NORMAND D. SHUMWAY a lawyer by profession was born on July 28, 1934. He got his education from Stockton College A.A. University of Utah, B.S. from University of California, J.D. He is a member of Banking Finance and Urban Affairs, Merchant Marine and Fisheries Select Aging Committees.

THE SPEAKER pro tem tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Shumway) is recognized for 60 minutes.

  1. SHUMWAY:

Mr. Speaker, I have requested time for a special order today to focus attention on the continuing violence in India which has claimed thousands of lives, most of them Sikhs living in the state of Punjab. I have often said that I do not believe it is the role of the Congress to dictate foreign policy to the executive branch or to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. However, as Members of Congress we must be able to respond to the concerns of our Sikh constituents who have friends and relatives in India. We must make informed decisions about U.S. economic aid and high technology sales to India.

The tragic circumstances in India are not widely or fairly publicized. The information we receive is controlled by the Indian government. Foreign journalists are not allowed to visit Punjab. Religious and ethnic violence has claimed thousands of lives. Yet the silence of the international community is almost deafening. It is time to demand the truth. It is time to shed light on the Indian government in New Delhi which casts a long dark shadow over the Sikhs in Punjab.

Recently I had an opportunity, as a member of a congressional fact-finding mission, to visit India and to meet with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Unfortunately, I was denied the chance to visit Punjab. To understand the problems of the Sikhs in Punjab, it is helpful to consider the turbulent past.

India is no stranger to religious violence. Mahatma Gandhi, a man revered throughout the world for his dedication to nonviolence and his commitment to religious tolerance, engaged in a near-death fast to protest Muslim and Hindu fighting in response to the separatists’ call for partition on the eve of independence. When India achieved its independence from Great

Britain in 1947, it was essentially divided into the Muslim area which became Pakistan and the predominantly Hindu area which became India.

The Sikhs opted to join India based on the solemn promise of Pandit Nehru, the leader of the Indian National Congress. While drafting the new constitution for India he stated that, “The brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area and a set up in the north where the Sikhs can also freely experience the glow of freedom”. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs abandoned their homes and farms in western Punjab and migrated to India where they settled in the Indian Punjab and in Delhi, the capital. They often bore th brunt of the violence that accompanied the mass transfer of population between the two new states. Pakistan and India, and the Sikh community is still waiting to experience the “glow of freedom”.

In the past 4 to 5 years the Sikhs and the government of India in New Delhi have moved ever deeper into confrontation over basic issues such as the degree of autonomy to be granted to the State of Punjab, how to reconcile the interests of the Sikhs versus other communities, economic issues such as demands for more water for farmers and the right to establish industries in the State, as well as special religious demands. One result has been the growth of violence pitting Sikh militants against, the security forces, and a weakening of the position of moderates who seek peaceful solutions. Ordinary Sikhs and Hindus have suffered greatly, either as a result of extremist violence or excessive committed by the security forces.

In June, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered government troops to storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the most sacred shrine of the Sikh religion, in pursuit of several hundred armed Sikh militants who had occupied the temple. This incident, which claimed the lives of thousands of Sikhs and hundreds of army members, followed months of violence in Punjab.

A few months later, on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was killed by Sikh members of her bodyguards who claimed to act in revenge for the attack on the Golden Temple. Thousands of Sikhs in New Delhi alone were murdered in the riots which followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi succeeded his mother as Prime Minister after her death in 1984. In an attempt to ease the tensions with the Sikhs, Rajiv Gandhi negotiated the Punjab Accord of July, 1985. As we approach the second anniversary of the accord, it is indeed appropriate to review the status of some of its essential provisions.

The city of Chandigarh which has served as a joint capital for Punjab and the neighboring state of Haryana is to be given to Punjab in exchange for some of its Hindi speaking regions;

The demand for a greater share of river waters to irrigate farm land is to be referred to a tribunal with a report being issued in not more than six months;

National legislation is to be enacted to regulate the function of thousands of Sikh shrines scattered around the country;

The judicial investigation of the anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi is to be expanded to include other cities in northern India.

The judicial investigation of the anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi is to be expanded to include other cities in northern India.

Mr. Gandhi promised to provide compensation for the loss of innocent lives and property as a result of the turmoil since 1982.

He also promised to encourage the Punjabi language and protect minority interests.

A major milestone was the holding of elections in September 1985, which were won by the Sikh’s Akali Dal Party. Unfortunately the Gandhi government recently took direct control of Punjab and suspended the Sikh state government. The Gandhi government has lost precious time in the pursuit of a negotiated settlement by its failure to implement the Punjab Accord.

The Punjab accord symbolized the promise of a negotiated settlement. However, for many Sikhs, including my friends in Stockton, the accord was simply too little, too late. For centuries the Sikhs have suffered great persecution claiming the lives of many thousands of followers. In the 18th century Sikhs were massacred more than once by Mogul and Afghan invaders. Under British tule, 80 percent of those imprisoned or executed during India’s fight for independence were Sikhs who represented only two percent of the total population. Since independence thousands have died in the hostilities in Punjab and the riots in New Delhi. When you consider this long history of oppression, it is easy to understand why many Sikhs today support the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation in the Punjab region, as the only hope for a peaceful future.

