Indian Army made clear the actual, if unofficial, policy of the Indian government he said

that he would execute the mayors of all six

villages, kill all the adult males, and confine

all the women to army camps, that they

would reproduce with Hindus and thereby

‘‘breed a new race.’’

No longer can genocide be an accepted

norm of democracy. Let me close with a

poignant quotation from a former world

leader, one that expresses the very situation

in which Sikhs find themselves.:

A government that has to rely on the

Criminal Law Amendment Act and similar

laws, that suppresses the press and literature, that bans hundreds of organizations,

that keeps people in prison without trial,

and that does so many things that are happening in India today, is a government that

has ceased to have even a shadow of a justification for its existence.

These were the words that Jawaharlal

Nehru used to describe the British Administration in India in 1936. What is the difference between the India of 1936 and the

India of 1995? I’ll tell you. Our small homeland of Punjab, Khalistan has 500,000 security

forces. The British never stationed that

many troops in the entire Indian subcontinent. And the British, in the century in

which they ruled Punjab, never came near

slaughtering the 120,000 Sikhs India has

slaughtered in the last eleven years.

The free countries of the world support

peace, justice, and freedom. I call on all

Americans to support freedom for Khalistan.

All the Sikh Nation asks is the same freedom that Americans enjoy.

On this anniversary of the Golden Temple

massacre, Sikhs will never forget the brutal

desecration of our most sacred shrine. I

know that by 1999, which will be the 300th

anniversary of the birth of the Sikh nation,

the truth will be known, and the Sikh nation

will celebrate that year in a free and sovereign Khalistan.

Khalistan Zindabad! India out of

Khalistan!

SAFE KIDS AND OREGON

fHON. ELIZABETH FURSE OF OREGON

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, June 7, 1995

Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in

support of the work that Oregon First Lady

Sharon Kitzhaber is doing in my home State

to protect our children from preventable injuries. Getting children involved in their own

safety is something that makes good sense,