Respected First Lady & President Clinton: Punjab reels from the dictatorial rule of its police under K.P.S. Gill the force that has violated every human right and broken every law in the name of its antiterrorist campaign. Policemen in Punjab are the real rulers, accountable to none. The Congress (Indian) government is beholden: to them, not they to it. Custodial deaths are frequent, thousands are in detention and hundreds of young men untraceable, Kuldip Nayar (1A 2/24/ 95) former Indian ambassador to United Kingdom, leading Indian journalist and also a Hindu by religion.
If Mr. Nayar, a non-Sikh who is a fiercely loyal Indian, can summarize his views of Punjab police in toned down few scary short sentences, imagine what all the victims and suppressed and intimidated Sikh population of India would like to say about the savage rulers of Delhi if they had the liberty to do so. Fortunately for the Sikhs population living in India there is sizable number of educated Sikh population living in Western world that can expose India’s wrongdoing. Otherwise who knows, what the figures of the government sponsored Sikh liquidation pogrom would have been so far which is already over 100,000. No wonder, the recently completed Amnesty Report hits India hard (TA 3/10/95).
‘The idea of Khalistan is not all empty. It is the conscience of Congressman Dan Burton and his cosigners that is speaking out and not the thousands of dollars that are being poured by Indians into the coffers of nonparticipants to negate the bills which Dr. Aulakh, president of International Sikh Organization, (sic) instigates which are labeled anti-Indian. Thanks to Dr, Gurmeet Singh Aulakh who sacrificed his professional career to undertake this daunting task of educating US Congressmen all by himself, He has worked tirelessly and selflessly in the halls of the US Congress since 1984, speaking on behalf of the hapless community that is being mercilessly suppressed, If his truth ‘was not hurting or embarrassing India, Indian embassy, and other Indian organizations would not spend millions of dollars in counter lobbying or making every effort to shut him up or have him assassinated, People like Simranjit Singh Mann, Dr. Sohan Singh must be immediacy released and should be free to speak their minds. If Bal Thackeray a staunch Hindu leader can come out in the open and define whose allegiance is with India and who’s not, other minority Indian leaders should also enjoy the same freedom, India should not have two sets of rules one for the majority population and one for the ‘minority population, whose allegiance is always being tested. ‘Under the current circumstances, US should never sign an extradition treaty with India, which is primarily being designed to suppress the minorities further; until India proves that no one is above the law and all Indians can truly enjoy the glow of freedom including free practice of religion, language and cultural rights. In the meantime, US should continue to hammer the violations of human rights that are taking place in India. If India cannot perform in this area, then the people will be better off in a decentralized India ‘autonomy for all states.
In the end, I wish the First Lady a’ very successful trip to India, Harbir Singh Pannen, NJ.
Note: The President responded to this letter saying:..”(T)he best strategy {0 ensure our security and build last in peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere, (D)ke ideals of democracy, human rights and free market reform have stood as pillars of U.S. foreign policy and I remain committed to promoting these goals… Sincerely, Bill Clinton.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 30, 1995
