[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 39 (Thursday, April 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E573-E574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SIKHS ABOUT TO CELEBRATE VAISAKHI DAY
______
HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, April 13, which is the birthday of Thomas
Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, is Vaisakhi Day
for the Sikhs. I wish all the Sikhs around the world a happy Vaisakhi
Day.
Vaisakhi Day is the anniversary of the day in 1699 when Guru Gobind
Singh, the last of the ten Sikh Gurus, created the Khalsa Panth. At
that time, he said, ``I give sovereignty to the humble Sikhs.'' Yet
over 300 years later, they still struggle for that sovereignty while
they suffer under severe repression from ``the world's largest
democracy.''
More than 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered at the hands of the Indian
government, according to figures compiled by the Punjab State
Magistracy. The Movement Against State Repression reports that 52,268
Sikhs are being held as political prisoners under the repressive TADA
law. How can this happen in a democracy?
Sikhs have an opportunity this Vaisakhi Day to reclaim their
sovereignty. In January, 35 Sikhs were arrested for simply raising the
Sikh flag and making speeches in support of Khalistan, the Sikh
homeland that declared its independence on October 7, 1987. Political
leaders are coming out for Khalistan. All of India's efforts to
suppress the Sikhs sovereignty movement have just given it new life.
What can we do to support this worthy cause? We should stop our aid
and trade with India as long as it continues to kill ethnic minorities,
hold political prisoners, and engage in other wholesale violations of
the most basic human rights. We should go on record in support of self-
determination in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on independence
in Khalistan, in Kashmir, in Nagaland, and wherever the people are
seeking freedom. These measures will help bring a new glow of freedom
to all people in the subcontinent.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to place the Council of
Khalistan's Vaisakhi Day message into the Record for the information of
my colleagues.
Vaisakhi Day Should Be Celebrated in Freedom
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your
family and friends and all Sikhs a Happy Vaisakhi Day. As you
know, Vaisakhi Day is the anniversary of the founding of the
Khalsa. On Vaisakhi Day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh baptized
the Sikhs and required them to keep the five Ks. He made the
Sikhs into saints and soldiers, giving the blessing ``In
grieb Sikhin ko deon Patshahi'' (``I give sovereignty to the
humble Sikhs.'') Just two years after his departure from this
earthly plane in 1708, the Sikhs established our own
independent state in Punjab.
Today we struggle to regain the sovereignty that Guru
Gobind Singh bestowed upon us over 300 years ago. Yet the
Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Joginder Singh Vedanti, was
quoted as saying that ``We don't want a separate territory.''
Does Jathedar Vedanti, like every other Sikh, pray ``Raj Kare
Ga Khalsa'' (``the Khalsa shall rule'') every morning and
evening? Has he forgotten our heritage of freedom? How can
the spiritual leader of the Sikh religion deny the Sikh
Nation's legitimate aspiration for freedom and sovereignty?
Is he not stung by the words of one of his predecessors,
former AkalTakht Jathedar Professor Darshan Singh, who said,
``If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh''? Is Akal
Takht occupied by a person who does not believe in Sikh
values and Sikh apsirations?
The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the
heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. On
Republic Day, Sikh leaders raised the Sikh flag in Amritsar
and made speeches in support of Khalistan. 35 Sikhs were
arrested for raising the Kesri Nishan. Eleven of them
continue to be held and they have been denied bail. Is this
the freedom that Guru Gobind Singh bestowed upon us? Is this
the ``glow of freedom'' that Nehru promised us when Master
Tara Singh and the Sikh leaders of the time chose to take our
share with India?
Punjab's Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, was
declared a hero of the Sikh Nation for asserting Punjab's
sovereignty and preserving Punjab's natural resource, its
river water, for the use of Punjab farmers by cancelling
Punjab's water agreements. In so doing, Amarinder Singh and
the Legislative Assembly explicitly declared the sovereignty
of the state of Punjab. In December former Member of
Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann again reverted to public
support of Khalistan. He pledged that his party will lead a
peaceful movement to liberate Khalistan. Obviously, Mr. Mann
is aware of the rising support of our cause. Mann joins
Sardar Atinder Pal Singh, Sardar D.S. Gill of the
International Human Rights Organization, and other Sikh
leaders in Punjab in supporting freedom for Khalistan openly.