The United States has a long tradition of accepting the integrity of existing states in conformity with international law. Rather than supporting separatist movements, we have tried to promote and encourage constructive change within the parameters of the existing state. Thus, our foreign policy has not been to encourage the formation of a separate Khalistan. Even if the United States were to deviate from this tradition, I do not believe that a separate Sikh nation is the most desirable alternative to pursue at this time. It is a goal that would demand a very high price in human life and many years of suffering. It may prove to be the inevitable solution, but I would like to see every diplomatic avenue pursued before resorting to endorsement of the separatist Khalistan policy.

India would be extremely reluctant to relinquish Punjab which is of great strategic and economic importance to the nation as a whole. It is located at the very arch of India which reaches toward Pakistan and China and thus performs a critical role as a buffer State between India and its arch rival — Pakistan. It is also the breadbasket of India which is now self-sufficient in feeding its population, largely as a result of the industrious Sikh farmers.

In the final analysis, as the creation of Pakistan clearly demonstrates, partition will not necessarily solve the underlying tensions. A democratic nation must accommodate different religions and minorities by protecting the rights and freedoms of all individuals without distinction, the future of India as a democratic nation demands no less.

At the same time, I appreciate the growing impatience with the Gandhi government, given its failure to carry out the Punjab accord and the continuing tensions and violence in Punjab. In my view, the time has come for the Sikhs and indeed the international community, to focus on India’s un full filled promises to the Sikhs in Punjab and to challenge Rajiv Gandhi’s claim to be a man of peace and democracy. Only last month he vowed to use an “iron fist” to put down Sikh secessionists in Punjab.

India which claims to be a nonaligned country, failed to vote even once with the United States on the 10 key votes which took place in the last session of the U.N. General Assembly. In fact, the Soviet Union voted with the United States more often than did India.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to India’s claim to be a nonaligned, democratic nation is its successful effort to preclude U.N. consideration of human rights abuses in Cuba. No country, nonaligned or otherwise, can turn its back on the repressive policies of Fidel Castro and claim to share the ideals of freedom and democracy.

Just as the nations of the world should focus on Rajiv Gandhi’s credibility in international affairs, the Sikhs of India should publicize and demand adherence to the promises made on the eve of independence by Mr. Nehru and the Punjab accord negotiated by his grandson Rajiv Gandhi.

As a democracy, India should demonstrate its respect for justice and the rule of law by punishing those who abused their authority in connection with the assault on the Golden Temple or participated in the riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Prosecution of wrongdoers is long overdue.

As a democracy, India should make greater efforts to ensure religious freedom and protect members of religious or linguistic minorities.

As a democracy, India should allow foreign journalists and concerned members of this Congress to visit Punjab and view the situation for themselves.

If Rajiv Gandhi wishes to be recognized as the leader of the world’s largest democracy, then he must fulfill India’s promises to the Sikhs of Punjab.

  1. SHUMWAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my special order.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hayes of Louisiana), Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California (Mr. Shumway), There was no objection.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella),

MRS. MORELLA. IJ thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Shumway) for arranging this special order.

Mr. Speaker, a large percentage of my district’s residents are immigrants from overseas. Many of them retain strong ties to their countries of origin and have a keen interest in events there. Prominent among these constituents is Dr. Gummit Singh Aulakh, Dr. Aulakh President of the International Sikh Organization, is a former professional scientist who has dedicated himself to lobbying Congress on behalf of India’s Sikh minority. I dare say that there is no congressional office that has not been several times visited by Dr. Aulakh in his quest for justice in the Punjab, the ancestral home of the Sikh people.

Dr. Aulakh is concerned that the Indian government is not treating the Sikh people fairly. As some Sikhs fight for greater autonomy for their region, the Indian government has responded in a manner that many have characterized as harsh and excessive. Almost three years ago, Indian troops stormed the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar. This attack claimed the lives of hundreds of Sikhs. Just last month, the Indian government dismissed the Sikhdominated Punjabi state government and imposed direct rule from New Delhi.

India has a proud tradition of democracy and respect for human rights, a tradition particularly remarkable given the country’s poverty, size, and diverse population. If India is to retain its reputation as the World’s largest democracy, it will have to ensure that the rights of all its minorities are protected.

As Shakespeare has written: The quality of mery is not strain‘d ….. It is enthroned in the hearts of kings. It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likes God’s when mercy seasons justice.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

  1. SHUMWAY: Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for that contribution and at this time I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger).

(Mr. Herger asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

  1. HERGER,I thank the gentleman for yielding and I thank the Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my colleague from California in honoring the Sikhs, and would like to mention the great contributions that this religious minority has made to their society. In addition, I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues the increasing evidence of India’s support for the Communist Sandinistas; The Sikhs number about 16 million, out of a total population in India of some 750 million. Sixty two percent of the total population of India’s Punjab State is Sikhs, and their communities are highly independent and economically productive.

The Sikhs have been very successful in agriculture and commerce, and largely due to their hard work, have made Punjab the richest and most agriculturally productive province in all of India. The Sikhs produce 73 percent of India’s wheat reserve, and 48 percent of that nation’s rice reserve. Representing a largely agricultural district myself, I can clearly appreciate this great contribution  made by the Sikhs.

The Sikhs are truly patriotic, desiring only to live in a free society. Indeed, the Sikhs bravely fought for their nation’s freedom, representing 80 percent of those imprisoned and executed during India’s fight for independence. My experience with the Sikhs in my own Second District in California certainly confirms what a great reflection they are on their native heritage in India.

