WASHINGTON DC: Following increased international support for Sikh independence, Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega (D. Am. Samoa), member of the Subcommittee on South East Asia, Oct 5, introduced a sense of Congress bill in the House of Representatives advocating self-determination for the Sikhs in Punjab. The bill is cosponsored by Congressmen General Ben Blaz (R Guam), also a member of the Subcommittee on South East Asia; Floyd H. Flake (DN.Y.)And Norman D. Shumway (RCalif).
Sikhs across America have hailed this bill as a giant step for the Sikh People who demand independence from an Indian govt which has led a relentless campaign of oppression and murder in the Sikh homeland.
Pressure on the Indian govt to abolish its repressive policies and practices has mounted significantly in recent years. On Sept 25, 1990, at a Congressional Human Rights Caucus hearing on human rights violations in Punjab and Kashmir, the Indian govt was exposed as the worst violator of human rights in the world at this time.
Testifying before the Human Rights Caucus, Mr.John Nides, Director of Asian Affairs for Amnesty International said that “hundreds of people are alleged to have been tortured in Punjab following their arrest,” and “hundreds of suspected govt opponents are annually reported to have been extra judicially executed by police in various Indian states, especially. Punjab.” Yet, despite such numbers, according to Mr.Nides, “Amnesty International believes that ‘only a small proportion of the total number of deaths in (police) custody is known.”
Amnesty International has been constantly denied permission by the Indian govt to conduct formal investigations, Congress has been pressuring India to allow Amnesty and such groups to conduct investigations but apparently the Indian govt feels the international ridicule it receives over this matter is less damaging than the truth.”
Earlier this year, Congressman Dan Burton had introduced bill to cut off aid to India until it allows human rights groups within its borders carries the bipartisan support of 63 cosponsors.
The following is the text of the concurrent resolution.
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the people of the Province of Punjab in India should be given the opportunity to determine its political status.
Whereas the Congress is concerned about the violence in the Province of Punjab, India;
Whereas the violence in Punjab appears to be related to a desire by a majority of the residents of Punjab to obtain fundamental human rights which they are denied.
Whereas the denial of basic human rights has increased under the current Indian Govt;
Whereas the Govt of India is not permitting internationally recognized human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, to determine the validity of the claims of violation of human rights in Punjab;
Whereas elections in Punjab have been repeatedly postponed which have the effect of denying the residents of Punjab the inalienable right to select their political leaders and determine the political status of the region: Now, therefore, be it.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the people of the Province of Punjab, India, like people of all nations, have the right to self-determination and should be afforded the opportunity to decide their own future through a plebiscite sponsored or supervised by the United Nations
Article extracted from this publication >> October 12, 1990
