- COBEY, Mr, Speaker, Nicaraguan Dictator, Daniel Ortega recently decorated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India with the country’s highest award — the Order of Augusto Cesar Sandino, Ortega was in New Delhi on a State visit in September.
‘The Indian Prime Minister had earlier announced a $10.4 million aid package to help rebuild the Nicarguan economy. Thus, it seems that India has reached a state where it has a surplus in foreign aid. Since 1983, we have given India approximately $613 million in economic assistance. More than 75 percent of this amount was in grants, Now, India is giving economic aid to the Nicaraguan Government while completely ignoring the terror the Sandinistas are spreading in our own ‘backyard. It is time that we end ‘our aid to India until it stops supporting the spread of the communism in Central America and until it ends its internal repression of Sikhs in Punjab.
Ata banquet for Ortega, Indian President Zail Singh said, “It is a great mistake to see these historic changes as inspired by foreign powers, ideologies, or intrigues. “I would like to draw the attention of the Indian President to some “historic changes” that are taking place in one of the Indian States and in one of the ethnic communities to which Mr. Zail Singh claims to belong. I am talking about the ‘great struggle that the Sikh nation has been involved in since the beginning of this decade. It is the culmination of a struggle the Sikh nation has been involved in for hundreds of years.
Seeking justice and equality and the pursuit of happiness are the inalienable rights of all human beings — regardless of race, color creed, sex or religion.
The Indian President claims that the revolt against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua is engineered by foreign powers, that the Sandi just regime is a popular one and not supported by foreign elements, But what is happening in India’s Punjab is attributed to foreign powers and intrigues. We are told that only a handful of “terrorists” are behind this unfortunate situation, But if that were the case, the Government of India wouldn’t need six army divisions and masjid. They would not bar the entry of foreign visitors and journalists to that part of the country. The visas of foreign visitors to India are stamped “not Punjab” as if Punjab ‘were not part of India, Perhaps the Indian Government feels that Punjab’s secession has already been accepted psychologically and that it will only be a matter of time before it actually occurs. More ‘than 20,000 Sikhs have been killed by the Indian Army and security forces since June 1984, but the handful of “terrorists” still persists.
Is there a violation of human rights in India? According to the State Department’s annual report ‘on human rights, “No international investigations of the human rights situation in India are known to have been conducted since 1978”. In view of the serious allegations by one of its respected minorities and the reports of continued violence, an investigation should be held.But it is my understanding that India will not allow it. It is my understanding that the Government of India rejected request by some Members of Congress to have an opportunity to look into the situation. If India has nothing to hide, why is it reluctant to open its doors in Punjab to the objective eyes of the United Nations or other international investigators?
There are several independent Indian human rights organizations including the ‘Citizens For Democracy’. In September a year ago, the CED released a booklet, “Report to the Nation”: Oppression in Punjab”. This document was banned the very next day afier its release. As the preface to the USS edition puts it, “the authoritarian Indian Government, afraid of the truth regarding rape, torture, and massacre by Government forces during and after the invasion of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Indian Army in June, 1984. To protest against the dreadful act, ‘many Sikhs returned their awards to the President of India, while others have resigned from their seats in Parliament, State legislature and other elected bodies. ‘Some officers have left their lucrative positions in the Government. One of them is Sardar Simarnjit ‘Singh Mann, a distinguished member of the Indian Police Service, his last assignment was as Group Commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force in Bombay. The bloodshed in Punjab has gone ‘on too long and too far to 20 ‘unnoticed in this country.
Finally, I would like to commend the efforts of Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, Dr. Aulakh is the president of the International Sikh Organization. So my colleagues in the House will better realize the awful plight of the Sikhs in India, I ask that the text of his remarks before the National Press Club on June 6 by printed in the Record,
Article extracted from this publication >> October 31, 1986