The Sikhs also play important roles in India’s Army and admin iterative services, despite how they: have been oppressed by that nation’s government forces. Sikhs believe in one God, equality of mankind, and strongly oppose the caste system, as well as the practice of idol worship. Like all of us, the Sikhs believe in serving God through serving mankind. I am pleased to join my colleagues in this most important tribute to the Sikhs.

The second point which I would like to touch on is the clear evidence that the Indian government has been aiding the Communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Our Nation not only must stand firm in opposition to the oppressive treatment of the Sikhs by the Indian government, but we must also speak out against the newly developing India Sandinista relationship.

Recently, India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi pledged $10.4 million in aid to the Sandinista regime. The close ties between India and the Soviet Union should make this grant-in-aid to NicaTagua not at all surprising. Although India’s leaders like to boast about how they delicately balance their relations with East and West, there is no doubt that India has been increasingly moving into the Soviet orbit.

During a visit to India by NicaTaguan Dictator Daniel Ortega, Prime Minister Gandhi not only Promised $10 million in aid, but also made positive remarks about Nicaragua’s policy of exporting revolution throughout Central America, Ortega, for his part, awarded Gandhi Nicaragua’s highest award, putting Mr. Gandhi in a group of recipients which includes Fidel Castro,

The poverty-stricken nation of India has consistently aided the Communist provided medicines.

WALLY HERGER

 was elected to the House of Representatives from the second congressional district of California November 4, 1986. He served three terms in the California State Assembly representation the 3rd district. He is a Member of the House Committees on agriculture and merchant marine and fisheries. Herger was elected Vice-president of the Freshman Republican class of the 100th Congress, and he has been chosen secretary of the California Republican Congressional delegation. A third generation rancher and independent businessman, Wally was born in Sutter County, California on May 20, 1945. He attended Sutter

County Public Schools and majored in Business Administration at California State University in Sacramento. He is married to the former Pamela Sargent and has eight children: Melissa; Gregory; Robin; Cara; Dean; Cameron; Jamie; and Julie Ann. Wally is the owner and President of Herger Gas, Inc., an independent propane gas service company in Sutter County. The Herger family also owns and operates a working ranch where they raise dairy and beef cattle.

In the California Assembly, Herger served on the ways and means committee and was Vice Chairman of the agriculture committee.

And thousands of tons of wheat to Nicaragua, What’s more, India has provided managerial, technical, and material assistance to the Sandinistas in a variety of industries. Recently, an economic and technical delegation was sent by India to Managua to identify further areas of cooperation.

Quite frankly, the Indian government’s assistance to Sandinista Nicaragua, together with its suppression of the Sikh people and its illegal suppression of the legitimately elected government of Punjab, call into question India’s reputation as the “World’s largest democracy”. What is democratic about assisting Communist totalitarianism consolidating its stranglehold on the Nicaraguan people? Moreover, what is democratic about India’s oppression of the Sikhs, who are among the nation’s most valuable citizens? The world is waiting for answers to these disturbing questions.

In light of these issues, I feel it is time that our Nation reassesses its yearly contributions to the State of India. Clearly, our role as leader of the free world dictates that we must not accommodate a nation which provides aid to the enemies of freedom and harshly suppresses its own people.

  1. SHUMWAY: Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) for his pointed and timely statement. It is a good contribution to this particular special order.

MR.BURTON of Indiana.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

  1. SHUMWAY, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
  2. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise today to bring attention to an increasingly repressive situation in the Punjab. Just last month, the puppet state government in the Punjab was dissolved by the Indian government. The Punjab is now being ruled directly from New Delhi. On May 17, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, addressing a party rally, said that “India vowed to use an Iron Fist” to put down Sikh secessionists. The police and recently reinforced paramilitary forces in the Punjab rounded up thousands of Sikh activists on orders from the new police chief in the region. The former chief of the Punjab,

Who was an Indian government puppet, Chief Barnala, has been excommunicated by Sikh high

Priests. After doing their bidding, Barnala reacted angrily to his dismissal by the Indian government. Referring to the breakdown of law and order and the increase in killings in the Punjab, Barnala said “tomorrow if there are even more killings in the State, will the Indian Home Secretary resign? Will the Indian President dismiss Mr. Gandhi and step in and rule?”

While it is refreshing to finally hear some truths about Indian repression in the Punjab, I see a situation that continues to get worse for Sikhs in the Punjab. The Indian Observer quoted a source that said the center would now let loose a reign of repression in the Punjab and allow the more than 70,000 paramilitary police unfettered freedom. The Indian government seems to be learning more and more about repression from its ally to the north, the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Indian alliance has become even more pronounced in the past few months. The United States has supplied over $600 million in aid to India over the last 4 years. What type of friendship with the United States has a massive aid program to India brought.

In the United Nations, the Indian government votes less with the United States than the Soviet Union does.

India recently prevented an investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Commission into flagrant human rights abuses by Cuba.

Elie Krakowski, head of the office of regional defense in the international security affairs division of the Defense Department recently wrote of the Soviet attempts to annex the Wakhan Sallent, which is the northern tip of Afghanistan.

This would give the Soviets direct access to the Hindu Kush, territory disputed by India and Pakistan. The Soviet Union has been subverting various tribes in Northern Pakistan, hoping to gain their favor. Already during 1987, Pakistan’s airspace has been violated over 350 times and over 500 people have been killed.

If the Soviet Union gains access to this region, they will have a direct land route through India to warm water ports in the Indian Ocean. The Soviet Navy already has access to Indian deep-water ports.

