WASHINGTON,DC: In an effort to end the suffering in Khalistan, last week, 24 members of Congress wrote to President Bill Clinton urging him to “take an active diplomatic role in peacefully resolving the crisis in Punjab.

Khalistan.”

“The United States can no longer ignore India’s violation of internationally recognized human rights, We must intervene diplomatically to end the misery in Khalistan,” wrote Congressman Gary Condit (DCA) in his “Dear Colleague” letter to members of Congress.Having declared independence from India on Oct7,1987 forming the separate country of Khalistan, the Sikh nation today faces immense and largely unreported oppression at the hands of the Indian government. At present, over 500,000 Indian security forces enforce an undeclared martial law throughout the Punjab.

Since 1978, Amnesty Intermational has been barred from conducting human rights investigations in India. Asia Watch reports that “virtually everyone detained in Punjab is tortured.” And according to the Movement Against State Repression, 70,000 Sikhs languish in Indian jails without charge or trial under laws condemned as “disturbing” and “completely unacceptable” by the United Human Rights Commission.

Seeking to rectify this intolerable situation, Condit invited members of Congress to sign his letter to President Clinton, Members of both parties including, Rep. Newt Gingrich, Rep. Charlie Wil son, and Rep. Pete Geren signed the letter. Also, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Rep. Lincoln Diazbalart, Rep, Ileana RosLehtinen and Rep. Dan Burton, all on the Foreign Affairs Committee, signed the letter.

Dr.Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President Council of Khalistan the motivating force behind the resolution hopes this latest action by the U.S, Congress will help drive the message home to the Indian government that the world will not stand for its brutal denial of freedom, justice, democracy and human nights.

“India must realize that its brutal atrocities against the Sikh nation are being monitored by the world community. It can no longer kill! Sikhs with impunity. The world is watching.” The letter to President Clinton comes after last month’s $4.1 million slash in U.S. aid to India for its brutality against the Sikhs, Kashmiris, Assamese, Christians of Nagaland and others, President Clinton signed the Foreign Aid Authorization Bill (H.R.2259) on Oet l, officially making the Indian aid cut U.S. law.

The letter also comes on the heels of House Concurrent Resolution 134’s introduction in the House by Congressman Pete Geren (DTX). Introduced on Aug.5, the resolution supports Sikh selfdetermination and calls for a U.N.sponsored plebiscite in the Sikh homeland, so Sikhs may “determine for themselves, under fair and peaceful conditions, their political future.” The resolution currently has 17 cosponsors.

Despite such measures to resolve the crisis in the Sikh homeland, government terrorism against the Sikh nation continues unabated. According to Thune a Punjab daily, last month Sarabjit Singh was brought for dead to a local hospital after an “encounter” with the Punjab police.

After the doctors discovered Sarabjit Singh was still! Alive, the police came and took him away, they returned to the hospital two or three hours later with his dead body and asked doctors to perform a postmortem. Afterwards, the police took his body and cremated it themselves to permanently bury any evidence of their atrocities.

The case of Harjit Singh reported by Amnesty Intemational which printed full page ad regarding his “disappearance” in the Independent, the Guardian, and the Observer, the three major newspapers of Great Britain. Titled, “All that remained were the handcuffs,” the ad details “Harjit Singh’s abduction by the Indian police and his family’s desperate attempts to have the police acknowledge his detention.

Since 1984, over 110,000 Sikhs have been killed by Indian government police, paramilitary forces, death squads and vigilante groups. Dr.Aulakh hopes that the Representatives letter to the President will encourage President Clinton to use his diplomatic authority to ensure that such atrocities never occur.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 3, 1993