Jagjit Singh, President of Dal Khalsa, was quoted in the
Deccan Herald as saying that ``the Indian government can
never suppress the movement. Sikh aspirations can only be met
when they have a separate state.'' There is no other choice
for the
[[Page E574]]
Sikh nation but a sovereign, independent Khalistan. Every
Sikh leader must come out openly for Khalistan. We salute
those Sikh leaders in Punjab who have done so.
Any organization that sincerely supports Khalistan deserves
the support of the Sikh Nation. However, the Sikh Nation
needs leadership that is honest, sincere, consistent, and
dedicated to the cause of Sikh freedom. Leaders like Dr.
Jagjit Singh Chohan, Harchand Singh Longowal, Didar Bains,
Ganga Singh Dhillon, the Akali Dal leadership, and others who
were complicit in the attack on the Golden Temple cannot be
trusted by the Sikh Nation. The evidence against them is
clear in Chakravyuh: Web of Indian Secularism. The Sikh
Nation cannot believe that these leaders will not betray the
cause of Khalistan, just as they betrayed the Sikh Nation in
1984. We must be careful if we are to continue to move the
cause of freedom for Khalistan forward in 2005 as we did
in 2004.
The Akali Dal conspired with the Indian government in 1984
to invade the Golden Temple to murder Sant Bhindranwale and
20,000 other Sikh during June 1984 in Punjab. Even the Pope
spoke out strongly against this invasion and desecration of
our most sacred shrine. How can these so-called Sikh leaders
connive with the people who carried it out? If Sikhs will not
even protect the sanctity of the Golden Temple, how can the
Sikh Nation survive as a nation?
The Akali Dal has lost all its credibility. The Badal
government was so corrupt openly and no Akali leader would
come forward and tell Badal and his wife to stop this
unparallelled corruption.
If Jathedar Vedanti opposes freedom and sovereignty for the
Sikh Nation, then he is not fit to sit in Akal Takht, in the
seat of the Khalsa Panth. The Sikh Nation should have a
Jathedar who is committed to sovereignty.
The Council of Khalistan has stood strongly and
consistently for liberating our homeland, Khalistan, from
Indian occupation. For over 18 years we have led this fight
while others were trying to divert the resources and the
attention of the Sikh Nation away from the issue of freedom
in a sovereign, independent Khalistan. Khalistan is the only
way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, peace,
prosperity, and dignity. It is time to start a Shantmai
Morcha to liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation.
The Akal Takht Sahib and Darbar Sahib are under the control
of the Indian government, the same Indian government that has
murdered more than a quarter of a million Sikhs in the past
twenty years. The Jathedar of the Akal Takht and the head
granthi of Darbar Sahib toe the line that the Indian
government tells them. They are not appointed by the Khalsa
Panth. Otherwise they would behave like a real Jathedar,
Jathedar Gurdev Singh Kaunke, rather than like Indian
government puppet Jathedar Aroor Singh, who gave a Siropa to
General Dyer for the massacre of Sikhs and others at
Jallianwala Bagh. These institutions will remain under the
control of the Indian regime until we free the Sikh homeland,
Punjab, Khalistan, from Indian occupation and oppression and
sever our relations with the New Delhi government.
The Sikhs in Punjab have suffered enormous repression at
the hands of the Indian regime in the last 25 years. Over
50,000 Sikh youth were picked up from their houses, tortured,
murdered in police custody, then secretly cremated as
``unidentified bodies.'' Their remains were never even given
to their families! Another 52,268 are being held as political
prisoners. Some have been in illegal custody since 1984! Even
now, the capital of Punjab, Chandigarh, has not been handed
over to Punjab, but remains a Union Territory. How can Sikhs
have any freedom living under a government that would do
these things?
Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. The leaders in
Delhi are only interested in imposing Hindu sovereignty over
all the minorities to advance their own careers and their own
power. Ever since independence, India has mistreated the Sikh
Nation, starting with Patel's memo labelling Sikhs ``a
criminal tribe.'' What a shame for Home Minister Patel and
the Indian government to issue this memorandum when the Sikh
Nation gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India.
How can Sikhs continue to live in such a country? There is
no place for Sikhs in supposedly secular, supposedly
democratic India. Let us make Viasakhi Day a day of freedom.
Let us dedicate ourselves this Vaisakhi Day to living up to
the blessing of Guru Gobind Singh. Let us take the occasion
of Vaisakhi Day to begin to shake ourselves loose from the
yoke of Indian oppression and liberate our homeland,
Khalistan, so that all Sikhs may live lives of prosperity,
freedom, and dignity.
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