It is interesting how the Indian government refuses to condemn the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

India also refuses to condemn the Soviet backed invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam.

Over 80 percent of India’s arms are supplied by the Soviet Union.

The U.S.S.R. has supplied India with the MIG29 fighter plane and the Kilo class submarine. These weapons are so sensitive that the Soviets won’t even provide this scale of weapons to the Warsaw Pact nations.

India has full diplomatic relations with the PLO but none with Israel.

India is supplying $10.4 million in aid to the Communist Sandinistas while their own people are starving.

This js the government that denies oppression of the Sikhs.

Mr. Speaker, I think anyone who knows much about this situation over there knows that the Sikhs are suffering under great pressure and great repression, and those in the Congress who really care about human rights need to speak out. I thank the gentleman in the well for taking this special order tonight.

  1. SHUMWAY, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) for his very thoughtful and very forthright statement.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of presenting this special order this evening is to simply call attention to the status of things in India and particularly in the state of Punjab. It is a status that I do not think will be revealed in the media. It is a status that we are not going to see coming from the press reports out of India, but it is a status that must be taken into account. Members of Congress as we deliberate this issue. And as this issue forms an overall part of our budget and indeed our foreign policy.

Many of us represent Sikhs in various parts of the country, and I think that those Sikhs who are in America have demonstrated their skills and their viaues. They have proven to be very good citizens, and I think all they are requesting at this time is that those same values and those same capabilities be shared by their brothers who may still be living in India and particularly in the State of Punjab.

I think it is, therefore, time for India to be responsive and responsive in a way that will be in keeping with the high ideals that India claims for itself. It is simply to illustrate the need for that Response and to illustrate the plight of the Sikhs that I felt it was appropriate to take this special order this evening.

  1. HUNTER, Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  2. SHUMWAY, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from California.
  3. HUNTER, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I have been very impressed by the gentleman’s remarks and by the remarks of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).

I have one question that I want to ask the gentleman, because he is an expert and I am not. I do not have a Sikh community in my district, but I have journeyed to areas that have Sikh communities and I have been impressed by the eloquence of their pleas to the United States to help them.

I am particularly interested, and I think a lot of Americans are, in the attack upon the Golden Temple on June 6, 1984. Could the gentleman tell me how many Sikhs were killed by Indian policemen and special police and military forces?

  1. SHUMWAY: I would just say to the gentleman that there is some dispute about the fatalities, the casualties in the attack; but my information tells me that there were thousands of Sikhs who were killed, and many hundreds of security forces who likewise lost their lives.

I think the more significant thing, though, is the following events: the riots that erupted both in Delhi as well as in Punjab which claimed the lives of indeed many thousands and hundreds of those who were forces on behalf of India. MR. HUNTER: I had heard that there were as many as 20,000 people killed in the Golden Temple attack, and following in the aftermath over 290,000 Sikhs.

  1. SHUMWAY: The gentleman may be correct, but I think that there are different figures.
  2. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  3. SHUMWAY: Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  4. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that Concerns me to the most is the apparent disinformation campaign that seems to be taking place by the Indian Government.

I received a call today from a State Department official urging me to take great care, and maybe the gentleman from California did as well, about what we said regarding India in this special order tonight, so they are very sensitive about these issues we are talking about tonight.

It appears to me, after talking to some of my friends who are Sikhs, that there is a great deal of disinformation being given to the American people and to the State Department regarding the repression that is taking place in the Punjab.

In addition to that, I do not know how we can be expected to trust a government that is so closely tied to the Soviet Union. India is recognized as a nonaligned country.

I would like to know what a nonaligned country is, if they are nonaligned, because this country is getting sophisticated weaponry that no country in the world is getting, even in the Warsaw Pact.

Mig29 fighter bombers to my knowledge are not being given to any other country in the world except India. The Soviets gave a great deal of care and thought to this before they decided to give those weapons.

You look at their voting record in the United Nations, They vote with the Soviet Union 94,95 percent of the time, and vote against us consistently.

They vote with Cuba, all the Com monist bloc nations, and yet they say they are nonaligned, and because of that our State Department continues to go hat in hand to the Indian government, Rajiv Gandhi, and gives them massive amounts of foreign aid.

My feeling is in the case of India and in the case of all foreign countries, that we should give foreign aid on a bilateral basis. We should extract a quid pro quo before we start giving American taxpayer dollars to these countries; and in the case of India, if they are going to continue to stay in bed with the Soviet Union year in and year out, to do their bidding, to help them get a passage through the Wakhan Salient down to warm water port which they have always coveted on the Indian Ocean, let them go with the Soviet Union. They do not need American taxpayers’ dollars, so it is extremely important that this point be made tonight, that this is not a nonaligned country, not a pro U.S. country, not even a pro West Country.

It is a country that oppresses its people, lies to the United States and the entire World; and they have been taking our money and supporting the enemies, and I think these things need to be pointed out.

  1. SHUMWAY, Mr. Speaker, let me say in further response to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), you will notice in all of the news accounts of things that may be happening in India, they have the dateline New Delhi, because in many respects they represent the Indian point of view. They do not always reflect what is really happening in the State of Punjab.

It is very sad to me that the Indian government will not allow foreign journalists to go there, to actually see how many casualties may have been inflicted in the raid on the Golden Temple, and what kind of violence now is going on.

