By Randy Lee Loft is courtesy The Dallas Morning News BALCH SPRINGS MI: It is a long way from U.S. Rep. Pete Geren’s Tarrant County district to India. But Mr. Geren has been thinking about Punjab and India.

Recently he stood in a Sikh Gurdwara in Balch Springs talking about his efforts to win self-determination for India’s Sikh minority like all who enter a Gurdwara the two terms Democrat had removed his shoes and put on a head covering in his case a borrowed scarf.

Sikhs are the majority group in the state of Punjab in north-western India though they make up a small percentage of India’s total population of about 850 million people. For 11 years they have been engaged in a bloody struggle to establish an independent nation due to a systematic onslaught by the Indian Government on the Community.

The Indian government has committed untold atrocities on the Sikhs and over 100,000 Sikh youths have been killed by Indian forces to suppress their movement for Independence

In August Geren introduced a resolution in the House supporting the Sikhs and asking the United Nations to sponsor a popular vote in Punjab regarding independence The resolution is far from having enough votes to pass he said but the efforts continue.

We hope with this resolution to elevate the debate on the whole issue of India and of Khalistan Geren told the temple members who sat cross-legged on the floor. We are asking that our Congress pull itself on the side of democracy. About 1500 Sikhs live in the Dallas area.

Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh prominent Sikh leader in the United States said Geren’s effort is have had great psychological and political importance in India.

The good Congressman s’ our case clearly and strongly sir Dr. Aulakh president of the Council of Khalistan an organized based in Washington.

Indian journalists loyal to the government threatened to smear Geren unless he withdrew the resolution Dr Aulakh said but the Congressman did not budge.

In an interview before his speech Geren said Congress has been reluctant to make human rights violations against India’s minorities a top priority as it has done with China’s repression of political dissidents.

We tend to shy away from frank discussions of India he said. There seems to be an clement of candor regarding other great nations.

Geren said his interest in the Sikhs struggle came from conversation with other House members who have supported the group for years.

His resolution cites India’s refusal since 1978 to allow Amnesty International and other human rights groups to examine the conditions in Punjab.

It calls an independent Khalistan economically militarily und politically viable and Says the new nation would be the natural ally of the United States.

Geren was among 24 members of Congress who wrote 10 President Clinton in November asking him to take an active diplomatic role in medicating the Sikh-Indian crisis:

In late December Clinton wrote back to Rep. Gary Condit D-Calif expressing sympathy for the Sikhs and promising continued diplomatic pressure.

Dr Aulakh said that nothing short of complete independence for Khalistan will do. He said India has engaged in a propaganda campaign to deny the truth about its actions in Punjab

We must tear down the facade of democracy that India is trying to correct he said. Today the independence of Khalistan is the only issue facing the Sikh nation.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 11, 1994