Without that kind of free access to news, much of what we are going to be receiving in the way of description, news events, is going to be tailored to reflect the New Delhi government point of view; and therefore, it will not be entirely objective.

DAN  BURTON

He was elected on Republican Party ticket from the 6th district. He is in business and is an insurance owner. He was born on June 21, 1938 at Indianapolis, in. He received his education from Cincinnati Bible Seminary Indiana Univ. and served in the U.S. Army for a while. He is a member of government Operations, Verteran Affairs Select Children Youth and Families committees.

  1. BURTON of Indiana. About year ago, I think it was the Indian Ambassador came to see me, and I raised some of these issues regarding the repression of the Sikhs in the Punjab with him. He said that it WAS not so, and it was all fabrication; and I asked him at the close of our Discussion if it would be possible for me to go to the Punjab to see for myself, and maybe take a delegation of Congressmen.

He said he would get back to me, and I have yet to receive communication from him, so what the gentleman is pointing out about newspapermen applies to Congressmen as well.

They will not let newsmen in there or Congressmen in there either.

  1. SHUMWAY. That is correct, I was in India some months ago, and I specifically requested permission to go to Punjab and was denied.
  2. HUNTER: Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  3. SHUMWAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).
  4. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, there are some lessons here for the United States. I am reminded that the United States developed the Rockefeller Wheat Vanities, for example, that doubled and tripled the grain production in areas for India, in areas where their people were starving.

Expertise in irrigation, dam construction was utilized to move India from being one of the importers of wheat in the world. In fact, they bought American wheat and satisfied our production to being an exporter, a net exporter to being an exporter, a net exporter of wheat; and it is my understanding that India today is a net exporter because of American expertise, because of the goodness in the hearts of Americans, because we wanted to help starving people with no strings attached, no requirements for votes in the United’ Nations no quid Pro quo associated with it.

Yet, the Soviet Union which gives Mig aircraft and attack helicopters and other weapons to India has apparently achieved a friendship with India that moves India to vote against the United States and for the Soviet Union.

India is advertised as being the. world’s biggest democracy, and I guess a lesson to the people of the United States is that a democracy is something other than simply a country in which a majority of the people work their will, because if the majority of the people work their will against a minority and oppress them, and kill them and persecute them, then they are not a true democracy. The Oppression of the Sikhs in India has demonstrated that India is not a democracy in the sense that it does not protect its minorities, and that is the hallmark of the United States, and regrettably not the hallmark of India.

I would hope that we would begin to get the attention of Indian Certain appropriate ways, and I think one of those ways is to not give money to those people who Continually side with those who Oppress people around the world like India, Angola, other places, where Soviet Proxies kill people.

  1. SHUMWAY. India with over 750 million People is able to provide enough food and feed its population and still have some commodities available for export.

They have achieved a great deal of efficiency in that regard, and much of it has been inspired by our contributions, as the gentleman has pointed out.

Punjab really is the breadbasket of India, and there is evidence to the effect that farmers in Punjab have not received enough water to really irrigate and achieve their full potential as farmers.

That water has been diverted to other regions; and furthermore, for the crops they have produced, they have not been paid a fair price in comparison to those same crops in other parts of the country.

The agricultural production, we see the same kind of hostility or biased exercise toward the state of Punjab, in this case primarily Sikh farmers, as we have seen in so many other areas, and that gives them further reason to want to pursue their independent state of Palestine, to contribute the kind of violence that has earmarked the past several years. India must be fairer in its treatment of these people, and more tolerant of their need for human nights.

  1. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman yield?
  2. SHUMWAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  3. BURTON of Indiana: Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I was recently told, and I do not have the figures with me, that India exports a lot of sugar, is it to China? No. They buy sugar from Cuba and export it to the United States of America.

They are a market to Cuba, sugarcane. We have an embargo against Cuba, but we are buying a certain percentage of the sugar production from India, and they are buying it from Cuba, so indirectly we are buying sugarcane from Cuba which we legally are not supposed to do so because of the embargo that has taken place there.

Are you familiar with that?

  1. SHUMWAY. No. I have not heard that; but it comes as no surprise to me if indeed that is going on, because it seems to be typical of the way that they favor their own friends, and do not favor an honest relationship with the United States.
  2. BURTON of Indiana. Well, I think that is something that we in the Congress ought to look into because if they are circumventing United States law, this embargo we have with Cuba, by buying sugarcane from Cuba and then selling us their sugarcane, then they are in effect once again not only helping Nicaragua and the Soviets, but they are helping Cuba, which is 90 miles off our shores.
  3. FAZIO. Mr. Speaker, with due respect to my colleague, Mr. Shumway, I rise today to address the current status of the Sikh community in India, particularly in the State of Punjab.

I raise today, Mr. Speaker, to note the importance of this region to the principles of international democracy. It is important to consider how our legislative body may address what many Sikhs feel is an inadequate degree of government action in fulfilling the promises made to the moderate Akali Dal party by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In June, 1985, an 11point accord was signed by Mr. Gandhi and former party leader Harchand Singh Longowal which addressed specific demands made by the Sikhs that had risen out of the Golden Temple incident and the Delhi massacres. Yet specific points of the accord, such as the transfer of Chandigarh city to Punjab and the transfer of compensating territory of Haryana state, have gone unfulfilled.

I think that the efforts of the Indian government to bring together the disparate people of India into one unified country are severely undermined by a lack of. Democratic treatment of the Sikh community, despite the fact that India is populated by 16 million Sikhs. A majority of the Sikhs reside in the State of Punjab where they have transformed a backward area into the model of agricultural efficiency that contributes to the self-sufficiency status in wheat consumption which India now enjoys. In fact, although Sikhs account for only 2 percent of the enormous Indian population of 750 million, they produce 73 percent of the total Indian wheat reserve, 48 percent of the rice, and 26 percent of the gross national product of India. Yet Central government agricultural pricing and industrial licensing policies, the subdivision of land into uneconomic units, and shortages of irrigation water have fueled a sense among Sikhs that Punjab is being “held back” in favor of less developed, but politically favored states. The resourcefulness of the Sikhs is demonstrated in this country by their presence in our communities, where they have emerged from their original status migrant farm and railroad workers to professional positions within the sciences and the academic world. I believe that the Sikh community must be provided with the opportunity to negotiate an independence and autonomy from the central government of India, and that all necessary provisions for preventing further violence within the area and for ensuring peaceful cooperation between the states should be made.

Mr. Speaker, June 6 marks the third anniversary of the Golden Temple incident which was provoked by the threats of separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. During simultaneous attacks ordered by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the Darbar Sahib, holiest of Sikh temples, and on more than 40 other Sikh temples throughout the Punjab, Bhindranwale and 259 of his followers were killed. Independent observers have estimated that a total of at least 1,000 Sikhs including women and children, were also killed. During the incident. The Prime Minister’s political dexterity, which had helped to mobilize ideological support for the attack from several politically and culturally oriented groups in India and elsewhere, served as a catalyst for further unfair treatment of the Sikh and an impetus to the continued violence of the separatist Sikh movement. Following the incident, the Indian Army remained in Punjab as the highest legal authority, so-called black laws gave the military and civilian police nearly unrestricted arrest and detainment authority, while foreign and American journalists and political observers were unable to observe living conditions within the area because of the information blackout which was also imposed. Nonetheless, reports filtering out of the country documented religious and cultural persecutions, arbitrary arrests and detainments, and murders. These reports conflicted sharply with official statements regarding the treatment of Sikhs,

Mr. Speaker, I believe it is imperative that Congress act at this time to do whatever is in its power to help bring about the end of the violence in the democratic state of India. This violence, catalyzed by the Golden Temple incident, has thus far led to the murder of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two Sikh bodyguards; the militant assassination of Akali Dal leader Longowal just prior to the September 1985 Punjab state election; and the Delhi massacre, during which an estimated 3,000 people were killed and several thousand other were subject to brutalities. While the government claims that less than 1,000 people have been killed in Punjab during the past 2 years, claims by Sikh organizations cite much higher death tolls. Because of the persistence of the information blackout, however, these claims ‘cannot be verified.

Most recent, Mr. Speaker, the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has re imposed central government control, claiming its necessity in stemming a resurgence of terrorist violence. Yet there are currently extreme separatists within the ranks of Sikh organizations and rival faction leaders who will undoubtedly be outraged at Mr. Gandhi’s actions as well as his “vow to use ‘an iron fist” in dealing with Sikh secessionists. I have faith that a political solution continues to be possible, since Sikhs have turned out to vote in countrywide elections despite the calls for a boycott by fundamentalist separatists. But the expedience of this situation is made clear by the fact that, since early 1987, a sufficient number of Akai legislators have defected from the government to make it dependent on the opposition Congress (I) party to maintain a majority; the leadership of Punjab Chief Prime Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, who came to power following Longowal’s assassination, has also been accused of staging false murders of Sikh youths and Branala has been excommunicated by the Sikh High Priests for disobeying religious edicts. This creates a powder keg type of situation which must be diffused. AsI have said before, I believe that we must achieve a recommitment to restraint through the functioning of our democratic political systems. There is no room for violence and terrorism in this process, which serves merely to undermine the efforts to achieve a true and lasting peace between all people of India. The serious questions were face affect not only the Sikhs of the Punjab and the worldwide Sikhs community, but reflect upon the future direction of democracy in this critical region of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to consider seriously the problems which lie before us and work with those of us here today to chart the best and most expedient course to peace in Punjab and throughout India. Thank you.

  1. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern regarding the situation of political and social unrest existing in the Indian State of Punjab.

I have in my district, Mr. Speaker, many families of Indian and Pakistan heritage; I have been contacted on numerous occasions by family members concerned with the wellbeing of relatives beset by the unfolding ethnic, political and religious strife which has beset Punjab.

I must point out, Mr. Speaker, that this crisis has its ultimate origins in the partition of the Indian subcontinent by the British. As has often been the case in the determination of national boundaries by a colonial power, this partition was arbitrary, abrupt and socially and politically unnatural. Political instability is a natural tragic result when colonial powers attempt unilaterally to determine the destiny of captive peoples.

I am very concerned about the Continuing media and individual reports of significant human rights abuses occurring in Punjab. Fortunately, ‘extreme examples of abuse, such as the 1984 occupation of Sikhdom’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, are no longer a regular occurrence. More recent incidents while not as extreme are very disturbing.

We must stand up for civil liberties and religious and social understanding in India. This great land must not be allowed to waste its tremendous potential being rent asunder by the legacy of a shortsighted colonial partition.

VICTOR H. FAZIO

Was elected as a democratic candidate from the 4th district constituency He was born on October 11, 1942,a Winchester, Ma. He received his education from Union College, B.A. California State University, Sacramento He is a member of the Appropriations Budget and Standards of Official Conduct committees.

  1. DWYER of New Jersey, Mr. Speaker, rise today to join with many of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to discuss a situation which has arisen in the Punjab, that region of northern India most notably inhabited by Sikhs.

I would like to congratulate and thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Shumway) for requesting time so that Members of this body might be able to reflect on a difficult often tragic foreign policy issue.

Clearly, the problems of the Punjab do not command the public’s attention to the extent of, say, United States Soviet relations, our policies in Central America or the scourge of apartheid in South Africa. But the problems which exist in this area are important to Americans for several reasons.

First, there are serious human rights questions involved here. The United States, as the leading advocate for personal freedom and liberty, has a moral imperative to speak out on injustice wherever it might occur.

Second, there are geopolitical concerns, as well. Located as it is on the Indian border with Pakistan, just 150 miles from the Soviet Union, the status of this region within India could have profound implications for its eventual role in the future of the Indian subcontinent.

Finally, there are a great many American citizens who trace their roots to India and to the Punjab region to whom this issue is extremely important.

The level of violence in this conflict has been increasing in recent years, Mr. Speaker. The attack on the Golden Temple and, more recently, the imposition of presidential rule are symptomatic of deeply held and deeply felt problems which will not easily lend themselves to solutions.

For this reason, it is important that the United States help to focus world attention on this region. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India — we are talking about an area of great global significance, given the access to the Indian Ocean which exists there.

Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to represent a significant number of persons of Indian extraction who live and work in the Sixth district of New Jersey. They are both Hindus and Sikhs and they are making major contributions to their community, to the economy of the State of New Jersey and to their adopted country.

I am proud of the good rapport which exists within my constituency among persons of differing backgrounds, It is a tradition in central New ‘tierce and one of the major strengths of our country. And it suggests that the people of India need to reach a similar accommodation.

Violence as a means to achieve a political end, whether perpetrated by the Indian government or by residents of the Punjab state, is counterproductive. It only tends to force retaliation and a hardening of positions.

Let us hope that cooler heads will prevail in relations between the Indian government and their Sikh citizens that the enhancement of freedom will be a goal of both parties and that tranquility will return to this troubled part of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I would again like to thank the gentleman from California for organizing this special order and for providing me with the opportunity to address this question today.

  1. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague from California for his special order concerning the plight of the Sikhs in India. Under the Gandhi regime, a regime that defends Soviet foreign policy and contributes money to the Marxist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, the Sikh minority has been repeatedly persecuted and officially labeled as “terrorist”.

In January of this year, paramilitary police forces in Punjab state of India entered the Sikh religion’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, and arrested several people suspected of terrorist activities. It was the second time in 9 months that the police had entered the shrine, exacerbate the already tense atmosphere between the Sikhs and the Hindus. The worst confrontation at the Golden Temple occurred in 1984, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the army into the holy temple. Several thousand Sikhs were massacred at the temple, and wave of violence between Sikhs and Hindus followed the incident.

Shortly after the Golden Temple attack, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated, allegedly by Sikh bodyguards, In the 10 days following the assassination, over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the Punjab capital’ of Delhi alone. The anti-Sikh riots included brutal incidents of rape, mutilation, and burning. Independent observers also claimed that Hindu political leaders played a direct role in inciting crowds, and noted ’a conspicuous lack of action on the part of the local police. Another 570 Sikhs were killed in other Indian cities and towns, and estimates are that the death toll for the period may exceed 5.000. Punjab has since been Closed to foreigners and reporters, and it’s newspapers have been shut down.

In July, 1985, Indian Prime Minister Rajiy Gandhi signed an 11point accord addressing specific demands by the Sikhs arising of the various episodes of violence and rioting to which they have been subjected. However, many of the points in this accord have certainly not been fulfilled, and the violence and terrorism directed against the Sikhs continues in India even today.

Though the media would have us believe that the Sikhs are violent

extremists, the vast Majority of them are, on the contrary, peace-loving individuals. The fact is that they have not and will not submit to the Oppression of the Indian government. As the leading nation in the free world, we must recognize and take direct action in response to their plight. The United States can no longer sit idly by as this Reprehensible situation continues,

  1. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague, Mr. Shumway for coordinating today’s special order to honor the Sikhs of India. The upheaval in the Sikh majority state of Punjab remains one of the India’s most serious human rights concerns, Since 1984, when the Indian government sent armed troops into the Golden Temple and killed at least 1,000 Sikhs, the violence between the Sikhs and the Hindus has escalated dramatically in the Punjab.

According to U.S. government figures, 600 persons, including Sikhs and Hindus, have died in the Punjab violence during 1986, and nearly 300 as a of mid1987. As cochairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, I strongly deplore the acts of religious persecution against the Sikhs or any religious group at the hands of the Indian government. A total of 16 million Sikhs live in India, composing 2 percent of the population. So why are such a small minority discriminated against, tortured and sometimes killed?

I urge Prime Minister Gandhi to end the human rights abuses occurring in his country. An important first step would be the fulfillment of the 11point accord of July 1985. This accord, signed on July 4, 1985 by Prime Minister Gandhi and then leader of the Akali Dal Party, Harchand Singh Longowal, addressed specific political, economic and religious demands by the Sikhs that arose out of the Golden Temple incident.

True democratic governments must protect all citizens from the scourges of discrimination. This protection must extend to all religious and ethnicities. If the Indian government is to be grouped with the free world it must distinguish itself from the discrimination and prejudice of totalitarian dictatorship.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to insert a memo for the RECORD that was brought to my attention this morning by Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the International Sikh Organization. It is written by Eric Nicoll, research associate at the information Bureau of the National Centre for Public Policy Research, to executive director Amy Moritz and describes in detail the human rights situation in India.

(Memorandum from the Information Bureau of the National Center for Public Policy Research)

To: Amy Moritz, Executive Director From: Eric Nicoll, Research Associate

Re.: Human Rights Situation In India

Date: June I, 1987. In preparing this memorandum at Jour request, I have found that some Members of Congress are beginning to. Reexamine the United States’ relationship with India. This April, for example, the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee reduced aid to India in the Foreign Assistance Act by $15 million by creating a $35 million ceiling on this aid, As the U.S. has given $1 billion to India since 1982 and expects to give nearly $600 million more during the next four years, this $15 million is but a small percentage of India’s total U.S. aid. But the Foreign Affairs Committee vote has encouraged Congress to investigate India’s human rights situation and to consider how Americans can use U.S. influence to encourage India’s Rajiv Gandhi government to improve human rights.

A Congressional review of U.S, policy toward India is long overdue.

in India are frequent and come from many sources. Sample reports of individual instances of human rights violations include:

The U.S. State Department reports that in December of 1985 thirty-one prisoners were blinded by authorities while awaiting trial in the state of Bihar, and that the death of a young Sikh in Delhi was quite widely suspected of being the result of torture.

The Manchester (England) Guardian reported on April 14, 1987, that between 80100,000 teachers were imprisoned for one month in the state of Tamil Nadu for defying a government order forbidding them to strike for more pay, and that 20 of the teachers had died in custody. On December 29, 1986, the Washington Post quoted one unidentified police official admitting that “Many times we depend on torture in interrogations, no doubt about it”.

Every lover of liberty and advocate of human rights will applaud the concern expressed by Honorable Congressmen in the House of Representatives at the communal oppression of the Sikh minority in India, The debate initiated by Congressman from California, Hon. Norman D. Shumway graphically brought out the truth about the plight of Sikhs. It should serve to move the conscience of the World so as to save the religious identity of a besieged minority.

However, according to the United News of India report that appeared in a section of Indian press, the Indian diplomats in Washington, D.C. were able to dissuade five Congressmen from participating in the debate. That U.S. Congressman should succumb to external pressures or be influenced by crafty misinformation, is a very sad reflection, Equally reprehensible is the Indian diplomats interference in the affairs of the House of Representatives.

No government can brook interference in its internal matters and Indian diplomats need to be unambiguously told not to function outside their clearly marked orbits. It will be pertinent to point out that the U.S. citizens expect from their elected representatives a little more discreetness,

India in 1987 is nation in which religious persecution is encouraged by law; where the government does not protect citizens from a system of permanent servitude that is little better than slavery; where prisoners of the state are held indefinitely and sometimes tortured and killed: where the circumstances of one’s birth dictate a citizen’s place in society; and where constitutional protections taken for granted by Americans either do not exist or can be repealed at the whim of a government that has been headed by members of the same family for 38 of the last 40 years.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLAT IONS ARE FREQUENT

Reports of human: rights violations According to the Christian Science Monitor’s October 15, 1984, coverage of government actions in the Punjab state, “The pattern in each village appears to be the same. The army moves in during the early evening, cordons a village, and announces over loudspeakers that everyone must come out. All males between the ages of 15 and 35 are trussed and blindfolded, then taken away. Thousands have disappeared in the Punjab state since the Army operation began. The government has provided no lists of names: families don’t know if sons and husbands are arrested, underground or dead”.

Amnesty International cites many reports of human rights violations: a partial list includes allegations that’ some prisoners of the government have been used as slaves or sexually abused: that in one small village in the State of Andhra Pradesh 238 residents alleged in a petition to the Supreme Court that they had been tortured; that a judge visiting Nabha Central Jail in Punjab accused authorities of torturing detainees by rolling logs over their thighs or pulling their legs apart; that in the Punjab the beating of prisoners suspended from the ceiling on the soles of the feet and on the body was frequently reported. Amnesty International also received allegations from the Punjab that, when a person wanted by the police could not be found, relatives were arrested in his or her place and sometimes beaten and detained, and that the police had falsely implicated people in offences punishable under the arms act by planting weapons on them.

Amnesty International also reports receiving allegations that individuals have been killed by the police in staged “encounters”. In the state of Uttar Pradesh those killed were criminal suspects (especially of the Harijan “untouchables” castes); in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab the victims were political activists. Amnesty International reports that in one such incident in Andhra Pradesh in April 1986 “five alleged Naxalites (Members of a Maoist political party considered the most extreme of India’s communist parties) were killed and a survivor stated they had been surrounded by police in plain clothes, stripped naked, stood in a row with their hands behind their backs and shot’. Other sources say similar “encounters” involving Sikhs have been staged frequently in the Punjab and elsewhere.

RONALD V, DELLUMS

was elected to Congress on democratic ticket from the 8th Congressional district. He was born on Nov. 24, 1935 at Oakland. He got his education from San Francisco State B.A. University of California M.S.W. and served in the U.S. Armed Services in the Marine Corps. He is the Chairman of district of Columbia, Armed Services Committee.

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 26, 1987